Alcohol Ink Art: Red Droplets, Neon Purple Cascade and Blue Jellyfish with Pixiss Supplies

Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)

Today, I wanted to show you my newest art projects. I got a little bored of pouring paintings. So, I decided to change it up a bit.

I got in the mail some pixiss ink supplies. For the time being, I am in the experimental phases. I am still trying to figure out what I can do with alcohol inks.

I learn by doing. With enough practice, I am certain that I am going to be able to make some amassing ink paintings.

In this blog, I am going to tell you everything that I learned from my first experiment. The first thing I did was prepare the black and white ink paints.

Those two ink bottles were a little too big to manage. So, I moved them to smaller empty bottles that came with the package.

The inks are extremely saturated. Just a few droplets sufficed to completely dye the blue gloves I was using. It almost felt like I was doing a science experiment.

In order to thin out the paints, I used rubbing alcohol. Any brand will do. I am still trying to figure out the alcohol to ink ratio.

Since I was working with alcohol, I used a mask. Just for safety purposes. It isn’t good to be sniffing up alcohol.

Once I had the paints ready, all that was left was to prepare the papers. If you want the inks to flow, you need to drown your paper in alcohol.

The pixiss paper has a peculiar, smooth texture. It is extremely good for helping the ink move about.

If you add alcohol to a dry section, you will activate the inks again. I am still trying to figure out the varnish situation. The paints need a sealant or something.

Once I figure that out, you are going to be the first person to know. Now, I am going to talk about the individual paintings in specific.

I first took for a test run the biggest canvas and the red inks. In order to add a bit of contrast, I used black ink.

It was interesting to add pure alcohol in dried spots. The paint gets pushed aside and it makes quite the interesting droplet patterns.

Working with this new medium was quite the relaxing experience. I got so caught up with my work that I didn’t notice that a half hour had passed.

I tried to apply the same techniques I used in my pouring painting. To make the ink flow downwards I added plenty of alcohol to the top edge.

I then added a few droplets of color before putting the painting horizontal. This allowed for gravity to do its thing. I did the same in the bottom.

This is how it ended up looking the way it did. Once I felt that the painting was “done”, I decided to try out the small round canvas.

At first, I was trying to make an outward ripple, it was then when I noticed that the edges got a little too saturated with alcohol.

This allowed me to use the Dutch pouring method to make those tentacle patterns at the edge of the blue lake.

Since the lake was starting to look like a jellyfish, I decided to just make that instead of my original idea.

This time I used the white ink in order to create the four dots on top of the jellyfish. With all my alcohol ink paintings, I took several photographs.

The first photographs show the painting wet and the other dry. I also included a few details close ups.

You can zoom into details when you are working with a bigger canvas. The Jellyfish one ended up looking a tad different in its dry form.

It is interesting to observe the changes that the paints experience as they dry.

Only an artist would find paint drying exiting. The final painting was done with the black paper.

This is the first time I used black paper to make an artwork.

The advantage to using black paper is that the painting looks “finished” at any stage.

A painting only looks half backed, if you see white empty spaces on the artwork.

In order to for the purple ink to be visible, I first had to apply a droplet of white paint.

The purple against the black background tended to get swallowed up by the dark surroundings.

I tilted the painting to the side in order to create that interesting cascade effect.

For the time being, I am trying to apply acrylic pouring painting techniques to alcohol inks.

This is easier said than done, but with a smooth enough surface and plenty of rubbing alcohol, it can be done.

I think I ranted enough about my painting experiments.

I took a photograph of all the pixiss art supplies I used to make these paintings.

The results speak for themselves.

I am quite proud of my first attempt at making paintings using alcohol inks.

My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister.

Bye, bye.

God bless.