Treasures from nature, autumn, and a new pen

It's beginning to feel like autumn outside. Mainly grey, misty, cold, wet so far. But in my sketchbook, the warm colours of autumn have already arrived. I picked up some acorns and a beautiful litte pine cone on one of my (much too rare, I admit) Sunday walks.

I was using a pen for a little flower sketch the other day, a beautifully rich, deep black ink pen. It was fast becoming a favourite pen for future sketching and doodling. That was until I added some watercolours and discovered, that, contrary to my belief, it was, in fact, not waterproof. It turned the whole sketch into a bit of a mess, but the bleeding pen, together with the watercolours, made for a quite interesting effect, altogether. So I did another sketch, a simpler one, to explore the possibilities, and I think it works really well, giving my autumn leaves that slight autumny feel of decay. So I'll definitely continue to use this pen. I just have to remember not to use it when I don't want that effect! Maybe having put the pen itself into my sketchbook will help.

I'm already looking forward to sketching all those autumn leaves, and whatever other autumnal treasures nature will throw at my feet. I'm really hoping for a beautiful, colourful autumn.

Linking up with the wonderful Paint Party Friday. Pop over and get inspired!