Acrylic inks are a great way to start a painting. There is a loose freedom in working with ink. Thought I would share s few of the steps in creating this painting.
First step a very quick sketch to work from using acrylic inks (magenta and yellow)
Next start an underpainting with acrylics:
When this layer is dry, start in on the details:
Letting each layer dry, it is just a bit more refining and the painting is done.
I am what you call a Daily Painter, (my main website is on Dailypaintworks.com ). An often people assume I do a finished painting every day...nope. What daily painting means to me is, working towards a painting everyday. Often I do cartoons, a great way of getting a feel for the character of a subject. Sometimes I do black and white sketches, with ink or charcoal, to understand light and shadows, mass, and line.
longhorn study
It is all part of the process, that I love about art.
Off and on I like pulling out inks to work with. This painting "Into the Wind" was done with shellac based ink.
There are 4 types of inks I work with, india ink, walnut ink, acrylic ink and shellac ink. Each ink has different characteristics. India ink is classic, moderate work time, dries permanent and depending on the company making it, moderate to course pigment texture. Walnut ink is a brown color, fine texture and works much like watercolors, in that it does not dry permanent, so it can be lifted after applying. Acrylic ink I like best when working in mixed media. Acrylic ink comes in many colors, fine grain, mixes well with regular acrylics, watercolor paints or pencils, and dries permanent. Shellac ink is grainy, permanent, and dries quickly.
Shellac based is something new for me, although it has been around a long time. I am really loving the texture and bit of a shine it has when it dries. Shellac ink dilutes well just like all the other inks for creating toned washes. But what I like best about this ink is the very fast drying time. I just love the challenge of getting the brush work down fast, keeps me from over thinking the process. I haven't tried it with mixed media yet so I have some thing to look forward to.
Having something new to try really keeps me going, and with art there is always something new to try. Mary
