Quarantine & Cattails

4/9/2020

Every spring for the last twenty-some-odd years I've stopped somewhere along some road side to grab a few cattail stalks to make india ink pens.
It's fairly easy to do...grab the driest ones, fairly thin, and carve the tip into a point with a utility or x-acto knife. You can also run the tip of your knife through the tip of your pen and split it in the middle like a calligraphy pen for even better ink welling.

I decided to make a small stack of cards using watercolors for the background, and the cattail ink pen for a drawing on top.

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NOTES & SKETCHBOOK

Excerpts from:
Ask Me About My Art / 2020

Where does your inspiration come from?
"Everywhere! That's a bit of a tough question because inspiration is fluid and constantly evolving and it changes minute to minute, hour by hour. I could be passionate about circles one day and trip over a rock and obsess about the color of that particular rock for a decade. It's a constant surprise for me, that's what makes life, and art... interesting and beautiful."

What is your creative process?
"Well, that might be an entire separate book! I guess the simple answer is that I dump the things that clutter my brain into art so I can make room to upload all the new things."

What medium do you primarily work in?
"Depends on the subject, the colors I am drawn to that day, the subject I'm looking at and whatever it is that is inspiring me at that moment...I use whatever tool necessary to best convey the story, image, or message. I do seem to have a comfort level with acrylic on canvas, written word or digital photography, I frequently lean on and return to those tools after trying a few other things."

Erin Thomas is an artist living in Southern Maine

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