Peacock pens

I have to be honest: 2023 was a mess as far as blogging is concerned. I started this blog at the beginning of this year, with full courage and dedication, but along the way I lost my intention. What is the reason? I think I underestimated the time and energy it takes to create good and interesting content. (I take my hat off to the bloggers I follow). I am willing to invest in this, but my ‘hobby’ has changed over the years, has been evolved.

This deserves a little explanation. As a hobby I actually started collecting fountain pens and writing reviews about them. This collecting frenzy resulted in a large collection of fountain pens and ink. Writing reviews fell behind because I couldn’t keep up with the pace. And then comes the turning point: what’s fun about buying pens to put them in a big pile, admire them for a while and then store them unused?

In a society where everything is getting more expensive and you have to set clear priorities, I find it difficult to justify the financing of my collecting frenzy. Not that I have to justify myself, but it feels personally uncomfortable. Over the course of 2023, I really started looking for a way to do something useful with my pens, where the mere collection is secondary.

During this search I noticed that I had a lot of fun sketching with fountain pens. I started with simple portraits. I found that I didn’t have the right skills yet and my portraits weren’t always top-notch. In the end I found my thing in watercolor sketching where the base of the sketch is drawn with a fountain pen.

This technique of loose sketching gave me so much satisfaction and joy that I have now really found the motivation to create content about it. The first steps have been taken to adapt my site accordingly. 2024 is definitely going to be a vibrant year as far as my blogging intention is concerned. One more week to fully prepare for this.

I apologize because 2023 didn’t go according to plan, but 2024 will be great!
I wish you a Merry Christmas!