It’s Bonfire Night and the sound of exploding fireworks is unsettling Sparta Puss, who is alternating between dozing fitfully on my stool and pacing around the living room. I have a few small Khadi sketchbooks, beautiful textured handmade paper from India and some sepia walnut ink I made recently, so I grabbed a brush and started sketching her in transit. I’d previously coloured the paper with wet tea bags to break up the white with a pale brown wash, speckled by the rough texture of the paper.
I sketched her dozing, which is the page I’m least pleased with; then pacing around. She has one of those very expressive question mark tails, constantly curling around itself and it was fun following the movement with a sable brush. Finally, a couple of sketches, just a few seconds each, of her sitting down, watching me watching her. Most of the fireworks have stopped now, but the cats are staying until after the weekend, because there’s always someone who carries on with the explosions well beyond Guy Fawkes night.
scribblah 
Thank you for reposting 🙂
Reblogged this on Martha Keim-St. Louis' blog and commented:
Begging for ink recipe.
Could I ask for the recipe for walnut ink?
Hi Martha, I didn’t write it down. I Googled black walnut ink. It’s easy peasy☺
Thanks!
Very cool sketch. And the paper to use with your selfmade ink is beautiful. Have a lovely day!
Thank you so much. I love this ink.
echoing comments by “Lemon”…and I always love posts that include your cats!
Thanks Mary. I sometimes wonder if people will get bored because I draw them a lot, but they seem to have quite a few fans 🙂
It always sounds like a war reenactment in our neighborhood for days around Independence Day and New Years!
I love the homemade ink and beautiful paper, along with the question mark tail!
Thank you, Lemon. I’m loving the ink.