I always feel a bit pretentious talking about “fine art” that I produce — you know, stuff that looks more like what people think of when they hear the word “art.” Stuff not like my graphic novels and other digital art, or “character”-oriented stuff. But for the past like month that’s all I’ve been doing. I mean I did go five solid months without access to most of my traditional materials, so coming back to my big watercolor pad and all my ink and watercolor pigments was kind of as good as Christmas.
I took this picture just after I finished it, so the ink’s not dry. Not that the ink doesn’t normally dry in like 4 days, when I lay it on thick with the dropper like this. Anyway, INKWELL DROPPER ART is my new absolute favorite thing, like it’s amazing. I learned about the technique in my life drawing class when I was at a point where allowing for the unpredictable wildness of the ink dropper was absolutely sinful. Obviously then since I had a very visceral reaction to it, I’ve come back to it a year or so later and have started applying it intentionally in my leisurely work. I don’t know what this piece means, but I love the blue and the circles. ‘Course it’s all very bubbly. I love its dreamy quality, and the limited color palette.
I DON’T like this piece haha. But it’s very emotive. Done when I was feeling very very sick (it was related to menstruation…you’re welcome.) It’s probably where I got the idea for the circles in the piece above. I then tried unsuccessfully to combine ink and charcoal (conte crayon worked fine, but I’d kind of already destroyed it by then.)
Oh hey Chihiro and Haku. Part of the reason I did this piece is because one of the first watercolor paintings I attempted (…with my cute little solid pigment squares) was a Spirited Away scene. I was feeling ambitious and sentimental.
This piece is dedicated to Abas haha. I don’t know; I used a lot of ink and dyed my hands gray doing this piece. It’s called “Psychosis.” 😉
Aaaaaand then this baby. I don’t know…soaked the whole page first, which allowed for some really dynamic smears of paint, which launched this painting in the direction of dynamic swirly things. The geometric figures helped make it stronger and also complemented the primary colors palette. There’s a yellow border that echoes the bottom border, but it got cut off in the picture. I’m contemplating painting it lower so that this piece would be easier to mat. I worked right up to the edges, which isn’t exactly good.
