Thursday 6th June

 My new toy;

Many years ago I saw these for sale at the Tate Modern in London. It's a 4-in-1 biro with a difference; the colours are the same as the colours used by printers -  magenta, cyan, yellow and black. I don't think I bought one then, as I was (and am) quite sceptical of these arty toys which claim be to capable of making it possible for even a child to produce these amazing drawings. I think the rot set in with the Etch-a-Sketch - we all wanted one for Christmas when I was about 10, but they were actually quite disappointing and very difficult for the average child to draw with in real life. I certainly never managed to draw anything like this!

So, once bitten, twice shy... but at the moment I am using an ordinary blue/black/red/green biro and a small notebook as a lightweight portable memory-sketcher-book for our outings, but bemoaning the lack of a yellow. Then I suddenly remembered these pens, and sent off for one.

With a degree of disbelief I tried reproducing the colour chart in a larger sketchbook - my efforts are on the left, the card from the packaging is on the right. My word - the pen actually works!

   

I had been using a page in my 2024 sketchbook/diary (One Book to Rule Them All) book to play with the idea of creating bookmarks. I had already done three in coloured pencils (using paing while sitting on the settee being a Bad Idea) and I've added two more using the biro underneath.

I'm glad I bought a couple of pens s I have a feeling I might use them up quite quickly! I've already given one away to Vicky, my gardener friend, for her son who is doing a graphic design degree.