Soma Acharya

Dragon painting with fountain pen ink @ InkTorrents.com by Soma

Little Stories – Fairy Tale Inspired

Hi Everyone! Recently I pulled out the blocks for one of my quilts which had been stashed away for a very long time in the hope of finishing them soon. I finished this little painting using fountain pen inks, looking forward to sharing my findings with you. To wrap it all up, I have a pair of little wild flowers.

Unfinished Garden Path Quilt

Let’s start with the Garden Path quilt. I had the quilt layout design done long ago. It was inspired by the gardens I had visited in the UK. Some of those gardens really look like fairies live there.

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the pictures –

Selenite Clematis, Olivine Tulip, Kyanite Iris and Garnet Primrose

These are all 12″ flower patterns that I designed with stained glass motifs in mind.

If you are wandering about the names – I love geology and the flowers started looking very much like they were made of crystal. So, I decided to name them after my favourite minerals.

Here is the full stack of finished blocks. Only five more to make. I am hoping to finish at least two more blocks within the next two week.

A Little Experiment – Painting With Fountain Pen Ink

Fountain pens and I go a long way back. In school, from third year onwards, we were to use fountain pens only. I still remember the anticipation of getting my very first fountain pen. Since then, I have only ever used fountain pens for writing. This is a quilt block I designed based on one of my pens.

For my birthday this year, my husband gave me a fountain pen and couple of bottles of beautiful inks. I was curious to see how fountain pen ink would behave as paint, so I set out to sketch a quick painting with them.

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the pictures –

The blue ink is Pilot Iroshizuku Moonlit Night, the red is Diamine Dragon Blood Ink. Love the names. He really knows me well!

I left the ink on my palette for a few days. I was afraid that once the ink dried, it may not rewet well. To my surprise, it was as good as fresh ink with a drop or two of water.

I tried sploshing a little ink on wet paper in my little book. It spread out just like watercolour.

Although these two inks are from different companies, they mixed very well and I was able to create different shades of black, grey and purple.

The Dragon Blood ink is infused with gold coloured particles which gives it a slight shimmery effect. That part is only seen in the undiluted ink.

With watercolour, I can lift and move paint easily as long as it has not dried completely. These inks, however, would not budge at all.

I started with extremely diluted paint, and slowly built up the colour intensity by layering. The inks did not lift off when I applied the next layer. It was really easy to work with them, and I needed very little ink for this 6″ x 4″ painting.

Even the diluted colours dried with a soft but vibrant effect. I found that to be very unique to these inks.

Fountain pen inks can be quite expensive. Goulet Pen Co. sells ink samples for a very reasonable price. Jet Pens also has a very good collection.

Little Book of Dragons

This moss green journal was the very first 3″ x 4″ journal I made. The early editions of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Hobbit was bound in light green cover. As soon as I made this book, I wanted to make it a book of dragons. I am glad I waited. Now the first painting is special, made with the inks I got for my birthday and inspired by the weather on my birthday at Yosemite Valley.

Dragon And The Little Boy

This little boy can befriend dragons very easily. Not to control them mind you, but to talk to them. Dragons always have such fascinating stories to tell. 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.

Little Wild Flowers

Last Sunday, despite my deadly pollen allergies, I hazarded a little outing on a trail. Although I paid for it dearly afterwards, I found the most beautiful flowers there. These are Golden Fairy Lanterns. I found these two tucked away beside an oak tree. More on the next Wandering Camera.

I always get asked – The quilt patterns and the journals, designed and hand made by me are available in my shop.

I think we all can use a little helping of fairy tale inspiration every now and then, don’t you?

Until next time,
-Soma

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Wandering Camera – Yosemite Birthday Surprise

Hello Everyone! Welcome to this month’s Wandering Camera. Winter is full of birthdays at our home. Mine was in early January. I like to spend it quietly hiking with my camera, and eating my favourite meal cooked by my husband. This year he got me a pair of snowshoes, and, serendipitously, there was a huge snow storm just a few days before my birthday. Naturally, I had to spend it at Yosemite.

I wanted to snowshoe on my birthday. However, a change of weather in turn changed our plans. We ended up going to the Badger Pass snowshoe trail the day after. It was a crisp, cold and sunny day in the snow with a lot of smiling faces. We seem to be always the last ones to get off the trail.

One of these days I will learn to leave the mountain trails before darkness falls.

The next day, we were at the park before sunrise. The temperature that morning was -11C.

As we were wandering about, we noticed that all the trees in a meadow had turned white with Hoarfrost. It forms at very cold temperatures. We promptly put our snowshoes on, and went off walking in the knee-deep snow to the grove of trees to see them up close.

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the pictures –

The low winter sun was shining behind the tree branches, reflecting lights from a myriad frosty diamonds. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

I wish I had brought some soap water and straw, could have tried making ice bubbles. Something to look forward to next time!

The last morning there I wanted to spend in a little more time in the snow before heading out. “A little more” ended up being close to two hours. As my husband said, it was hard enough to keep me away from snow before. Now with the snowshoes, I was unstoppable. One last look and a last photo, then it was time for the drive home.

The Birthday Surprise

The weather forecast for my birthday was cloudy skies, but no rain. Then, all of a sudden in the afternoon, it started to rain and then snow began to fall. I was out of the car faster than a lightning bolt, beelining for the trees.

There was a not a single grown-up in the vicinity, only children playing. I felt very happy to be part of that group.

When we left the trees, the storm clouds started to break on the north side. If we were there, we would have seen the most amazing post-storm pink and red sky. However, with the time it would have taken us to get there, we would likely have missed the light completely. So we decided to drive into the clouds instead.

I could not have been happier. Blue hour in winter is my most favourite time for photography. That day, Mother Nature added storm clouds and mist, and this birthday girl was over the moon.

After setting up the camera, I watched the clouds and the mist flowing and playing in the meadow and the mountains behind until complete darkness surrounded us. My surprise birthday present from Mother Nature.

Once we got back to the hotel, my husband gave me the other set of birthday gifts. Then he busied himself with cooking while I played with my newly-acquired inks and pens.

The Dragon and the little boy

This is a painting I started with the fountain pen inks I got for my birthday. A story for another day.

March marks the end of outdoor time for me due to severe pollen allergies that cause chest constriction. Until October, fresh air is basically off limits except for a very limited time early in the morning when the air is completely still.

Spending a birthday in cold winter rain and snow and walking in -11C temperatures is probably not most people’s cup of tea, but it was a flask-full of tea for me! You will have to excuse me for being head over heels in love with the subtle and quiet beauty of winter and all that is considered dark and gloomy weather.

I look forward to seeing your photos and reading about them.

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Have fun!!

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