u/HulyaGuler

This was a window facing the inner courtyard of the apartment I was staying in last month. For days, I admired it. Finally, on my second last day in Paris, I completed the sketch and the drawing you see here.

In both cases, I first did an underdrawing in pencil, went over it using Pelikan Brilliant Black ink in a Pilot Falcon fountain pen, and then erased the pencil marks using a kneaded eraser. The sketch (20.3 x 14 cm) is in a small sketchbook. I had been working on the drawing (30.5 x 22.9 cm) for several days, but it hadn't been going anywhere, and I had pretty much given up on it. It was a very hot day, and I had to put a damp towel around my neck with ice cubes inside it and also sip ice water the entire time.

This is a sketch I made last week in Paris. I did the underdrawing in pencil, continued in ink (Pelikan Brilliant Black in a Pilot Falcon fountain pen), and then erased the pencil marks.

It was an extremely hot day, and the sketch got smudged in three or four places. At first, I thought my hands were sweaty and used a paper napkin to protect the drawing, but even the kneaded eraser caused smudging. I think the heat may have affected the properties of the ink, because I don't remember this ever happening before.

I did this Saturday afternoon, sitting on a bench across from the Arc de Triomphe. Pen and ink on paper, 30.5 x 22.9 cm.

(My phone camera has darkened the bottom of the page. In the actual drawing, there are no greys; there is only black and white.)