A Peek In My Sketchbook: Pomegranate Ink Drawing With Cross Hatching

If you are having a hard time fitting an art practice of some kind into your busy schedule, a smallish sketchbook, might just be THE thing! After six months of a consistent sketchbook/art journal practice I am just thrilled by the concept in general, and have gotten over my fear of making mistakes or entries that aren’t up to snuff in my journal, and I am here to encourage you to give it a try. There is just something about creating in a journal that is not restricting as I always thought, but rather freeing, and best of all, you don’t have to figure out what to do with that sketch or painting, it is already part of a book that documents your creative journey!

Yesterday I was trying to paint a pomegranate, (pomegranates are a holy fruit and we hang them in the succah, not to mention they are now in season) and so I did a search of pomegranate drawings for reference. I came across a pen and ink drawing that I just loved, so I simply copied it, which is totally fine and the way that artists learn! When I say copy, I mean, I tried to copy it, as my knowledge of shading with cross hatching is very limited. (Of course I can not sell this as my own art, as far as I know, as it does resemble the original and that would be copyright infringement, but I can certainly share it with you). And, interestingly enough, I also realized that I ought to pull out that book in my library on pen and ink drawing techniques and actually learn a bit about the traditional technique of shading with pen, called cross hatching. It has a vintage look to it that is also contemporary, especially when you really see the strokes. So dear readers, start sketching, start copying in order to learn new techniques and then sit back and enjoy the journey. Well don’t sit back exactly, use all those extra minutes to work on your art. I promise you’ll be so happy you did!

Ah yes, and by the way, that pomegranate painting didn’t turn out so well as I overworked it, but this drawing, I love it, as long as I don’t look at it too closely…….
A tiny peak at the adjacent page, which is a colorful acrylic paint something or other…….folks have mentioned that there is a problem with facing pages sticking together when painting with acrylic paint in an art journal, so this is the solution, pain on one page and draw on the next, plus the combo of color next to black and white is truly stunning.

Here is the art that I copied, you can find it here: https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/hand-drawn-pomegranate-branch-vector-23264566, if you want to purchase it for a project rather than just using it as reference.