Yupo, Ink, and Watercolor Experiment

Since I am just exploring alcohol inks I have been using Yupo watercolor paintings that did not work out for my painting surface. Most of the watercolor paint, if it is not a staining color, can be wiped off with water, providing a clean white surface to paint on. This time I decided to leave some of the watercolor paint to see how the alcohol inks would react. They did not like one another. Maybe because the watercolor was dry, the alcohol did not have any effect on the watercolor. The inks lost some of its spreading ability and without the smooth white surface and they lost some of their glow. However, I fine the contrast rather interesting, providing a challenge to resolve.

I wanted to add some fine line work so I chose a white gel pen. The big mistake I made was not making sure the surface was completely dry. The inks clogged up my new pen. I have tried every known way to clean it, but instead I just killed it! I also notice the dye bleeds through the white gel ink, to the point that the white lines may completely disappear in time.

Derwent Inktense colored pencils are just the thing to enhance the inks. When you dip them in water, they are as intense as the inks!

Unlike the first alcohol ink paintings in my previous post where I just dropped the inks and did a little wipe out, this one was a challenge! I cannot believe the amount of time I spent painting this little piece, but it was lots of fun. Now to see what else I can do with these inks.