To start the new sketchbook, I decided to try a new technique (well, new to me anyway): painting with ink. Recently I’ve noticed several artists getting good results from this technique, and I’ve got a bunch of Winsor & Newton ink sitting around and slowly drying up – in sealed bottles, no less – because I’m using Shikiori inks more frequently now.
For prep, I tried W&N Brilliant Green and Emerald undiluted, mixed with water and applied wet-on-wet. Other than the strange yellow bits in the emerald (in the ink itself rather than leftovers on the brush, as I first suspected), the results were good. I didn’t see a huge difference between mixing the ink with water in a cup and on the paper, so I opted to save some labor by watering it down before applying it to the page.
The W&N Ultramarine was suffering from the early stages of the thickening that killed my first bottle of Purple, so I added water directly to the bottle to help it flow a bit more easily. That’s the difference between the first and second tests in the bottom row.
The actual painting itself was okay. While I don’t dislike it, I don’t see a big difference between ink and watercolor for this kind of work. And given that watercolors are less temperamental, I’ll probably just stick with them in the future.
