Not only is Capt. Phil getting ready for our 2023 cruise by tuning our equipment and installing new shades and new blinds, I've been refining my drawing techniques and learning how to use new tools.

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New this summer, I will exclusively be drawing with water-based ink brushes, liquid graphite, and a wide-range of pens. Instead of using hard, wedge-shaped "felt tips," the new brushes have soft brush-like tips on one end, and hard, altra-fine tips on the other. With a touch of water, they behave like watercolor washes and are available in multitude of colors.

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Liquid graphite is graphite like used in pencils, but it behaves like paint, providing wonderful shadows and grayscale images without having to constantly sharpen lead, or dip into black watercolor for the same effect.

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With these new supplies, I'll be creating "People Cards" to remember the people we meet. The illustrations below will give you an idea on how these cards will be set up. Unfortunately, my scanner doesn't pick up certain colors, which turns the color of skin to various shades of gray. Until I figure out a fix, we'll just have to put up with it.