Translate

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

A Katydid & a Ladybug

'Ladybug' and we all know one or two.
'Katydid' and she did come to visit me last summer.
 I was fortunate to snap a photo before she went on her way.
It just never came together for me.
My sketch

Not all bright ideas pan out. I worked up a sketch on pad paper that looked like it might work. Alas, it did not. In the process of coming to that conclusion I used up a lot of ink and almost an entire bottle of Ranger blending solution which isn't cheap so I did the next best thing....I cropped it into two separate ink paintings. The original painting was my largest so far being 17" x 12".

I wanted to try out my new Ranger ink colors...Pitch Black and Pesto(green). Pesto behaves much like the rest of the Ranger inks (aside from the mixatives) but Pitch Black is thicker and it takes a lot of blending solution to make it move. From now on it will be used in smaller works until/unless I order more blender. I do love it, though. I works so well to tie the Micron line work into an ink painting, adds wonderful contrast and drama and it truly is pitch black

4 comments:

Jeanette Jobson said...

You really are coming to grips with these inks. These are stunning! (despite the fact they're bugs :) )

And a great idea to crop them into two. Supplies are expensive and if you can find a way to stretch them, perfect.

Billie Crain said...

Thanks, Jeanette.:) I couldn't justify pouring more ink and blender on this with the likely probability that I would lose the entire painting.

Unknown said...

Beautiful Billie! They look much better as two seperate paintings.

Billie Crain said...

Thank you, Kitty! I'm just happy I could save this one. Or should I say two?