Every Drawing Is Like a Rorschach Test For Me.

This week, I, again, tried to get up the nerve to submit a tangle drawing to this weekly challenge.  I am still unsure whether I will or not.  But needless to say, I enjoyed this week's challenge and it helped me discover that you can draw a lot of different things with the same design, which was really interesting.  The challenge called for this pattern which I quickly began to enjoy.  Because I enjoyed it, I ended up attempting several different ways to use the pattern.  I found that I want to "connect everything" inside the tangle, which produced some neat results.  Then I tried to do the opposite, and not connect everything almost leaving a skeleton-like appearance (to me at least).  Then, I decided that I really like making lines with circles at the end, so I just played around with it while listening to the FPGeeks Fountain Pen Radio broadcast this morning, and really enjoyed the end result.

I think that because I learned the pattern this week, and realized its versatility, and became comfortable with it, I ended up actually kind of drawing something.  When I began this journey, I thought I couldn't draw.  I am learning that drawing, like everything else in life, requires practice.  And patience.  Practice and patience.

The last photo is just me trying two new patterns in one drawing: Inapod and Printemps.  You can find the instructions for each here and here, respectively.

Out of all the drawings this week, I think that I like this one the best.  It's really a variation of the Bridgen pattern because at some point, I stopped drawing lines and circles and simply began drawing new lines to connect the existing circles.  This drawing definitely evokes a feeling of unity and interconnectedness.  Several years ago, I took the "strengths" test in the book "Now Discover Your Strengths".  My primary strength, according to the authors, is connectedness.  After reading their explanation of the strength, I agreed with them.  I was reminded of this quality while drawing this tangle.

Same with this version, except I tried to make sure that all of my lines were straight and not curvy.  Depending upon which way I turn this one, it either reminds me of the Millennium Falcon, or the cartoon kid from Where's Waldo.  

I made myself stop connecting everything and simply did what the pattern called for.  I think this "bare bones" type appearance gives the pattern a very Eames-ish feel to it.  It also leaves me feeling uncomfortable because the drawing feels naked and unfinished, and just...lacking in general.     

This is just my "wing it" attempt while listening to the FPGeeks Fountain Pen Radio broadcast.  It's freehand and whatever I felt like doing at the moment.  This sorta reminds me of a science project that I did back in the sixth grade.  In reality, it is likely close to the pattern Tink which I haven't "studied" but was the precursor to this week's pattern, Bridgen.  I really like this drawing.  It has both connectedness and a sense of flow at the same time.

Drawing with fountain pens: LAMY Vista EF / J. Herbin Vert Empire.    Like I said, I'm just learning and there is a lot of room for improvement.  I need to pay more attention to "closing my circles" and staying inside the lines.  Or maybe I need an eye exam, which very well could be true.  I enjoyed drawing with an EF LAMY nib, but think it's still too wide.  I will likely try to acquire some type of Fine nibbed pen from Sailor.  This drawing makes me think of the old Twizzler's commercial that featured a big claymation mouth chewing on Strawberry Twizzlers.