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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Did Someone Say Pink?

My first installation at Tanya's Soup Kitchen included mobiles and floral hair clips. One of the first comments was, "Save me a pink one". I was not about to announce that there were the brightest reds, the juiciest oranges and the sweetest greens, but alas - no pink.
Just in time, I received new ink colors. The first to be opened were these vibrant shades. I designed a new flower, which utilizes dashed lines to establish detail. The ink settles along these lines. It is especially evident in the center, where the ink has pooled and dried darker.
The photo above illustrates the edge treatment. I saturate a brush with ink and run it over all the edges so the white is covered. Details always make a difference.
The ink in this photo has just been applied. Ranger's alcohol inks and Yupo were made for each other. Yupo is synthetic paper. The inks come in a dropper bottle. It is amazing how far .5 fl. oz. will go! I drop ink onto the cut flower and allow it to set for a variegated, watercolor effect. Other colors will be added to fill in the white. The predominate colors are: Wild Plum and Raspberry.
A unique feature of this combination of media is that once the ink is dry, it is permanent, but if I add more color, alcohol or the blending solution, I can continue to manipulate the surface. The blue shimmer in the background is red/blue mica powder added to a previous flower. I use Yupo beneath my projects, because I don't want to waste a drop of these beautiful inks. I use the sheets for paintings, bookmarks and cards.
Oh, and the pink flowers will be showing up soon at Tanya's Soup Kitchen. In the meantime, there is a burst of twirling colors already there.

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