Painting with Inks

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I’m grateful to all my Northern Hemisphere friends posting about their warm days and summer holiday fun and beautiful walks and colourful gardens – it is a sure antidote to dim light, long nights and cold Antarctic winds swirling about my tiny house and trying to knock me off my feet when we venture out for our twice daily walks.

Winter has only been here for a few days but it feels like forever!

The upside to Winter though, is time in my favourite room.
So of course, when I sat down at my desk with my supply of inks and began to play, the series that gradually unfolded mirrored the season.

I began by dotting ink about on my mat and spritzing with water to get colourful backgrounds.  I swooshed (technical term) the card through the wet inks and got what I got.  When dry I splatted (another technical term) some gesso over some and after making  myself a small round mask, dry inked a moon onto one of the ones shown below – can you see it?

The next step was top create some kind of landscape, focal interest, whatever took my fancy. First up I added in hills and trees to join the moons. The splatters of gesso became stars with the aid of teeny drops of glitter

And if I liked what I saw I turned it into a card. If the recipient wishes to frame it is a simple enough job to cut the greeting away and have a self matted petite art work.

  • Original pen and ink

Next I played with a wonky village and a cat ….. meh!

Tiring of the random results from wet ink play I turned my sights to dry ink only – but taking with me some ideas I picked up along the way, I made myself some more versions of the feline under the moon. I kept it simple, liked it and turned it into a large A5 greeting card

Next I took some A5 heavy duty cardstock and taped it down and began to work in earnest with the inks and pens and pencils.

This was great – I had the control I wanted with the colour, I had a quirky tree and some doodles and the moon and silhouetted cat and birds were not too shabby. So, I thought, this is winter…….. and the following day set to work on a summer version

They would look lovely in matching frames – but as I took the tape off the summer version it tore a bit along the top margin. Doh!! Might have to chop it down and turn it into yet another card……….

Hope you enjoyed seeing all that – do let me know what you think – and thanks so much for coming by, I’m glad that you did!

93 thoughts on “Painting with Inks”

  1. Wow, Pauline – love posts like this. In the depths of your winter, all this colour! You’re so right about winter being conducive for being tucked away doing art and craft, It makes up for the low light and ‘dreak’ as they say in Scotland. I’ve got some colourful ideas for my next painting, tweaking a photograph all over the place to get different coloured versions to perhaps suppy a an exotic backdrop to a peony. Lovely sharing, Pauline.

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  2. Pauline, I enjoy the same thing: watching the different seasons in the lower hemisphere bloggers’ worlds. It reminds me to appreciate what I have, because not everyone has it.

    You know, what I like most about these is that you started by playing around, then got an idea, and finished a few things, then got inspired by one and made intentional versions of new images. It was great to be able to see the process in the photos, as you described it. As an artist, I’m very interested in how other artists do their work. Thanks for bringing us along. 🙂

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    • Thank you Crystal. Like you I love to see the process of others at their creative work. And I find it helpful for myself to keep a record of how I create as well. So often I forget. Once something is done, that’s it. I’m moving onto the next creation and while they inevitably bounce off each other processes are lost as I go on. It’s good to look back and recall how things were made. Thanks for coming along! xo

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  3. tis me again and I’m enjoying my visit to your craft room so much Mama P! You have such a good eye for blending inks and turning them into scenes. The sky looks like it’s alit with Northern Lights. Have you ever heard of them? It’s caused by sun flare particles connecting with our atmosphere. It’s like coloured ribbons dancing in the night sky. Best viewed away from the city, where it’s really dark. Are there Southern Auroa Borealis? I always love the white doodling you do on ink. I still have your Alcohol Ink work framed in my ensuite and think of you everyday. ❤ Happy June days my dear! xo K

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    • Hello again K 🙂 We do have the Southern Lights – the Aurora Australis – and I have seen it once, when I lived in Christchurch in the mid 80’s. I had just moved into my little cottage in Lyttelton and all my helpers had departed and I went and sat on the front verandah, looking across the harbour to the south and the lower sky lit up in shades of greens and soft pinks for a short while. It was quite enchanting, ephemeral and never seen again. Apparently I am one of the lucky ones 🙂 I think of it when making these cards, but the colours are more associated with the A Borealis which we all see in photos and videos more often. So happy to think of those doodles still adorning your ensuite 🙂 Thanks for coming by xo

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  4. Absolutely beautiful! I have not seen your work in a long time. I dont blog anymore and hardly on computer these days. Just saw your painting in inks post ! I had to take as peak…magical! Inspiring! And so You!

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  5. I’m so impressed with what you’ve done here! These are all lovely, every single one of them. I would definitely cut and frame it if I received such a card!

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  6. Wonderful work, Pauline. And I love how you describe how one thing lead to another (as it does).
    I am not familiar will all of your terms. Is gesso like mod podge or something like that? Also are the cats/birds/ words stamps? Just trying to see how you do it all.

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    • Hi Jodie, lovely to see you and good questions! Gesso is a painters best friend – nothing at all like Mod-Podge which is a glue. It’s a chalky kind of undercoat that is used as a preparation base for canvas and heavy duty art papers so the paint attaches itself properly to the substrate. It can also be used like an opaque white paint in the painting process. The words are made with individual letter stamps but the cats and birds I made with stencils. I drew the cat on some card, cut it out and ink through the hole that is left. The cut out piece I can use as a mask if I want to add another layer to the painting and not lose the cat. Hope that makes sense to you. I like to make myself a particular shape sometimes to suit the image in my head. Other times I might use an existing stencil. Sometimes I draw freehand and they are all different. It just depends.

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  8. They are absolutely gorgeous, and they start off with so little effort, to turn into a masterpiece. 🙂
    I love the one with the houses, (reminds me of the little dutch houses in Holland) and the trees.
    Enjoy winter and keep warm.
    Hugs from another Southern Hemisphere friend.
    xx

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    • I thought I’d replied to you Joey and I hadn’t – yikes! Thank you for that lovely thought and I’m glad to hear you liked the little houses too – it made me look at them with new eyes – I shall have to have another go at that motif. Stay warm, nearly at the turning point! xo

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  9. Oh, Pauline! There is absolutely nothing you do that I don’t love. It takes me so long to get through to this point because I have to read all the comments and I’m so slow. Your art makes me FEEL good and calm. Thoughtful even. The colors just soothe. I was also going to do as Norah did and tease you about your technical terms. It starts me out with a happy vibe here. I have several cards in frames here. Sometimes I think I would just like more walls so I could put up more wonderful art. My house is big enough for me to live in but not big enough for the gallery of wonderful art I’d like to display. I do think I have a larger space than you so I will not complain. 😉 I just keep it rotating and then I still have less to clean. Hugs my friend.

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    • Marlene you have to be my #1 fan! You always make me glow with your enthusiasm and appreciation and I really appreciate it. It spurs me on to at least keep trying to make better art. I am really pleased with how these came out too and after a little hiatus I am ready to get back into it and see where else I can go. I think it’s a good idea to rotate all your many pictures, it has to be good for the feng shui right?
      I should do that!

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      • Yes, Pauline. It is good Feng Shui to keep things in a house moving. Helps with stuck energy. I’d bet you have so many other wonderful fans that just aren’t as vocal about it. Crystal and I were speaking of your wonderful art and heart when she came by to visit on Saturday. I gush to her about you as well. 😉 My daughter has laid claim to everything you’ve sent me when that time comes. 🙂 She loves you too.

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  15. You create the loveliest work using deeply contrasting colours – and then you add stars for sparkle. Whatever the medium, Pauline, the outcome is beautiful. And thank you for using easily understood technical language to describe your process.

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  16. I love the idea of framing your beautiful cards! How thoughtful of you to “prepare” them so the recipient to do that! I love your colors and designs! Night scenes are my very favorite!
    In our summer Lodge I have about 20 framed Christmas card fronts. They are often such beautiful outdoor scenes, birds, pines, wildlife. I buy 5 x 7 frames and paint them all the same color. People do frame cards!

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    • I like the thought that you have a ‘summer lodge’ Eliz 🙂 And I’m glad to hear that you are a framer too. I have often been told by different folk they frame my cards and I like to think of something having a double life. Now, have you got your blog sorted yet, I seem to have lost you altogether.

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      • If you click on my name on the comment here my blog will pop up! :o) Sadly its an old blogger format- no subscribing. I really should wander off again and get the new blogger template but then I’d have to abandon the old with a link to the new. So much work! LOL!!

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          • YES!! Your reply came through on my blog! THANK YOU! I answered there, in case blogger tells you I did? But I waited to answer your question about why we don’t live at the Lodge because there’s no work up here (I have to work, we run a 2 bed Group home in the city 2 hours South) and our youngest 5 boys-1 girl all special needs, need PT/OT etc so the nearest clinics are 30 miles away. Their specialty clinics are 3 hours away!! Its just too secluded for older (60+) people with kids! But there are tons of retirees here, who I envy! Winters here are harsh too. And husband cringes at that. (he’s a big chicken! :o)

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  19. Your swooshing and splatting produced some unique backgrounds. I really like the moon, trees, and hills–fantastic! Of course, I’m partial to cats in art:) and love both the winter and summer versions. Stay warm, and I will try to avoid heatstroke here in the hot, humid southeastern US. xx

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    • Now if I have to choose between hot and humid and cold and windy I’ll go with the latter……… Humidity does me in 🙂 Learning to work with these inks has been quite an enjoyable process and I love seeing how the different processes with the same product produce such different effects. You stay cool now! xoxo

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  20. I love aspects of winter, too, because it gives me more time to dedicate to making pretty things. And you’re using that time in such gorgeous ways! It’s really cool to see your process–the combination of spontaneity and play, with forethought and planning mixed in. Of course I love the cats but I really love the tree silhouettes where the “moon is a ghostly galleon”!

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  21. You’ve captured the aurora australis! I wish I could send you some of the soft weather we’re enjoying in the tropics; the rainforest is veiled in cloud, there’s a warm mist of rain, and occasionally a flash of brilliant blue sky, high above.

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    • Have you seen it looking like this Kate? I only saw it once and it was greener. Your weather sounds beautiful, dreamy and welcoming. I love the NZ rainforest and have long nurtured a desire to go live in it permanently…….

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      • No, I’ve never seen it that colour, but it should be, don’t you think?
        Our weather’s lovely, a great combination of comfortably warm and a bit damp, like the bathroom after someone’s had a hot shower. It’s clearing now, and patches of blue are growing, but there’s still a fluffy grey angora beret pulled down over the brow of the rainforest slopes. The tropics for the residents, not the glaring hot sunshine the tourists expect!

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        • Yes, it would be quite wonderful to see! The closest I ever came to a bright sunset like these was in Rome many years ago when my friend assured me it was on account of the smog…. Your weather sounds rather comforting, though you did mention 24 degrees to me a few days ago and that is pretty much my upper limit as I have become rather acclimated to the climate here in the Riviera of Antarctica!

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          • So you wouldn’t have been comfortable in the sunny 27°C we had today. But about 5 degrees cooler in the shade of the trees and up the mountain, of which more tomorrow 🙂

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  22. These are stunning, Pauline. Thank you so much for sharing your process. The end result, and the steps along the way are all gorgeous.
    I love your use of technical terms – perhaps you could provide some definitions? 🙂

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    • Oh dear, and I thought the technical terms were self explanatory Norah 🙂 I often wonder how much information is accessible to my readers – or even if you are interested. I’d love to hear more from you on this if you are interested….

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      • Oh dear, I’m sorry, Pauline. The terms were self-explanatory. I thought you were joking about their being technical terms so I joked about needing a definition. 🙂 Your information is very accessible. You write with openness and clarity and I love everything you write. You always explain well what you are doing and it’s always fascinating. Thank you for sharing. It is difficult to joke on paper (screen).

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        • It was a joke – about them being technical terms – and I’m abashed that I didn’t pick up on your response. My fault entirely – but let’s blame the weather! I was reading something a while ago about the amount of misunderstandings of a serious nature occurring over emails and texts and tweets and so on. The upside of emojis is they help clarify one’s intent (as long as you hit the right one on the keyboard). Anyway I’m relieved I don’t have to go on with deeper explanations and you do know what swooshing and splatting is 🙂

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          • Thanks, Pauline. But maybe you can teach me about emojis on the keyboard. The only ones I know are happy and sad. They can be a bit limiting. 🙂

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              • Thanks, Pauline. That’s very cool. I was thinking everyone was just using their phone and I prefer to do everything (except make phone calls 🤣 ) on the computer. This will be fun. Thanks for teaching me. 😊💖✨

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                • I’m the same, I don’t do any blog related business on my phone and this is where I most want to use emojis. I see you must have got it going already – well done! You’ll be emoji-ing all over the place now 🙂 I should do it too instead of just thinking I might …..

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                  • You noticed correctly, Pauline. I am loving being able to put emojis in wherever I like. Like this: 😍😊💕🌹
                    Oh, and thank you so much for my beautiful cards which arrived yesterday. They are simply gorgeous, and such a generous gift. I look forward to sharing them with others. I had a look for them in your store today but couldn’t find them. Will they make it there eventually?

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  24. Lovely Pauline. Your cat wistfully watching the birds, with the “Thinking of you” message made me smile! It was really interesting to see how you can make the random marks with the inks, and turn them into delightful cards.

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    • Hello Anne, thank you…… glad to see you got the connection in the little message with the cat and birds 🙂 Somewhere I’m wanting to include ‘we all look at the same moon’ into one of them. My work has never progressed beyond the random and quirky – it seems to be where I’m happy, even while I greatly admire your ability to take realism and quirk it up with some stitching. Making art is such fun isn’t it!

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  25. I really like all of them but my favourite is the wonky village.
    Great idea to make cards so they can be turned into little framed pieces – they’re too good to be disposed of or hidden in a drawer. x

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    • Ah you like the wonky village too Lynn – so does my eldest daughter. It’s amazing what a frame does to a little piece of art and sometimes the technique I want to experiment with doesn’t suit my preferred ‘go big’ preference. I really like some of these pieces and can imagine a whole series framed……… Glad to hear of your preference, thanks for that.

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  27. The weather is struggling to find Summer here, no warm evenings yet and still a cool wind, but I’m happy with Spring, the Winter seemed such a long one.
    Making such joyful art is certainly a great response to those icy winds.
    There is such charm to your work Pauline, a lovely dreamy quality. How nice to be sending little works of art – a gift as well as a card.

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    • Thank you Sandra, I like to make my efforts available – and cards fit the bill nicely. Else I just put them in a portfolio and they sit there forever. I am so happy to read what you think of this collection – I’ll gladly accept having ‘a lovely dreamy quality’ to my work – thank you again 🙂

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  29. All those skyscapes make me think of the Northern Lights and, of course, the Aurora Australis, neither of which I have seen. I am glad you are brightening our days with these lovely works of art.

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    • I saw the Aurora once when I was living in Lyttelton and had I added a tad more green in to some of those wet ink pickups I might have come close to what lives in my memory. I did read somewhere that we are supposed to have good viewing of the lights again this winter, but constant cloud isn’t allowing anything much here. I quite enjoyed being able to make my own version of a colourful night sky 🙂

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