ACEO No. 40, "Saint Michael No. 8" - finished this ACEO recently.  I sometimes have drawings come out a certain way on their own.  I had decided to make his hair brown for this image, but he seems to have a darker tone overall, even though I use consistent ink colors. This was completed on Crescent hot press illustration board.

I have started another one.  This will be on Winsor and Newton hot press 140 lb. watercolor paper.  The absorbancy rate of the watercolor paper is higher than illustration board, so the drawing may come out darker still, as more ink will be absorbed into the paper.

"#998 Sinningia 'Bright Eyes' "

I have been working further on this drawing - photo below

I have also mixed the ink for the blossom color - a combination of lavender and magenta.

Add these to your list of equipment- Stabilicers Walk ice cleats.  I was sliding all over the place and in danger of falling quite often when I went out.  I have many inches of ice on my roads, and deep snow off-road.  These have proven to really make the difference in being able to walk safely on ice and snow, and not being able to do that.

One thing I have done for over 25 years is to keep my own recipes for ink colors that I use consistently.  Brands of ink come and go, but by mixing my own, I can always get to a color I want.

Below is one of my ink recipes:

"LAF Cranberry"  (LAF were my initials many years ago)

I use FW Acrylic Inks, vintage Rotring Artist Color Inks, KohINoor Drawing Inks to mix my own colors.  These inks are for tecnical pens only.

If you are looking for a great way to take your pen and ink supplies with you, there is a very nice storage box to use.  It is called the Artbin Sidekick, and I have one of these as well as another of the Dick Blick version of the Sidekick. With the Blick version being just $12.59, this makes a very affordable, spacious storage box.

I keep all of my current ink bottles in the bottom half.  Currently I have 38 one-ounce bottles of ink stored here.

In the top half I keep two Syringe cleaners, vintage pens, ACEO-size boards, sample size bottles of Rotring Artist Color ink, etc., and in the top's top container I keep crowquill pens and extra nibs.

Along with my leather pen case that holds 24 filled technical pens, I can work anywhere.

If you are like me, you buy used pens when you get the chance.  Recently I purchased some used Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens.  They were sizes 3 x 0 and 1, two sizes I use often when working with multiple colors of ink.

Below are some photos that show what to watch out for when purchasing used technical pens. In the first photo below, you see three pens and an extra nib that I purchased.

This photo below shows a "typical" used pen.  There is old ink in the ink reservoir, and the nib is stuck in the nib collar.

 Here is another pen below showing typical use.  The cap has dried ink, and there is old ink in the nib weight.

Below is a photo of the extra nib that came with the pens, and it too needed a cleaning.

 The photos below show a nib in a nib collar, and then the bottom area of the nib collar.  The bottom area has to have that rectangle opening clear (sometimes they are a different shape) or the nib won't be able to draw ink.

 The nib shown below is really stuck.  This pen had been used and then left to have all the ink dry up in it.  When they are this stuck, there is no sense in forcing it.  The nib was put in an ultrasonic cleaner for four cycles before it started to free up.

In the photos above, you can see the different pens as I took them apart to check their condition.  That is the first step.  The next step is to put each one in an ultrasonic cleaner, unassembled, until there is no ink residue left on each part.  You could also soak them in Koh-I-Noor Cleaning Concentrate or even water, but an ultrasonic cleaner is faster.  When taking the nib out of the nib collar, be sure to use the correct nib key.  Vintage Koh-I-Noor pens came with a gold-colored nib key, and although it looks similar to the more modern black key, it is shaped differently.

Below is a photo of the ultrasonic cleaner I use.  For many years I had a Koh-I-Noor Ultrasonic Cleaner, but when they became hard to find, I purchased one made for cleaning jewelry.

Ultrasonic Cleaners will run a little hot if used continually to clean several pens.  I leave mine open every few cycles to allow the fluid in the tank to cool off.

After cleaning each pen, I let the different parts dry on a paper towel unless I am going to use the pen right away.  When fully dry, I re-assemble the pen.  The process of taking a pen completely apart and fully cleaning it should be done whenever a pen isn't in use.

One note on vintage Koh-I-Noor pens.  I had a size 0 vintage pen that needed a new nib.  When I started to insert a new nib, it didn't screw in easily.  I thought it just needed to be screwed in a little hard, until I had a second thought and took it out again.  The original nib's weight collar had been in the nib area of the barrel, and prevented the new nib from being inserted easily.  The resistance wasn't that much, but I probably would have ruined the pen if I had forced it.  Try to look inside the barrel of a vintage pen before inserting a replacement nib.

Below is my current work space.  The pens on the left are in use, each with a different color.  The pens on the right are empty and clean and ready to be used.

I have a plain purple, commercially purchased African violet.  It has decided to set a seed pod!

When speaking of equipment needed for botanical illustration, one can't forget items that are beyond the art table.  One item that is essential is a pair of "Wellies".  Wellington-type garden / rain/ mud/ snow/swamp/ meadow/ bog / boots.  The photo below is of my pair from L.L. Bean - these have been essential to me for tramping around collecting plant specimens or digging plant material to work from a live plant.  Mine aren't lined, so I have other boots for deep winter, but these are my go-to shoes for 90% of what I do that is involved with growing or drawing plants.

There is so much today about recycling and re-using materials.  One very important item to re-use is glass ink bottles.  Dick Blick company used to sell glass ink bottles that were empty, by the dozen.  Their supplier went out of business and they haven't found a replacement source.  So, save your empty ink bottles!  I use an old Dymo labeler to put labels on my own mixes of ink, stored in re-used ink bottles.

It's nice to be warm and working inside:

Best book:"Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" by Michael A. Dirr-When you get the chance, plant a tree -plan now for spring

I am currently working on two drawings in pen and ink.  The first is a Saint Michael ACEO :

In the photo above, you will see an error I don't usually make.  On the right side, in the blue/green area, there is a small area where I started to add a light green.  This area will end up fairly dark, so it may not show when I am finished, but just a simple thing as starting without checking you have the right pen can ruin a drawing.  I had several of the same size pens in front of me, and just started with the wrong one.

The other drawing I am working on is "#998 Sinningia ' Bright Eyes' ".  This drawing is also an ACEO-sized drawing, on Aquabee Super Deluxe Sketch Paper.  There are several things to point out in this drawing.  First, for my professional-level drawings, I fully draw the subject using a 2H or harder pencil, keeping the lines very light.  In this drawing, I used a 2B pencil, changed things, added things, and erasure marks will probably show up on this paper after I am finished.  I use a white vinyl eraser because it is the cleanest at removal of pencil lines.

The next thing to point out - I had planned on using FW Yellow Ochre as my base yellow.  I usually rely on FW Process yellow for my first layers, but this plant has a warm undertone to it, so I used a warmer yellow.  On the left leaves there are three layers: the first is yellow ochre, the second is light green, and the third is process yellow.  I really feel that process yellow, a bright color, also ties a drawing together on the same plane.  On the right side of the left leaf, there are the two yellows, and I will be adding greens after I fill in all of the areas with process yellow.