Bamboo Pen Drawings

When doing pen and ink drawing I prefer to use bamboo pens because the quality of the line you get with them can be so variable, from thick and dark to trailing away to almost nothing. I noted the spontaneity that Rembrandt and van Gogh achieved when they used reed pens.

I make my own bamboo pens by taking a stick of green bamboo and cutting the end into the shape of a ‘nib’.