Monday, March 25, 2024

New Inks + Flat Layers

I'm still fairly obsessed with the new Ranger Archival Shades (Wine Cellar, Cayenne, Mountain Lake, Beach Cruiser, Aubergine and Graphite) so it's probably no surprise that this Mandala Monday features all of them... plus the new Mountain Lake Stickles*.


The technique on this one is a little bit odd... I drew the outlines of all the big shapes first (using a .04 Black Letter It Fineliner on Watercolor Paper); then  painted them using drops from the coordinating Ranger Archival Reinkers, pretty seriously diluted with rubbing alcohol. When the panel was dry (which is FAST with alcohol; much faster than traditional watercolor!) I used a few Simon Hurley create Background Stamps (Bitty Botanicals and Handwritten) as well as several layers from Simon's Polka Dot Assortment Layering Stencil Set to selectively add more pattern and additional (undiluted) levels of the same colors.

 
At the very end, I added some white paint pen doodles (to sharpen the divisions between shapes), neatened up my outlines, and filled in a few more details before using a fabulously helpful Angled Brush to add Stickles, then calling it good. I hope this Mandala Monday finds you well and with lots of ideas for sneaking in creative time this week!

*Of course, all of the new colors are also available as Stickles; but this time I only used the deep blue of Mountain Lake.

1 comment:

  1. I know I don't need any more inks, but I know I need these inks. The colors are delicious.

    ReplyDelete

the *BEST* part of blogging is the comments, dontcha think? thanks for taking time to leave one! ~♥~