Alcohol inks and acrylic paints | The Contented Crafter

Hello my friend, apparently this is my post for May. I didn’t intend it to be this way, but then how often does what we plan to do end up being being what we actually do? One of my favourite quotes comes courtesy of John Lennon ‘Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans’ and those who know me well will often have heard that little gem escape my mouth. Usually accompanied by a sigh or maybe a rueful grin…..

I’m taking time off social media. Blogging is the only platform you will see me on for a while – I can’t give up blogging! But being off all those other platforms has allowed me to refocus and, when I discovered there were at least three hours in every day that I didn’t know were there, I decided to stay off.

Three hours a day means I can get a lot more done. The Persian Tiles blanket is growing. Thanks very much says Mr Orlando as he nestles down on a stacked pile of completed tiles dav Susanne ordered some cards and I happily made her half a dozen ‘Trois Dames’ edf I went back to playing with alcohol inks and ended up adding acrylics over one of them to see what happened dav Nothing went awry, so, emboldened, I kept playing – now I tried to see what would happen if I added blending solution to a brush and swept it across the inky coloured sky btr Well that was interesting! Obviously a very light touch and brush-on-paper-always technique is required. More work is currently being undertaken 🙂

I had already begun work on creating a Wise Woman, a crone, a witch….

The initial thoughts went into my sketch book dav And then I sketched her onto 300gsm watercolour paper making sure she was the right size and that the pen I used wouldn’t bleed with alcohol inks. dav I then coloured her and cut her out. And finally tried her out on the background btr There’s a lot of work still to be done – but can you see where this is going?

So, in need of a rest from trying to manipulate alcohol ink, I made cards with some of the remaining inkies, cutting up the paper into smaller bits and taking my inspiration from something I stumbled across, and paid attention to, on one of my random YouTube playing lists. I was quite pleased…… btr The Seaside Stash Busting blanket is making progress – I really like it and now and then add in an extra row or two just because I can…… btr This is how I crochet in the evenings – I quite often let You Tube play a random selection of videos while I’m working, they often choose to show me animals and Siddy always sits up and takes notice, much to the consternation of Orlando and myself who must consequently adjust our positions to accommodate any excitement or anxiety shown on behalf of the filmed animals…… dav It’s turning cold here now. Night falls early and morning arrives later. The heating is on and morning walks take longer to get ready for. Boots, coat, scarf, gloves, hat. Puppy. And off we go! No longer prepared to sit in the front garden and await our return, Orlando watches from the kitchen window. Lucky kitty!!