Thanks to my son, Michael, I am trying out a new pen tonight - the Pilot Metropolitan! It has a bladder filling mechanism where I submerge the nib in the ink bottle, squeeze the bladder, and the suction loads the ink. Pretty cool. I had to load it a second time for this drawing, but I may not have squeezed as much air out with my first attempt. The nib is much finer than my norm, so I must use a light touch on the handmade cotton paper. I'm using Levenger Cocoa ink for the first time, too. The rich brown washes towards red with a little water. I first thought to use their Smokey ink, but it did not move with water at all, so I passed on that one. I like to get rich darks and mid-tones with a wet brush when using ink alone, so my ink must move! The best part of it not holding much ink - I can switch colors often with this pen! Painting number 1907 in 1907 days.
