Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Prayer for Wild Hearts

I started this a while ago but messed it up so I put it away. I decided to see what I could do with it. It's like part of an old, worn, peeling rain-stained fresco in some rundown church.  It must have about 18 layers of graphite, acrylic, gesso, ink, ShinHan Touch alcohol markers, Derwent Colorsoft and Inktense colored pencils and more.  The gesso is scraped on thick so it has the texture of plaster.  All is aged and faded except the newly escaped heart, flying away.   This is about 14x9 on 1/2 thick wood.

This is a bad picture, it has some glimmer to it, the underpainting which shows through the blue is metallic sparkly bronze and the drips where done with bronze shimmer acrylic inks thinned out with some water.  The winged heart is very dimentional, it has think glazing on the wings which has glittter and the glazing is crackled.  Really is very pretty.  I might try and retake the photo if our weather clears up, it's been drizzling rain and gray outside, bad lighting for photos.

Anyone want to buy it??  :)

Friday, June 03, 2011

Playing with Dip Pins, Ink and Water and Home Made Liquid Alcohol Inks

This entry in my art journal was done with black and white pen ink and water sprayed on it and the ink ran where it wanted to go.  I also pulled out some of the inks to make the branches.  It reminds me of very old trees which rise up out of the tundra; dead, weathered, twisted and cracked,  bleached white by season after season of extreme cold and then heat.  Weather beaten by rain, snow, ice, sun, and wind but still standing and sculpted into some otherworldly figure.

 I have really been wanting to buy some liquid alcohol inks.  Such vivid colors and cool things can be done with then when spritzing them with rubbing alcohol or blending fluids.  I had some duplicate color ShinHan Touch Twin markers so I decided to make my own liquid inks.  I collected small spray bottles, filled them with 1 to 2 ounces of rubbing alcohol.  I then started dismanteling my markers.  I placed the nibs in the alcohol, then pulled out the ink pad or whatever it is that holds the ink in the marker.  I sliced it open and then cut it to about 1 inch pieces and placed them in the rubbing alcohol in the spray bottles.  After a few minutes, the ink in the nibs and pad leeches out and colors the alcohol and now I have liquid inks which I can spray and drip and do whatever with!!  This is my tester page.  Of course, the rubbing alcohol smells but it fades pretty quickly as the alcohol evaporates.  I like to do it near an open window.   

I don't plan on using any more markers for this.  I will just buy some alcohol ink marker refill ink and use that.  Right now, Copic is the only refillable ink available that I know of but ShinHan Touch Twin hopefully will be coming out with their refillable markers and the ink refills soon.  I will buy the Touch ink refills and then the inkologist will begin experiments!  I just love the bright colors and water proof, but not alcohol proof so can do lots of cool techniques.