I know what you are thinking. Sheila! Paint something different!

Still here is another flower.

In an effort to gain familiarity with Alcohol Inks, I gave myself one less thing to worry about. Trying new subject matter. My first attempt turned out to have too many harsh edges. Notice the red below.

I went back in with the yellow to soften the red. I don’t feel entirely successful. Not what I had in mind. But it did soften those lines. Maybe if I went back in with the caramel color, the mix of red and that… hmm. Thinking, thinking.

By the way, I am still learning the Brand color names, so bear with me. I don’t have them sitting in front of me now. The “red” is actually Pinata Senorita Magenta. Which I have decided I don’t like on its own, but mixed it has promise. (It is too neon pink for me.) Pinata colors are highly saturated, intense pigments.

I finally figured out how I should set my work space up for the inks. Sandy showed us how she works. But for some reason, my fear of making a permanent mess kept me from, spreading out.

 

 

Working like I do with watercolor. Two containers for cleaning the brush (usually use three). These are filled with alcohol. Two paper towels for the double dip cleaning. (Dip in dirty alcohol, clean on dirty towel, repeat with clean alcohol and towel). An extra sheet of paper to use as a palette, and another to use as a mask.  I used a stylus to apply clean alcohol in the flower head for controlled spots, as well as splattering ink.

I feel more in control working with a brush. Rather than pouring straight from the bottle. But a brush requires MAJOR cleaning after each color. That makes me feel like I am wasting a lot of product. I think maybe if i use a different brush for each color, I can avoid the waste. (Thank goodness for cheap brush packs!) A limited palette and one thorough cleaning at the end of a session might work. Thinking, thinking.

And yes, Sandy, this is exactly how you showed us to set up! Teacher knows best! And yes, I trust you. It’s my clumsiness I did not trust.

 

I was leery about scanning the inks. Would they stick to my scanner? I waited until I thought this was dry, and I even pressed a clean paper over it to check, and pull off any wet ink. Still, it stuck. And I am not too keen on having to clean my scanner after every ink scan. The final image above was scanned, and the before was a camera shot (phone). Maybe if I scan with the lid raised a bit, it won’t be a problem.

 

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.
1Peter 1:24-25