Fire on High - an alcohol ink painting tutorial

Fire on High

Cyndi Lavin, 2018

Since I am pathologically organized, I just had to set aside time to systematically try out all of the different methods of painting the alcohol ink that I'd seen.  My favorite video tutorials are all linked up in my Alcohol ink Pinterest board, so take a look if you want even more.  Also, don't forget Cathy Taylor's excellent book, which I've reviewed here.   I'll be showing you my results over the next few weeks.

For the first go, I decided to try the technique where you drip your alcohol ink colors onto a dry background.  Using 91% rubbing alcohol in a squeeze bottle, I added the solvent to one small area at a time, manipulating the running inks with a blower.  You can use a hair dryer (set on cool), canned air, a heat gun (at a distance), or even just a straw.

Even now that I've worked through about a dozen different techniques, this continues to be one of my favorites.  You can control about 30% of the outcome, slightly more as you get more adept at handling the air.

I was super in love with Fire on High, and then I had to go and experiment further on it.  And I ruined it!  But not to worry...I scanned it at high resolution first.  Since alcohol inks don't appear to be trustworthily archival, my digital piece is more important to me in the long run than the physical piece I ruined! 

Originals and prints of Cyndi's work for sale

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Copyright 2018 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.