EDiM #22: Draw a map (and EDiM #21 from yesterday)

Today's assignment gave me an excuse to do something I've long wanted to do but haven't gotten to, a map with patches of color separated by white borders.

I did this on a regular 1/8th sheet of Arches cold press, penciling in the borders.  For each state I wet the paper (trying to keep a straight line that stood off from the penciled-in border, and dropped in watercolor paints.  In choosing colors, I tried to keep in mind the natural features of that region and apply color that made sense to me.  Of course, the interior of Australia is hot and dry, so warm colors made sense to me.  The far north is very vegetated and the southern extremes get quite cool.  To pay tribute to the Great Barrier Reef, I painted that coast with cobalt teal blue to represent the beautiful waters there.

Paints used:  hansa yellow, new gamboge, organic vermillion, quinacridone rose, quinacridone violet, winsor violet, winsor blue red shade, and winsor green blue shade.

I quite like it and I think I might frame it!  It will be a nice reminder of our recent trip to Australia.

I see I forgot to post EDiM #21 from yesterday, draw the last thing you bought.  Well, it may not be technically the last thing I bought, but these was certainly the last FUN things I bought.  I ordered the TWSBI mini EF fountain pen in "classic" color (black cap, clear body) a few weeks ago and I love this pen. It is my primary sketching pen now, and filled with Platinum Carbon Black ink.  The build quality of this pen is very solid, it's been totally dependable, it feels great in my hand, and I think it looks cute.

The Noodler's Walnut Ink I purchased more recently and am just getting acquainted with it.  I filled my Noodler's Konrad Flex pen with it.  My first impression is that the ink looks almost black until you begin to fill a page and look at it sideways.  My understanding is that it is partially composed of Noodler's Bulletproof Black, which makes sense to me, given how dark it is, but also how this ink handles under a wash.  The water releases gorgeous golden brown and burnt sienna tones, while a blackish line remains.  It's really cool.  Here is an example of my very first explorations with this ink: