Playing...practice, practice, practice

Whichever way you want to look at it, it is still great fun!  These are little 4 x 6 cards so if one turns out really bad I can just toss it.

Loved how this one turned out, using the edge of a credit card to manipulate the inks.

This was inspired from one I saw in my AI group.  I liked hers better, but this one came out pretty cool too.  What looks gray here is actually silver, so it shimmers at the right angles.

With this one I waited till the inks were almost dry to drag the card through in a zigzag pattern.  I love the results...will do this again!

Loved the color merges that happened in this and the card edge was used while the inks were still pretty moist so it blurred nicely into a different look.  

Following the frame style again...

Did a picture to look good in a frame I already had, and it took forever, as I kept changing and adding to it...

...and I guess it was worth the hassle, as the AI group I am in all loved it.  The colors are much softer than others before and I wasn't sure if it worked.  But I will take public opinion happily and put it out there for someone to purchase.

Wild and crazy colors...

Felt like playing without too much thought and threw these inks together.  Kept messing with combos and even erased with an alcohol soaked make-up square.  Decided it looked un-earthly, so added a couple comets and a few planets and VOILA..."Somewhere Out There"  

Framed Falls

Here it is in the nice big frame...it doesn't show the detail carving in the edge very well, but the frame came out really nice after I removed the beige paper 'linen' mat look, and sprayed it with clear matte a couple times.  

Perfect for a big rustic frame...

Had a nice chunky frame that I am in the process of cleaning up and giving a nice soft shine finish.  Then I did this 8 x 10 to put in it.  Thought the rough rocks and orange sky would suit the frame.  I'm calling it 'Waterfall"

Doesn't have to be on paper...

This is going back to my Zentangling, but with a difference...

The background on the plate was inked first, then sprayed with a clear finish.  The zentangle went on after and the great inks did the coloring from underneath...Neat!

Framing...a necessary task.

Had to get to work on framing all these fun scenes I am making with the inks.  So here we go...

Simply called Fence...

And here is the fence pic in a nice wood frame...

This one is Quiet Pond, one of my larger tries...

And I really like how it looks in its big white frame.  One of those times it was worth getting a nicer frame with a mat.

 

This little guy has quite a reflection on him, but the trees give you the idea of the scene...White Birches.

And this bright perky one was cut to size for the frame, as I had painted it a long while ago, and thought it needed a cool pic to put in it.

Revised water scene...

This  is one that I had done at the beginning of my adventure with these inks, and I didn't like the sky.  But I kept learning and experimenting, and used canned air to make waves, and a q-tip to mess up and smooth out that stormy sky.  Then I added rocks for the waves to have something to splash against.  Now I like it...

 

A small piece of outer space...?

My granddaughter asked if the inks wouldn't make a cool stars and planets and comets type of sky.  So I gave it a try.

This one is a great big 11x14 and was great fun pushing that much ink around.  I had pics I found on Pinterest to inspire me.

This one is a little 4 x 6 with some fine glitter sprinkled over the orange nebula.  

I tried a little of everything in this one...planets, comets, and sprinkles of stars...

The woodsy looks...

The first try was a bit surreal...

This one looked a little closer to real and worked with acrylics added for the little flowers.

This one was my first try at using a credit card edge to make the trees look enough like trees...lol

This is a little 4x6 for practice and came out looking pretty good, so I will frame it, too.

This one I called "Quiet Pond" and was inspired from a pic I found on Pinterest...It is quite large, as it is 11 x 14 Yupo paper.  

Beach Themes....love them

We spend time at the beach in Rhode Island every summer, and at the CT. beaches when we can. 

These yearly trips make for lots of inspiration.   Pushing around the inks to make interesting skies is great fun.  I used liquid mask to make a clean spot to put in the seagull.

The mask idea worked here for the pelican, too.  Really had fun making a vibrant sky and trying to get some reflection in the water.

5 x 7 practice time...

Here is a cluster of small ones I practiced on.  The group I am in has lots of suggestions on what to use to make the various shapes happen.

This one is a scenic attempt...water and sky with a moon.

This is blowing the ink out with a straw to make petals.

Here I tried to make a pond effect and used a credit card to push up the grasses.  Then used a thin brush to make a bit of accent in brown acrylic at the front.

Here I used canned air to push the white up onto the green to give the effect of water hitting the rocks in the foreground.  Rocks made use of the credit card edge again.

This looks so simple now that I have done more complex methods, but it was a good first try at water with waves and foam.

Now the flowers are getting more 'flower-shaped'  

...and this one came out surreal, but pretty cool.

This one has ink for the background, and mettalic gel pens for the dragon fly.  Simple but showing the effect of two mediums used together.

Catching up...again!

I've had a long break from the blog, and a lot has been going on.  I am still doing glass totems, still doing zentangle on plates and paper, still sewing ....BUT I found a new fun thing to play with

ALCOHOL INKS ...  like this

It involves white tile I already had, 91% isophryl alcohol you can by at the pharmacy, and these great alcohol inks in little bottles in so many colors.  

...so I made many sets of fun colors to sell in the shops I am working with...YES I have gotten into The Fantastic Umbrella Factory shop called South County Artisians Loft, down in Charlestown, RI.  

And I am still in a small shop in Old Lyme, Ct.  Then there is a little space in a building that houses many shops, like a mini-mall, in Middletown.  

And I have two local places that are looking good for this year...still trying to see what they might like of my many selections.

I have done a bit of sewing and come up with a cute portable personel mug in a patchwork style case.  Here are a few

I think that might be enough catching up for the moment...See you for more tomorrow.