Fire In the Sky

"Fire In the Sky"
11" x 14"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo

This is another painting that began as a simple, single-layered piece... meaning that all the color was dropped on the wet alcohol on the first pass.  It was "nice" but it wasn't fab. 

I disrupted the niceness of the first layer by adding multiple layers on top. If you recall from an earlier blog I mentioned that when wet ink pushes away dry ink it forms "fences."  Well, the dark parts of any of these images are made by stacked up transparent colors. There is no black or so-called dark inks. They are all highly transparent, beautiful colors — just bunched up on top of one another to form dark.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Kablooey!

"Kablooey!"
11" x 14"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo

This was a peaceful, wash of less than dramatic pastel colors when I brought it home from my workshop in Eau Claire. I nearly posted it, but wondered what would happen if...  

I impacted the serenity with the addition of red, more purple and some yellow. Oh, my.

I am teaching a workshop on knife painting with acrylics in Chippewa Falls, WI on June 9 and 10. If anyone is interested please let me know and I'll send you the information. 

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Froot Baskit

"Froot Baskit"
11" x 14"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo 

I turned this piece every which way as I dropped ink and alcohol onto the Yupo. I also blew the ink around with a very large-bore straw. It moved the ink, but didn't send it splattering. Not until I photographed it and rotated it did I realize there was "subject matter" in the mass/mess of color. But it, like the spelling of the title, is a little awry.  

I have signed none of my ink paintings. Not until they are sold and the purchaser tells me where to sign it, will I commit to the permanence of... Keene.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Microcosm

"Microcosm"
14" x 11"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo 

It started out as a simple painting, but I had time, time to wait around to see what would happen... IF. There were a lot of "ifs" in this piece. I couldn't even tell you what happened between daiquiris and dinner, or baklava and bedtime. But I don't think I turned it into mud. 

"It is what it is,"says my friend, Mary.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Blue By You

"Blue By You"
11" x 14"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo 

I was building a blue painting when I picked up a bottle of "citrus" green instead, and placed a droplet into the blue. Yikes! It pushed the drying blue into a hard dark edge, but looked kind of interesting.  Then I intentionally dropped several drips of "cranberry" onto the blue and formed a little blue island surrounded by red.  

Intentional is not a word I associate with alcohol ink. Nor is deliberate. It's more like happenstance, WTF and whodathunkit.  

Carol 

Brushstrokes@comcast.net

CarolKeene.com

Dailypaintworks.com

Dailypainters.com 

Hubbub

"Hubbub"
14" x 11"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo

As this one progressed, I kept adding more and more color to the already-drying puddles. It's what made so many hard edges. A spritz here and there made the small dots. It seemed to have a landscape quality to it, but land that had been ravished, sort of earthquake-like. 

I really had to relinquish control of my normal style of painting during these three days.  I submitted to a seldom-used part of my brain to make most of these alcohol paintings.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Scarletta

"Scarlett"
14" x 11"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo

I became bolder as I dripped ink onto the alcohol-moistened surface.  I combined a couple of different reds and perhaps a droplet of orange with three drips of yellow, in this instance. I allowed the puddles to dry without guiding or disturbing them. I did mist the top of the painting with alcohol, causing the pinkish splatters.  

I have a few more ink paintings to show you before moving on. Flowers are blooming in my zip code and they are beckoning me to uncap my oils.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com