Tag Archives: Acrylic ink

Sktchy and Me: 2017 Edition

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You’ve heard me talk before about how much I like the Sktchy app I have for my phone but maybe you’re not quite sure what it is or how it works.

Here’s a blurb from the Sktchy website:

What is Sktchy?

Sktchy is an artist’s best friend. Find drawing inspiration in an ever-updating gallery of reference photos. Upload your own photos so other artists can draw you. Discover and connect with amazing artists from around the world. Share your creativity in a fun, supportive community. Bye-bye, creative block!

What if I’m not an artist?

Even if you don’t call yourself an artist, you have creativity worth sharing with the world, and Sktchy is a fun, no-stress way to get started. The Sktchy community welcomes and includes artists of all skill levels, from gallery-repped professionals to amateur doodlers. No matter where you fall in that spectrum, Sktchy is for you.

Sktchy is definitely my go-to site for artistic inspiration!

After a slow start I ended 2017 by creating sixty five drawings of human and animal portraits along with a few landscapes. I was inspired to make a slideshow of my entire 2017 Sktchy work after a few of my friends did the same.

Just under two minutes of fun… I hope you enjoy it!

If the embedded video won’t play please use the link to view it through YouTube.

It’s Almost Time For ….

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InkTober!
This is my second year participating and I’m gearing up for 31 days of pen and ink art.

The “rules”, if you can call them that, are simple.

Jake Parker, the creator of InkTober says:  Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. INKtober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.

This year Jake Parker has created a list of prompts to use if that appeals to you. It’s not really my thing; I usually prefer to choose my own subject but as they say, “never say never”. I’ll keep an eye on the prompt list and maybe there’ll be some synchronicity.

 

Oh, what to use… does it really matter? I pulled out my entire arsenal today. I’m ready!

I’m hoping to post my pages here as I did last year… daily through October. Wish me luck!

#inktober, #inktober2016

New Sketchbooks… Finally!

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Five months, that’s how long it took me to finally finish my new books!

Way back in September I tore down a dozen sheets of Strathmore 500 Mixed Media paper, one of my favorites for visual journaling. Folded into folios and collated they formed 36 signatures… 72 folios, 2 folios per signature. Using 9 signatures each I was able to make four book blocks.

Journal2

As I bound them I included sewn-in endsheets of a single folio of Canson Mi-Teintes. Clockwise from upper left:  South Seas, Parma, Green and Plum.

Journal1

And then they sat, taunting me from the carry-case where I put them, safe ’till I could glue up the spines and case them in. There was plenty of time to finish them but every day brought more procrastination.  As I was working on my TO DO list I realized I could accomplish a lot by just finishing those d*#n books!

I set to work collecting my tools and supplies… pencil, ruler, X-acto knife, PVA, mull, book cloth, and cover paper.  Cover paper! … but I don’t have any!

I decided to paint my own cover paper using another Strathmore paper, this time their Aquarius II. Luckily I had some in my stash. It’s a cotton/synthetic blend which resists buckling when painted, even with very wet media. I’ve been experimenting with acrylic inks and decided to color coordinate them with each journal’s end sheet.  Monday afternoon I splashed water and inks, mostly playing wet in wet but also testing drawing with black ink and filling the shapes with color. The pomegranate paper came from that trial… I love it!

Journal3

If you look closely at the dots in the uppermost turquoise book you can see I also used a little pearlescent ink for shimmer. Acrylic inks don’t change the hand of the paper and aren’t sticky as acrylic paint often feels, especially if the paint is layered on too thickly. I noticed on my previous journals my handmade book cloth didn’t hold up very well. The corners wore down to the boards, most likely due to the use and abuse my journals get knocking about in my purse. I always have one with me.  This time I used commercially made navy book cloth for both blue papers and black for the others.

Journal4

Ta Da!!! Four NEW approximately 8 inch square sketchbook-journals!

Hmmmm… I love them all… which one is your favorite?

 

Paint Those Pages!

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I had all sorts of great ideas of how I was going to fill my Sketchbook Project with all sorts of splashy watercolor… that is, until it arrived.  It has the absolutely thinnest paper I’ve ever worked on!  But I one of my goals was to use the sketchbook as-is.  No adaptations.

But I want color!

I thought of using colored pencils but I really wanted full backgrounds full of vibrant pigments.  I recently read Alisa Golden’s book from a few years ago, Painted Paper, where she promotes the use of acrylic ink dry-brushed across the pages.  Acrylic ink, NOT acrylic paint.  It doesn’t leave a plastic feel to the paper so the pages won’t stick even in humid weather and she claims it will be easier to write on.

Painted Paper book

Brilliant!  Well, believe me, even the driest dry-brush completely warped the paper.  Ah-ha!  I’ll iron it flat!  Amazingly, it worked.  I tried different techniques on each spread.  Some I brushed, some were stamped; I even hand cut a stencil from a cereal box and spritzed diluted ink onto the page.  Each time I ironed the pages dry and flat… ish.  They make a wonderful crinkly sound when turned.

SP 8-9

SP Stencil & Ink

Now I have a book filled with vibrant color.  Just what I wanted.

SP fanned

Hmmm… now to fill the book!  I’m going to pour myself a cup of peppermint tea and get to work.  These are the 2014 Official Themes: Strange Neighbors / Borders and lines / A simple place / Accidents / Found! / Dudes and latitudes / To the last page! / First aid kit / Say words out loud / Paper airplanes / This list… / Atlas of… / Greetings from… / 32 Days / This is not about you / This is not about me.

I’m thinking an atlas of…….