Author: Jane Hannah

Canadian painter, sketcher and retired teacher. An avid foodie and traveller and just curious about everything and anything.
Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

A time for celebrations

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Finally have internet high speed! Yeah! We are settling in nicely in our new condo in Sandy Hill, Ottawa. So happy with our choice and a new style of living begins. Our bikes are being tuned and ready for the great bike paths of Ottawa. I can hear birds chirping away all day long, so the Mrs. is happy -) This is a view from our balcony which overlooks many embassies… Australia, Brunei, Brazil, Germany, Kenya, Croatia, Serbia, Egypt and many more. You can see the Australian Embassy’s flag just to the right of the red brick house on the left… if you wish to take out your magnifying glasses…

Finalement nous avons l’internet! C’est comme manquer d’électricité, aussi pire à mon point de vue. On s’installe tranquillement et sûrement dans notre nouveau condo de Sandy Hill, Ottawa. On est très contents de cette nouvelle vie en ville… et j’ai des oiseaux qui chantent aussi -) Nos bicycles sont en train de se faire tuner pour rouler sur les pistes cyclables de cette belle ville. Contente la madame! Voici une vue de notre balcon qui donne sur de nombreuses ambassades… Australie, Brunei, Brésil, Allemagne, Kenya, Croatie, Serbie, Égypte et bien d’autres encore.

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Angel :: Inktober 16

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I’ve looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It’s life’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know life at all.
— Joni Mitchell

Had a lovely night with dear friends yesterday, and I am energized even though a tad tired as we went to bed quite late.

During our trip to Greece in Fall 2022, I bought a statue that celebrates Nike, the goddess Victory near the Acropolis in Athens. The real statue resides at the Louvre in Paris, and I think that it should be returned to Greece, which is her homeland after all.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of the rare Greek statues whose exact original location is known. It was made as an offering to the gods for a sanctuary on the Greek island of Samothrace. Placed at a height, people could see her from afar. Nike, the winged goddess who heralds victory, is seen just as she is about to alight on a ship. — https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/a-stairway-to-victory

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my imagination -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Sword :: Inktober 15

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments on :: Sword :: Inktober 15

History is herstory too.
— Author unknown

The Inktober prompt today was “sword” and I thought of my scottish Hannah family motto Per ardua ad alta which means Through straits to heights. I tweaked our family motto to fit the “sword” prompt, adding a sword on the left-hand side. It’s always nice to dabble with your surname.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my imagination -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Handbook Travelogue, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Castle :: Inktober 14

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There are worse crimes than burning books.
One of them is not reading them.
— Ray Bradbury

One of my best books that I read at about 14 years old was Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Read this at any age, it is so good.

Just wanted to mention something about the Pilot Falcon Soft Pen EF. It took me months and months to start enjoying this pen, which I paid a hefty sum in my view, for a pen that I didn’t really appreciate. But oh boy! Has it turned around? At the beginning it felt scratchy and didn’t fit my hand that well. But I have adapted and now it has become smooth and fits perfectly. Weird huh? Maybe that the scratchiness has disappeared because I have used it a lot? Also, I used to swear by other pens because of their fine line, but this one surpasses all of them. So you never know, until you use a tool enough and that you adapt to it.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my imagination -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Rise :: Inktober 13

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To learn is to broaden, to experience more, to snatch new aspects of life for yourself. To refuse to learn or to be relieved at not having to learn is to commit a form of suicide; in the long run, a more meaningful type of suicide than the mere ending of physical life… Knowledge is not only power; it is happiness, and being taught is the intellectual analog of being loved.
— Isaac Asimov

I must still be in Halloween mode as it is a bit scary. I’m scared of snakes but I love mushrooms and trees. So two to one. Snakes are so beautiful though, aren’t they? Mushrooms and snakes are so bloody nice to draw… and trees of course! So if you don’t know what to draw, just draw trees and the flow in their bark will inspire your hand to draw more.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star
Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my brain -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

:: Spicey :: Inktober 12

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Time is not a thing that passes…
it’s a sea on which you float.
— Margaret Atwood

My idea was good!…. at first. Then trying to make it happen, well.. not quite so good. My first thought for spicey was a dragon with fire coming out of his mouth. Not bad, huh? Then I told myself: “What if he was gripping a hot pepper?” Well, now the difficulties arose, as I muffed up the dragon’s face so he is barely recognizable and then the hot pepper is just too “soft”? Anyway, you get the gist of it all -))) Some days you have it, others less so…

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star
Pens: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my brain -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Wander :: Inktober 11

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There’s nothing like drawing a thing to make you really see it.
— Margaret Atwood

Never thought that drawing sand dunes would be so difficult.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star
Pens: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my brain -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Fortune :: Inktober 10

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The flower’s pollen is the bee’s fortune,
but for humankind, the bee is our fortune.
— Jane Hannah

A busy bee this one… even though it looks like something that could be in Starwars –))) Had way too much fun drawing this “fortune” prompt and I think that I slightly overdid it.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pens: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album (last page).
Location: my mind -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Bounce :: Inktober 9

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I love fiction’s ability to allow me to inhabit a wholly different life.
— Rumaan Alam.

I am presently reading with my Book Nuts Club “The Librarian of Burned Books” by Brianna Labuskes and am enjoying it so much. It is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war. I actually dreamt about it last night and I woke up sweating. Hah-hah!

One of my two favourite wild animals in the world are whales and elephants. These giants are so intelligent and they amaze me with their curiosity. Still can’t believe that we are killing these gentle giants in 2023. However my favourite domesticated animal is surely the dog, especially Golden Retrievers, as I consider them to be gentle giants too. Do some of you remember The Gentle Giant TV show in the 60s? I am discovering the world of parrots at the moment and boy are they mischievous, intelligent and fun! If I had known I would have adopted one in my 20s and still have it. Aaahhh, things that we ignore when we are young even though we tend to think that we know everything.

Coming back to painting and drawing, I was reading Roslyn Stendahl’s “Patience in Watercolour” yesterday and she is so right. I become a very impatient painter with watercolours as when I am in the flow, I tend to think that if I stop painting to let it dry, that the flow will disappear… I won’t be able to get back into that state. But she talks about the type of watercolour paints that we should buy, which colours to pick and so on. She has years of experience in teaching also and is very generous with her knowledge.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pens: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: a photo from Unsplash -)

#inktober, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Toad :: Inktober 8

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I would have artists be convinced that the supreme skill and art in painting consists in knowing how to use black and white…
because it is light and shade that make objects appear in relief.
— Leon Battista Alberti

Well I had a heck of a fun time drawing this. Don’t ask me what I tried drawing though, what kind of a world, but it fits just fine with my love of sci-fi books. I just went with the creative flow. Funny, I used to teach a Creative Workflow course at John Abbott… seems years ago to me even though it has only been two years since retirement. I do hope though that you can see the two toads here? At the rhythm that I am drawing with Inktober this year, I’ll probably have done my 30 drawings by the end of the year? Doesn’t matter, this is fun -)))

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pens: Tachikawa Nikko G Pointed Nib & Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my imagination -)