The Girl and Her Cat stories - treasure hunting in the rain together watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

Little Stories – Travels And Tales

The Girl and Her Cat stories - treasure hunting in the rain together watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

I had to take a break from post writing for much longer than I had anticipated.   Need of a change of air took me to Yellowstone for a few days, and then to the Eastern Sierra mountains.  Back at home, I have been painting and binding books with new inspirations from recent travels, as well as making tiny arts in my old bullet journal.  I also have another art supply experiment to share today. So here we go.

 

 


 

A few photos from Yellowstone

 

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

 

 

 

Yellowstone was profoundly overwhelming.   I was hoping for late spring snow, and mother nature listened.  It snowed there every day during our stay.  The landscape transformed with mist and smoke from every part of the ground when the sun came out after the snowstorms.

 

 

Upper Geyser Basin Yellowstone photo by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

The storms also gave me this beautiful contrasting dark sky. During an early evening walk we heard a loud noise and saw an ever-increasing plume behind us. Not sure which geyser went off, as there are many in that area.

 

 


 

Off to Tioga Pass

 

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

 

 

 

Then we went off to my favorite Sierra mountains.  The trails were still closed due to snow.  We took it slow with walking around a few new and old areas, and simply reading while listening to the rain.  

 

 

Alpenglow on mountains Tioga Pass Yosemite photo by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Even though it was warm in the valley, it got cold in the mountains with oncoming nightfall.  I was glad to have packed my winter jacket as we waited for the mountains to take on the colors of Alpenglow.  I really missed these mountains.  Now I am back home until the weather cools off again, and I can breathe freely outside with pollen-free air.

 

 


 

Outside the Lines – Gesso and Watercolor ground

 

Outside the Lines is a series where I share my experience with new art supplies.   This time it’s watercolor on Liquitex gesso and watercolor on QOR watercolor-ground. 

I converted my last year’s bullet journal into an art journal.  That’s when I thought of using gesso and watercolor-ground to cover up the writings.  To see how they each perform, I covered two discarded paintings with gesso and wc-ground each.

 

Watercolor on gesso and watercolor ground by QoR by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

Gesso on the left, Wc-ground on the right, both after 3 coats

 

I needed to apply multiple thin coats in order for the paper to not warp.

Gesso covered and sealed off the darker under-painting and writing much better.   Wc-ground didn’t perform very well with the coverage even after three coats.  When used to cover up writing, it picked up the ink color and got tinted by it.   It’s a bit more wet than gesso, so the paper warps more too.  

At the end, I ended up applying gesso first, then wc-ground over that.  

 

 

Watercolor on watercolor ground by QoR by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Watercolor on wc-ground lifted off completely, even after a full night of drying, showing the white surface underneath.   That’s fine with mistakes, but it made it very hard for me to layer colors.  The colors simply lifted off or moved around, which made them very muddy.   When not layering though, it worked well enough.  I couldn’t get any definition on small things like the girl or the cat.

 

 

Watercolor on gesso by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

I sanded down the gesso paper just a little to get a smooth surface.  Watercolor on gesso lifted off too, but much less with some drying time in between each layer.  Watercolors tend to slide on gesso, but I could layer on colors with caution.   In the large areas, I could keep the subtle colors with ease.  The girl was a little better here, but I had to use pencil for the cat.

 

 

Watercolor on gesso and watercolor ground by QoR by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Overall I liked gesso better, even with its limitations.   The colors stick on it more with proper drying time.  The covering and sealing up is much better too.  Both of these qualities were lacking on wc-ground.  Additionally, since I have to use gesso to cover the writing/work first anyway,  I might as well stick to that for my converted bullet journal.

 

 

The Girl and Her Cat stories - Watching sunset while camping by the lake at the mountains painting on watercolor paper by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Here is the same painting on watercolor paper.

 

 


 

Art Journal

 

Art Journal from bullet journal by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Ever since school, I have always used a planner.   Last year I hand made this book for my planning.   Instead of discarding it, I converted this bullet journal to an art journal.  I am mostly using Tombow dual brush pens for colors and various pens for drawings.  I am covering up the previous dates and writings with darker marker,  bits and pieces of discarded paintings,  darker washi tape,  printing and drawing paper, and now occasionally with gesso.

 

 

Bullet Journal converted art journal by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

I only work on it for 15-20 minutes before bedtime.  Sometimes I draw one day and color it the next day.   I am filling the pages with random small drawings, paintings, writings of my own, and occasional quotes.  It has been really wonderful for calming my mind before sleep.

 

 


 

Little watercolor cards

 

As part of my art study, I started painting these little watercolor cards more regularly.  A lot of times it takes a while to get what is in my head down on paper.

 

Alpine Gentian flowers in the Easter Sierra Tioga Pass Yosemite watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Tiny Alpine Gentian flowers grow in the meadows at the Sierra mountains – a reminder of cool weather and the gorgeous outdoors.

 

 

Eastern Sierra hot springs watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

A Hot spring – somewhere in the mountains that is in my head.

 

 

The butterfly Effect watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

My friends came up with a couple of beautiful names.  Fluttering by Kim and All Aflutter by Dixie.   The Butterfly Effect is what I came up with afterwards, after reading more about it.

 

 

Oak and butterfly sword scabbard watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

I really love the art of sword and archery disciplines.  This little painting of a scabbard took close to two days to draw and paint.   According to me, scabbards are blessed by dragons and imbued with special powers.  The butterflies light the dark path and the oak leaves warn the carrier of this scabbard of nearby dangers.  

 

 

The Girl and Her Cat stories - treasure hunting in the rain together watercolor painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

The Girl and Her Cat – she wants him to get under the umbrella. He needs to go into the hedge to find the thing they came here for.  “Also, cats don’t get sick from a little rain” was his answer.

 

 

The Girl and Her Cat stories - Watching sunset while camping by the lake at the mountains painting on watercolor paper by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

With increased study load,  I am forcing myself to take more breaks so I don’t repeat another crash.   I hope these photos, art and the stories brought you much joy and respite.   I will wrap up here with these four lines I wrote in my journal along with this painting –

 

Life is wonderful in my boots,

Exploring from roots to shoots.

Into the mountains, here I go,

Finding myself, no friend nor foe.

 

Until next time,
-Soma

 

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Outside The Lines

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings and Pitt Brush Pens Review by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Update on July 1st, 2025 – Hi Everyone!  I had to take a break from post writing for much longer than I had anticipated.  I will be back next week  on the 10th of July.   Please feel free to browse the Ink Torrents shop,  and I am always available via email.  See you next week!

 

Last week I was feeling a bit under the weather.  I was too drowsy to read or do anything else.  I spent the scant waking hours drawing in my sketchbook.  It had only a couple of pages left in it.   I started this book in May 2017 and I did the last drawing last week in April 2025 .   I also drew the name on the cover.  That in turn gave me an idea.  This year, I plan to explore my purchased-but-untouched art supplies in depth and share my findings here.  Outside the Lines seems like a perfect name for that series.  This time I am sharing my findings on Faber Castell’s Pitt Brush Pens alongside a look inside my finished sketchbook.

 
 

Painting With Pitt Pens by Faber Castell

 


 

 

Pitt Brush Pens Review by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Pitt Pens are brush tip pens which can be purchased individually or as sets.  I got a set of greys which also came with an M – 0.7mm and an S – 0.3mm tip pen for outlines.   These pens are completely waterproof and dry very quickly on paper.  There is no way to blend them.  After making a swatch, I started an easy painting to get a feel for them.

 

 

Pitt Brush Pens Review by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

As I can’t blend them, I decided to do block/cel shading (a solid area with darker color) instead of gradual shading.  The lightest shade of grey (#272 from the swatch) on the cup turned out very dark on the paper.  The two shades of grey on the shadows ended up looking the same.  My plan was to paint the whole thing with these pens.  However, due to the bias toward darker shades,  I used watercolor for the tea, the plant and the background in the end.  As expected, the Pitt Pens did not smudge at all.

 

 

Pitt Brush Pens Review by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Thinking they might work a little better on an architectural drawing,  I quickly drew this in my book and applied grey shades with the pens.  Once again, the lightest shade was still too dark for my taste.   Since a lot of the colors are on the dark side, it was hard to get a good contrast.  I made it work by adding a few cross-hatching shades with a pen afterwards.

 

My Findings 

The brush pens are waterproof and bright. These saturated pens are great for drawing.

By themselves, the lack of light shades limits their use for painting. Since they are waterproof, they would be a good fit for blocking areas with saturated colors and use other media like watercolor and /or color pencils for the rest of the painting.

For painting, a confident artist might find use for them, but I would not recommend them to a beginner.  

I will use mine up for drawing.  Given their high price and limited use, I would pass on them in the future.  There are less costly options.

 

 

 

Tour of my Outside The Lines sketchbook

 


 

For me, a sketchbook is where I scribble my ideas via pictures.  They are rough drawings at best.   If a book contains a collection of paintings, then I consider it to be more an art book than a sketchbook. This one is the latter.   I am sharing a few of the rough sketches here along with the finished paintings.

 

 

Magician’s Bookshelf


 

Before, once I had sketched out the preliminary idea, I would move on to directly drawing on the watercolor paper.  It’s a bad habit that I have since discarded.

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings - Magic Bookshelf painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

 

Magic Bookshelf painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Inspired by stonework, stories and books, this truly is one of my favourite paintings.   You can read a bit more about this painting here.

 

 

Arches and Vines


 

Something I started a while back  It is still work in progress.  

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Arches And Vines painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Arches And Vines painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Time has changed how I envision this picture.  What I have in mind is not anything I have painted before.  I will need to do a few experiments before I find the right way. 

 

 

Lost Sword


 

A separate note – As a software engineer, security has become second nature to me.  I blotted out the parts with my handwriting and replaced them with typed words for that reason.  

Sometimes I write down ideas and details of how I want to draw a certain piece.  After going through an incredibly sad time,  I never got to finish this sword and probably never will.  It is a stark reminder of that time.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Trading Secrets


 

When I drew this, my mind was more destructive and less constructive.   I really love the solitudinous nature of a forest; it creates such a beautiful setting for reflection.  Yet again, I turned to nature for solace.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Metamorphosis painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Metamorphosis painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

My cat is happy to be there, enjoying the simplicity only nature can bring.   An oak tree, strong and wise, protects him within its branches.  There is a green butterfly that roams there.  They trade secrets with each other.  Today, the butterfly is telling him about metamorphosis.

 

 

Midnight Cat


 

My other cat is as quiet as the moonlight.   I “zoomed in” for a better look at his expression.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Midnight Cat painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Midnight Cat painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

I painted him blue to match his eye color.  This is first of many blue and green combinations that I used in my paintings.  I want to explore this scene a bit more.   I wonder what caught his attention.

 

 

 

Unfinished Door


 

Haven’t made much progress with this one.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Unfinished Door by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

One day when the mood strikes and it tells me a bit more, I will get back to it.

 

 

The Dragon and His Boy


 

Some time ago, I hurt my right hand so badly that I could not hold a pencil for more than 2 minutes.  The thought of permanently losing the ability to draw made me so afraid that I started using my left hand.   I could do the large shapes, but not the small ones or any detail work.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Dragon And His Boy by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Dragon And His Boy by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

After much time and effort, I got the use of my right hand back.  I also changed my habits. Now  I take frequent breaks.  Many many months later, The Dragon and His Boy became a painting.

This little boy can befriend dragons very easily.   While everyone else thinks he has special powers of making dragons listen to him, he would tell you that he is simply being nice to them and listening to them.  Dragons always have such fascinating stories to tell.

 

 

The Dragon And The Tree


 

I found this tree during one my stays in the High Sierra in 2020.  I had a feeling that one day it would become part of a landscape.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Wintry Tree by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Dragon and the Tree painting by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Last year, I painted The Dragon and the Tree.  It was only going to be the tree at the beginning, then the dragon flew into the scene.

The blue dragon comes to visit this tree once a year, every year.  Around that time of the year when mountains are wrapped in solitude, she flies in during the early evening hours.  She sits at the shore, and spends the night there longingly looking at the white tree.  Once dawn breaks,  she flies away, not to be seen for another year.

Here is more on how I painted the picture.

 

 

Charlie the Happy Boy


 

Very few things in my life have make me happier than our kitty Charlie.  He has always been just a very happy boy with a penchant for “singing”. 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Charlie The Happy Boy Kitty by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

On this day, he sat under a tree in his best clothes and sang his heart out while playing a lute.  It had to be a lute that he played, didn’t matter if he was good at it or not.

This is a painting I want to finish this year.

 

 

High Sierra Inside and Outside Yosemite


 

The intense call of the mountains only gets stronger with every passing year.   Last year, I finished this trail at 10,000ft after having given up twice before due to severe altitude sickness.  I ran, hardened myself and my lungs just to be able to do this.

This is the ONLY place where I feel comfortable drawing plein air.  This sketchbook traveled with me to the mountains.

 

The Gaylor Lakes Trail by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Tenya Lake drawing by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Tenya Lake drawing by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

We found a secluded place by this rather busy lake.  I draw, while my husband reads.   As the sun dips behind the surrounding mountains and starts playing with the sunset colors,  the air temperature drops sharply, even in late summer.  Bundled up, we end up staying there until the last light.  These sketches from there invoke those memories.  I inked them at home while reminiscing. 

 

 

The Girl And Her Cat


 

I have a separate sketchbook for all the drawings of The Girl and Her Cat, but my sketchbook would not be complete without them.
 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings The Girls And Her Cat running in the snow by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

Another drawing that I want to paint this year.  I need to play with it a bit more before that though.  It is just an idea for now.  

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings Girl and Her Cat camping at the Junction Campground Saddlebag Lake by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

The last drawing in the sketchbook from last week.  I took them camping at one of my favorite campgrounds at 10,000 ft elevation.

 

 

Onwards


 

…to the next journey with another sketchbook.

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

That is a sketch of my car climbing an uphill road.  I love to drive on mountain roads.  They are challenging but rewarding along the way. I look forward to seeing how the next sketchbook unfolds.

 

 

Outside The Lines Sketchbook drawings by Soma Acharya InkTorrents Graphics @ InkTorrents.com

 

 May 2017 – April 2025 is a fairly long time that this sketchbook reflects.  I see my drawings getting more surefooted and more connected to my emotions.  It was nice to be able to share the pages here; this is something I haven’t done in this capacity before.  I will continue to share my art findings in the next Outside The Lines as I continue to play in my new sketchbook.  I will use up my Pitt Pens there too.

Until next time,
-Soma

 

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.

 

 

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