I also painted our hydrangea bush in the late fall. I tried the ink resist technique that I’ve done before but it’s been awhile.
First I painted the work with gouache using what I felt was a fairly thick layer of gouache with gum Arabic figuring that it wouldn’t wash off along with the ink. I thought it was a nice little piece. I watched several videos about how to do this and they all said don’t be afraid to cover the whole thing with India ink. So I did.
And someone said to let it dry overnight and then wash off the ink in the sink. So I did that. This is what I got.
The idea was that the ink would stay where there wasn’t any paint and wash off where there was but that’s not what happened. They all warned me not to scrub too hard, using light strokes with a soft brush, but I still damaged the paper and no color remained on the paper. After watching more videos, I decided that I should have used colder water and maybe I shouldn’t have let it dry so long. Anyway—-this is what I was left with.
So I carefully redrew the composition and painted over it using gouache over the inked coldpress. It kinda looked interesting but not anything like I planned.
Sara was right. The wider value range really makes a difference. It's beautiful. Your gouache resist results are strange. Not that I'm an expert (having only done 3 in my life), but I didn't have that issue when I covered the whole painting with ink and I did leave them overnight to be sure everything was truly dry. Also, I scrubbed pretty hard in some areas and the color got paler, but it didn't disappear. I wonder if the gum arabic was the issue? It makes paint more watercolor-y than gouache-y and watercolor doesn't resist the ink. Gum arabic also extends drying time and enhances transparency, so I'd guess that's your culprit. At any rate, I like your final result a lot. It has great texture and vibrancy and layers of interest. So consider it a win!
ReplyDelete2 looks like yupo, well except for the grain of the paper. Nice color, but that background looks like bathroom tiles, but nothing wrong with that, adds a bit to the mystery. The last one has a very pleasing oddness.
ReplyDeleteThe white that looks like tile grout to you is just unpainted paper that is meant to receive the India ink. The 3 consecutive paintings are different stages of the same painting. All on the same piece of coldpress.
DeleteThe first one is an update from last week.
DeleteThe smoke bush painting is lovely.. I gave you good advice! Both hydrangea paintings are interesting in their own ways. The first one has a very delicate almost fragile feeling imo.But I love the texture and the darkness of the second one. It’s like the first one is from a little old lady’s country garden and the second one is from a long forgotten garden at an abandoned house on the bad side of town….
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