The mad scientist is having lots of fun breathing new life into painting fails recently! This is acrylic texture product, paint and ink on a 6 x 6″ piece of Gessobord by Ampersand:
This one started out as a painting fail from several months back that I almost wanted to remake as soon as it was posted. I fished it out of the pile the other day and added some Golden Molding Paste to it to cover what was below, and then drew swirls into the paste with the back end of a paintbrush. I really love the Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay India ink set I bought, but it is extremely strong. I decided to make my own homemade spray ink by adding drops of it into mini mister bottles partially filled with water, and adjusting the mixture until I was happy with the strength of the spray coming out.
This turned out to be an extremely inexpensive way to make wonderfully vibrant spray ink! And you can see how strong the colors are. It also gives you the opportunity to mix up your own colors. (I recently bought a box of 50 small spray bottles very inexpensively on Amazon (only 32 cents per bottle), and plan to make lots more little bottles of spray ink, as combining the colors and watching them mix on the painting was so much fun.) This is not only inexpensive, but a fun and easy way to custom make a spray ink (in this case, multiple colors to play together) especially for your project. I do feel this painting needs a stronger focal point, so I may add a blackbird or crow in the lower right corner. Speaking of which, the August issue of Draw A Bird Day comes to your WordPress screens this Monday, August 8! I hope you will help us make WordPress fly by posting your bird art then! I will do a roundup mid-month with a link to everyone’s beautiful artwork.
Note to my fellow art supply addicts: Blick Art Materials has extended Free Shipping on orders of $45 or more through this Friday, August 5! Friends don’t let friends pay for shipping if they can avoid it. π Purchases from these links help support my site. Enjoy and thank you!
We made it to the halfway point of the work week! Blessings to all for a wonderfully productive rest of the week! Peace.
The ideas are flowing. And glowing! (K)
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They really do shine, another thing I love about this acrylic ink. Thanks, Kerfe!
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Gorgeous colors mad scientist! Happy hump day. Into the office for me today.
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Happy happy midweek, woot! Just a few days, be over before we know it. Thanks, Jodi. π
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Woohoo!
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I love the idea to make spray ink! Very creative with beautiful results. I love this π
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Thanks Sissh! I don’t mind buying art supplies, but sometimes……well, I don’t like to be ripped off, let’s put it that way lol. So where I can economize, I do. I was thrilled to find the spray bottles so inexpensively. Apparently many others had the idea too because there were lots of reviews saying the sprayers didn’t clog when people made ink in them. Bonus! I may get the same company’s watercolor inks too so that I can make water-reactive spray ink without paying the crazy prices some charge for this also. Glad you like this!
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You welcome. I share your sentiments exactly – economizing where one can is a sign of wisdom I say π Your plan sounds great! Go for it; I’m quite excited about what you would do and am inspired to try it myself ^_~
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ππ¨β€οΈ
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Oh the endless cotton candy goodness this mad scientist always cook up just gets so yummier every time! My eyes can’t get enough! β€ β€ β€
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Thanks for the smile, Carrie! Hehe glad you’re enjoying. πππ
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Most definitely enjoying! You found the perfect formula for cotton candy color goodness and you are making every one crave for it. π
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ππ»πΈ
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I love the idea of a crow Laura, I can’t wait to see….spray ink bottles are so handy, I have mixed my own in the past, but I have to use outside, as it goes everywhere…not great for my living room! I always have a spray bottle of water handy though π
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Rebecca these bottles are really small. I had a 3-pk of Tim Holtz mini misters I started with but they are ridiculous at almost $2 for a teeny bottle. So I looked for other options and found other small ones I’m hoping will give small sprays. I do have to work on a mat or newspaper but it doesn’t seem to go on the floor so far so good! Glad you like the crow idea. π
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Oh yes I know the ones you mean….I have them too, like a thick pen size. I still get it everywhere, but I love them for adding mica spray, a little bling goes along way π
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I like how you don’t give up on those you call a “fail” and re-imagine the pieces into something that make you happier!
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It’s the beauty of acrylic paint. I could never really do this with watercolor, so it’s huge just to be able to. And these surfaces are more expensive than WC paper so it helps to be able to resurrect them. Thanks Tierney!
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hehe…..love that last statement about the friends and shipping…..so, I see what you mean about it needing something but then we always want to fill up space. Do you think it is more meditative? a quiet painting? I can see something maybe but something that goes with the design and for some reason a bird doesn’t quite do it for me and I am a lover of birds! Have you thought of a swirly type seashell? something in nature that has that design or close to it? just ideas here…..by the way, check your Goodreads messages π
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Good point, Margaret, I’ve been thinking about birds lately and that’s probably where that came from but it does call for a swirl……the bird I painted over had a swirl in its belly,so maybe I need a happy singing bird with a swirl, or a shell,or something else like that. Maybe a leaf,swirling as it falls. Good suggestion! Thank you. π
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ah!…..see, you will know when you give it some thought and research, I know it π
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Gorgeous! Love the bright colors and textures!
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Thank you so very much! I’m hooked on texture products!
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That would make acute pillow. Swirly hearts?
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Instead of black crow? Your team is the Ravens silly…isn’t it?
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Haha true π Ravens may be too mean for this painting lol. And muscular. *grunts* I like the heart idea. Or circles could be cool…..swirls inside, maybe?
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I thinks swirls and circles would be very nice. Then Tierney can make a pillow inspired by it or you can have it printed onto fabric and send it to her…tell her she can keep the painting. Lolololol. See what I did there? Barter.
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LOL Dawn, I can always count on you for a smile…..and great ideas! πππ
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I am glad.
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Ooh I like this! Thank you!
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Bright happy colors!
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That was the plan Teri! Thanks. π
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Another beauty!! And love how you recycle what you consider your painting fails! Guaranteed loviness in the end! π
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Thanks so much, Charlie! I don’t know how your last two comments wound up in my spam, but I’m just seeing them! So glad you like this. :))
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That’s weird! Jacob said the same thing! Hmmm… Might have ask WP about that.
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Yes, wherever the magical box for asking that is, please do it, people have found your and my comments in their spam and I just found more of yours and also Debi Riley’s comments in my spam too. I think God is trying to tell me I need a blogging break so it’s all good but def frustrating. Thanks, Charlie.
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Lol… God would never try to keep us apart though, so it can’t be that. π I just chatted with WordPress and they’re going to look into it. It’s a pretty consist problem happening to several of us, so hopefully they’ll be able to track it down and fix it now!
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Thank you again, my friend. I guess I won’t know for sure lol but I don’t seem to be having the problem now.
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The colors are so great! I love it!
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Thanks, Lucy! So glad to see that you like it! And nice to find an inexpensive way to make spray ink too.
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Nice colors. Definitely adult finger painting. This would look good on tee shirts. π
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Thanks, Jean! π
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Very creative, Laura! β€οΈπ¨π Do you know if the colors remain permanent after you add the water to them? Some of the spray inks on the market aren’t permanent and if they get wet, they bleed. π
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Thank you, Jill! Yes, this one is an acrylic-based ink, so it is permanent. I just got the spray bottle shipment in and the sprayer itself is not quite equal to the Tim Holtz sprayer. The TH one is a finer mist. I do have some air bubbles in mine right now though so that may correct itself when I’ve worked those through. I really like these Bombay Inks. I may also pickup some of their watercolor inks too so that I can make some water-reactive inks with it. Sometimes it’s cool to have that water-reactivity. This ink will react with water too, but once it’s dry, that’s it. Like acrylic paint, it’s not going anywhere.
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Thanks Laura! π¨π Good to know! π
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You’re welcome!
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All the takeaways from watercolors is showing in this fantastic piece Laura.
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Thank you, Mary! You’re so kind! I do think I learned a few things though from last month, and hopefully it bleeds through a little bit to acrylics. I think composing a painting, collage, anything you compose is a big lesson all on its own. Thank you.
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My goodness, that looks like it was so much fun to make!!! I can just picture you doing this and having a blast!!! π β€
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Amy, it really was! They are all journeys, these paintings. Especially the recycled ones like this. β€
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You are awesome!!! π β€
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As are you! Thank you!
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Thank you for sharing you process! I’m inspired to just try stuff, in fact I bought a set of Golden Acrylic paints and such that you recommend at some point. I’m SO happy I did! I’m loving it. And will post process pics soon!
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Can’t wait to see, Jeanette! I’m not getting notifications for some of my comments, just scrolling back through and saw this one. Yay for the Golden Glow! There is nothing like it.
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