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Lisa McLean

@vanleigha

1.8K

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1889

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📖🎙Storytelling_Art(ist)
🖌 Color lover of pens, stamps, inks & paper
🌁 4th gen San Franciscan
📚 Granddaughter_ Kathryn_Forbes

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𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝗺𝐲 𝐣𝗼𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞, 𝗺𝐲 𝐟𝗼𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝗼𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝗼𝐧 𝐢𝐬 “ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ, ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ᴛᴀsᴛʏ ғʟᴀᴠᴏʀɪɴɢ ᴏғ ᴇʟᴇɢᴀɴᴛ ᴇʏᴇ ᴄᴀɴᴅʏ.” That’s how I described my collection to Sunday Scribbles blogger Alex Umali @lekzumali
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I love being a part of this community; the encouragement, education and especially the enabling. Choosing a pen and swatching ink colors is the fun part of writing - other than that, wordsmithing is one of the most difficult tasks I ever undertook during my career
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Thanks again to @endlesspens.usa for the March Women’s Month feature of all the women of the #fountainpencommunity
You can read it on their blog, Sunday Scribbles ✍🏻
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#CreativeMorningPages
#PaperNerd
#I_am_an_ink_whore
#FPGeek
#RubberStampAddict
#FountainPenAddict
#StationeryAddict
#AnalogueLife
#WashiWoman
#Pen_and_Paperaholic
#2022_Soul
#Kathryn_Forbes_Granddaughter
#ItsBoughtandPaidFor
#WearYourCrown taken in Martinez, California by @vanleigha

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5 years ago

Joy and Gratitude
(Year of the Tiger ~ Style 2 Collage)
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Wishing you prosperity you and wealth
gong xi fa cai
Semoga anda sejahtera dan kekayaan
あなたの繁栄と富を願っています
祝你发财致富
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Here’s my default analog style ~ a compendium of disparate images that I fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. I always start with a central image and a color or two or three. And where the project ends up is anyone’s guess.

I’ve never taken an art class but have been allied to commercial art all my life. I can’t draw. Have no technical skills from studying graphic design, watercolor or photography. But I love creating “pretty things”. So one way to create “art” is to use others’ images that I arrange into a new analog picture like a collage. I also love creating new digital pictures by taking simple photos of my stationeries. Or combining images gathered from news outlets or Google with with words to create a new graphic. In fact, that was why I started my IG account.

I’m enjoying this challenge to myself to define my style … and I guess the best description is “experimental”. Whether exploring an artist’s offerings or attempting a look or technique seen in another’s work. If I admire it, I’ll try it. And if I fail, that’s fine. I learned something
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Shout out to Kim @taocckc for inspiring the question
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#CreativeMorningPages
#PaperNerd
#FPGeek
#RubberStampAddict
#FountainPenAddict
#StationeryAddict
#AnalogueLife
#WashiWoman
#Pen_and_Paperaholic
#2022_Soul
#Kathryn_Forbes_Granddaughter
#ItsBoughtandPaidFor
#WearYourCrown taken in Martinez, California by @vanleigha

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5 years ago

Moons in May … how could I not with a super flower full moon; a lunar eclipse; Lin’s anniversary box; Jie’s delightful moon phases papers and delicate moon foil tapes from Journal Pages Addict?
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What’s your favorite moon 🌝 🌚 journaling item? Is it a sticker, stamp, tape, wax seal, calendar, candle, crystal or ???
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#CreativeMorningPages
#StationeryTemptress
#PaperNerd
#RubberStampAddict
#FountainPenAddict
#StationeryAddict
#AnalogueLife
#WashiWoman
#Pen_and_Paperaholic
#2022_Soul
#Kathryn_Forbes_Granddaughter
#ItsBoughtandPaidFor
#WearYourCrown taken in Martinez, California by @vanleigha

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4 years ago

Some beauties need no adornment ~ third addition to my collection of Aun glass pens. The family is looking perfect together (can’t wait to show as a group)
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#Storytelling_Artist
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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4 days ago

💫 Star spangled girls and cats drenched in the colors of summer ✨

We can’t seem to find our fall temperatures yet. It’s been 90+ degrees for ten days now. A true Indian summer. Yesterday’s high was only 77 so perhaps fall is nearby.

At the same time, I’ve pinched a nerve in my neck/head and have a condition called occipital neuralgia. It’s causing excruciating headaches and unreal scalp tenderness. I’ve had a nerve block performed but still need opioid pain killers and of course can’t drive. Silliest “injury” I’ve ever heard of. And it’s an 8-10 week healing journey <sigh>
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#Storytelling_Artist
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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7 days ago

💦🎨 Ink Splat Sunday 🎨💦

So these inks were a wild reality check and example of what happens when you can’t read the language of the country where you’re purchasing from. Their website showcased the inks as the light pastels colors shown on the marketing insert. As you can see, the resulting inks were a bit more saturated in color. I’ve got a diluting ink on the way so I can play and see if I can create the pastel colors that I thought I’d purchased. Swipe ⬅️ to see the stills

Anyone else have a funny story of not being able to read what you’re buying?
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#Storytelling_Artist
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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13 days ago

💦🎨 InkSplat Sunday 🎨💦

Five inks inspiring Quigong. I’m heading out to my first-time session tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will inspire me create my windswept cypress bonsai design this week. I picked a lovely ceramic from well known California artist at this year’s Redwood Empire Bonsai show along with a cedar not discovered until the late 70’s. It’s alive and thriving so I think it’s safe to attempt the transplant. Normally I wait a bit longer but this is a two part multi-year design and I’m anxious to get started. The Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach in Carmel, CA left such an impression on me during my childhood that I’ve always dreamed of recreating in bonsai. I saw a technique of adding driftwood to a bonsai sculpture, where the plant and driftwood become one over time. Life and death intertwined. Talk about a challenge and inspiration! Wish me luck

Oh and these inks? Sublime! Especially the AliExpress find Guyao, from ‘Collection Traced’. It’s a stunning color IRL
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#Storytelling_Artist
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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20 days ago

Going crazy finding an ink match for the blossoms on this beautiful Yurie pen. I’ve tried my own mix, but finally resorted to AI for a solution (⚡️strike me down⚡️) Although it was a slow process, I got a few directions to head. Which is your pick?

I spent half my time at the San Francisco pen show looking for an ink match to these pale gold caramel toned blossoms on my Yurie ‘Branches of Cherry Blossom’ pen. I met with the artist who suggested looking in the ‘milk tea’ ink colors. I sat with ink swatching artists at the show searching their sample books. The lovely @luxury_brandsofamerica folks helped me pick a green for the leaves (Colorverse Boxwood). But still no match. I think the ‘floral alabaster’ will get me closest with legibility.

I’ve got a kodachi grind on the 14k Boch nib so my writing gets some line variation. My own custom mix I liked was Wearingeul Stonecutters Song x Pelican Golden Beryl but I can’t get it desaturated. Experts, do I use a thinning ingredient? Let me know please!

What’s your opinion on using AI? For visual work, I found it clumsy
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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22 days ago

Such a fun day yesterday ~ celebrating Khaleesi’s ‘Gotcha Day’ at Water Barkfest 2026 and then realizing today is the last day of summer. Dog days of summer are sure true for me
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. taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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a month ago

💦🎨 Ink Splat Sunday 🎨💦

Are you an ethereal ink color person or do you prefer the deep and complex mixes?

I vacillate depending upon my mood and the season. And then there are some that leave me scratching my head asking myself, “what in the world possessed me to try that ink?” Swipe ➡️ to pick one of these for yourself 🤫
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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a month ago

Puppy in the house. I am NOT a kawaii fan but cuteness is captivating … so yeah, I couldn’t resist these sweet puppies and navy blue paired with the “Tiny Paws 🐾 Huge Love 🐾 Warming Each Day” stamp.

Our puppy’s paws are huge now. 8-inches long. She’s a streak of lightening in the dog park with those jets on her feet 👣
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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a month ago

💦🎨 Ink Splat Sunday 🎨💦

You can’t go wrong with any of these colors but I waited a long time for Snowy Mountain Sunset to come back into stock. It’s a chameleon ink showing up much more as a lilac in my Nuevo Lilac from Leonardo. Flows beautifully through my steel elastic fine nib
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#Storytelling_art(ist)
#YearoftheFireHorse🔥🐎
#2026_Discern
#FountainPenAddict
#InkSplatSunday taken in San Francisco Bay Area by @vanleigha

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a month ago