Willow Emerald ~ alcohol ink faux batik

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After much tweaking I'm calling this damselfly done. It's a Willow Emerald and my reference photo was courtesy of Paul Sherman from PMP. Lots of teeny tiny detail work (read time consuming) but it looks pretty darn good IRL. Scans don't always tell the true tale, even after much adjusting in a photo editor. It's only 5"x 7" so I was just about cross-eyed afterward.

To take a break I started what I hope may be a small series titled 'Roots'. I'm painting directly on the Yupo with Ranger alcohol ink, allowing the inks to do their thing with a little help from a bamboo skewer here and there. I'll be posting some of my results soon. Stay tuned....

Batik Dragonfly ~ alcohol ink on waxed paper

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Instead of using India ink, I thinned black Speedball printer ink with tap water to a heavy cream consistency and used that in it's place. I think I like the Speedball ink better and it's far more economical. One heaping teaspoon of Speedball made a lot of ink.

Dragonflies on Canvas~Complete

I've sure had fun with this one. I finished up the dragonflies yesterday but today thought it needed a little something else. I've had a 'thing' for metallics lately so I got out my gold Zig Painty and went to town.

Dragonfly~Complete

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I punched up the values, added more texture and glazed the dragonfly wings with iridescent medium. The dragonfly still needed something more so I found a tube of DS Iridescent Electric Blue (no idea when or why I bought this color) and gave it a 'charge'. It certainly made this dragonfly 'pop'!

Dragonfly~Update

I've been playing around with this one today and thought I'd better put up an image on screen before going any further. Funny how I can spot things that need to be tweaked or changed better on screen than off. I'm staying with the same palette and starting to define the dragonfly. I added some blades of marsh grass for composition's sake and deepened the values in a few areas. My instincts are telling me I need to get some darker values going on, especially on the main subject to make it pop.

Dragonfly on Matboard~WIP

I just started this a few minutes ago so not much is done but I thought I'd post a quick update. I truly enjoy painting on matboard. I like the interesting textural effects that can be achieved so easily on this surface. I started with a loose sketch of the dragonfly, then brushed on some juicy Quin. gold, perylene green and DS carbazole violet. I spritzed the painting lightly with an atomizer bottle/water to move the colors and let them mix and mingle on the board. I encouraged a few blooms and splattered paint here and there. No plan in mind, just seeing where things lead me. After this dries I may add some ink, colored pencil, more watercolor...I'm only limited by my imagination. This is the method of painting that relaxes me.

Correction: I previously titled this post 'Dragonfly on Mountboard'. I'm working on matboard, not mountboard. Sorry.:(