Kaleidoscope

This is a painting I finished using a new technique I just learned. I've been kind of uninspired lately. But I was intrigued by an article by Cathy Taylor in the July/August issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. Of course the colors didn't photograph nearly as vivid as they are in the painting (especially on the left side, for some reason). I'm sure it's due to my poor photography skills.  ;-)

The technique involves using alcohol inks as your "paint" and Yupo paper as your canvas. I just happened to have both on hand. Do you ever buy something thinking, "I'm going to use that someday!" That's what I did with the Yupo paper. Then when I got it, I had no idea what I had originally planned to do with it. It has a very slick surface and I have no idea what you are supposed to actually use it for. I suppose I should Google "uses for Yupo paper" and see what I get.  ;-) Anyway, this article came along at a good time. So I followed her directions and was pretty pleased with the results. This painting is just my practice piece, to see how to work with the alcohol inks on the paper. Cathy gives a lot of useful tips and techniques in her article. Now that I know what the inks will do on the paper, I am getting some ideas for what else I'd like to try!

So I've been painting with alcohol inks, some rubbing alcohol and a little CitraSolv. Lots of different smelly concoctions have been coming from the studio these past couple of days. But it's been nice to actually have something to work on again! Let's hope the positive vibes keep flowing.