Experimenting with ink

 

I have asked Megan to work with me to test a new 'watercolour' technique. I want to see if I can do pieces where you build up layers using permanent inks - maybe even starting with main image on the bottom layer.

The above image shows where we got to experimenting with acrylic ink over permanent ink pens and a touch of salt.

I had talked to Fiona about wanting to test this approach and she immediately said, "I have lots of inks from my calligraphy days so why don't you try those." Fiona has both alcohol and acrylic based inks. The first thing Megan got me to do was to test the colours and different types of ink on 300gsm watercolour paper - see below.

The alcohol based inks did not work well on the watercolour paper - but we will give Yupo paper a try.

I wanted to test the acrylic inks on a cottage dusk image - the opening image; and one of the cove fishing nets drying poles. 

See process-process images below - including paper drying under a heat lamp. I will keep adding layers of ink to the last piece to see if I can build it up to get a rich colour and layered piece.

I think I'm going to have a lot of fun playing with this new medium.