Caroline started her discussion on drawing with sticks by showing us her supply of various garden sticks. The one that she chose to use was a bamboo garden stick about 18 inches long that was broken off leaving a pointed end. She held this at it’s end. She mentioned that you could use many types of sticks for other mark making as well. The stick that she had could do scratches, lines, dots, blotches, etc.
She chose a tiger head to draw with the stick and stated that one should draw out the overall shape to start with and then use hatching to draw in the shadows. You can use a twig with frayed edges for this as well. This is also good for landscapes. She stated you should get to know your stick with the thin and fat bits and where the ink moves around with it.
The ink used was Quink, which dries paler and just needs to be layered to darken. You can use water soluble ink, which can be washed out. You can also use water down acrylic paints.
There is no reason why you couldn’t use anything else for mark making such as Seagull quills which she splits down the middle. Just go out and look for natural or man-made objects that give unusual marks and have fun.
