I’m back! I’ve had to take a break from my Tea with Tammy episodes, but I’m back! I want to make more varied video posts on different ways to use some of the tools you might already have. Todays video looks at alcohol inks. Take a peek!
Holiday Art Market
Looking for unique gifts this Christmas for those hard to buy people of your list? Look no further! Stop in at the Brushwood Center at Ryerson in Riverwoods, IL this weekend!
I was accepted as a contributing artist this year! I will be selling notecards of my work. After this weekend, I will be posting more notecards for sale on my website. Here are a couple of examples:
They are perfect for any occasion and they are blank inside ready and waiting for your personalization!
If you’re in the Riverwoods area this weekend, December 7th & 8th, stop in to see all the goodies!
| NATURE-INSPIRED HOLIDAY ART MARKET December 7th & 8th Shop local for all your holiday gifts this year at our third Annual Nature-Inspired Holiday Art Market! Enjoy some hot cocoa and listen to carols in the welcoming historic Brushwood home while you shop for unique art, handmade gifts, cards and prints from over 50 local artists and makers. Come support local artists this holiday shopping season, and be sure to check out the full schedule of events below: |
| SCHEDULE Saturday: Open 9 a .m. – 5 p.m. 9:30-11 a.m. Drag Queen Children’s Story Hour with Mother Nature 1:00 p.m. BASE UpCycling Championship Kick Off 1:30 – 4:45 p.m. Live UpCycling Competition 4:45 – 5:00 p.m. Judging and Award Ceremony Sunday: Open 12-4 p.m. 1-2:30 p .m. Mindful Merriment: A Guide to Holiday Eating 1-3 p.m. Botanical Art Demonstration by Heeyoung Kim |
Fun Mixed Media Techniques: Encaustics and Alcohol Inks
This week we are experimenting with adding color to encaustics using alcohol inks. This is my favorite technique!! Let me know if you try it!
Happy Mother’s Day!
To all the beautiful mothers out there, I hope you do something that you enjoy doing on Mother’s Day! Sometimes it’s not about what you’re doing but who you’re with! Sometimes it’s about both!! I’m lucky because I’ve been baking today (something I love doing), working with alcohol inks (see photo above) and I get to spend this weekend with both my Moms and 2 out of the 3 kids! Hope you have a wonderful day!
One Inspired Evening 2019
Giving to a worthy cause feels great!
One Inspired Evening is our annual fundraising gala that includes an art auction, silent auction, raffle, and live music. All proceeds from the event go directly to supporting Inspiration Corporation’s mission of helping people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self- sufficiency through the provision of social services, employment training and placement, and housing in an atmosphere of dignity and respect. (visit inspirationcorporation.org for more info)
Last night I was one of the artists accepted into the juried art show as part of a Gala to raise money for this wonderful organization! One Inspired Evening is an annual Gala that was so much fun!! All of the cooks and servers were people who have benefited from employment training so not only did we get to eat their wonderful food, but we also were able to interact with them and hear their story.
We were at Venue West in Chicago and to my naive suburban upbringing, I was a little concerned when we pulled up. But inside was a wonderful Gala like nothing I have ever been to before!
Here I am with some of the other artists from our local Artists’ Association of Elk Grove Village plus spouses. Each of us had a piece accepted into the show and were sold to the highest bidder! I was so humbled when my piece went just over the value at the last second before the bidding closed! It was such a beautiful and exciting night! I can’t wait for next year!!
The piece I submitted is on the right and is from my FloraVine series. The medium is encaustics with alcohol inks and shellac. I plan on making more in this series!
Alcohol Inks with a paintbrush?
Can you use a paintbrush with alcohol inks? Yes, you can!
Let’s start at the beginning. What are alcohol inks? They are solvent inks that contain alcohol. The alcohol is to the alcohol ink what water is to watercolors. They are very vibrant colors that can mix and blend like nothing else!
Safety: You don’t need a lot of supplies to start with alcohol inks, but you do need to set up your work space safely.
Alcohol releases a vapor especially if used in large areas. Always be in a well-ventilated area and use a respirator if you have asthma or any sensitivities. You will also want gloves to protect your hands from the staining properties of the inks.
Substrates: You will need to use a non-absorbent surface to work on. Examples include ceramic tiles, glass, Yupo paper, Duralar, Mineral paper, or canvas with 3 coats of Kilnz 2 primer.
If you are looking to save money while you start with practice pieces, you can use the glossy side of freezer paper, the back of a “Garage Sale” sign, or pieces of tin.
Start the background with 2 – 3 analogous colors. Analogous colors are colors next to each other on the color wheel. Blend those colors with a little Isopropyl alcohol (I use 91%) using a straw, canned air, or even just tilting your paper back and forth until the alcohol or blending solution evaporates.
Now put a couple of drops of a slightly darker color than your background colors in a clean palette. Let the alcohol evaporate and dry. This is a great way to be able to travel with these inks!
Put either some blending solution (by Ranger) or Claro Extender (by Jacquard) in a small pot. Dip your brush in to pick up just a small amount of the alcohol solution and then dip your brush in the dried ink color in your palette. If you use less alcohol solution on your brush, the more vibrant your color will be.
As you start painting, the background color will be reactivated when you paint in your subject on top of the background. This technique will take practice! You can start adding different colors as you experiment with different strokes.
Tip: if you have too much alcohol or blending solution on your brush, your colors will get away from you! Start small and work your way up.
I’m going to be recording a video on this process so it will be easier to practice. Until then, practice, practice, practice! Sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss any new videos or tips and tricks that I will be sharing in the future!
Alcohol Inks in Fine Art
Have you wondered what alcohol inks are? Have you wondered if they are accepted in the world of fine art? I am here to tell you that alcohol inks are ink that is suspended in alcohol and YES, they are accepted in the world of fine art!
I love the fluid motion that occurs when using these inks. They are the most similar to watercolors just instead of activating with water like you do in watercolors, you activate the inks with alcohol. I use a Kamar Varnish and UV Protective spray to increase the archival properties.
My latest series is called “Freedom” and these pieces are strictly alcohol ink on either Yupo paper or Mineral paper. Yupo paper is a synthetic plastic that is nonabsorbent in a paper form. Mineral paper is made from rocks instead of trees and has a nonabsorbent surface that is slightly different from Yupo. If you are interested in trying alcohol inks, I suggest you try these and as many other nonabsorbent surfaces that you can find. For a cheap alternative to get started, just use Freezer paper (glossy side) or a For Sale sign that you would buy in Walmart.
If you like the look, but don’t want to get your hands messy, then check out my latest alcohol ink paintings below. You can find more paintings in my shop or let me know if there are some specific color combinations you would like for your home!
Wine and Flowers Make Art
Lately I have been working in a series without realizing it. I have been loving working in encaustics and alcohol inks to create these floral pieces. I was showing my son and daughter-in-law my latest piece, and they immediately said it looks like a glass of wine sloshing about.
What do you think? Does it remind you of a glass of wine? We were drinking wine at the time, so I’m not sure if that helps persuade you or not! Now that I think of it, all of my floral pieces look like a glass of delicious wine! I am going to name this series FloraVine. I didn’t want it to be too obvious by calling it wine flowers, but I wanted it to have the same feeling that I get when I make one of these pieces.
My husband and I go to Christkindlemarkt every year and they have an abundance of Gluhwein (pronounced glu – vine) which brought me to my series name “FloraVine”. Maybe this will only make sense to me!!
This piece called Tranquility is going to be submitted to a juried show called One Inspired Evening in Chicago. A non-profit organization called Inspiration Corporation is having a Gala to raise money for people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives through employment training and placement, social services, and housing. 100% of the proceeds will go to this organization!
I hope this piece gets accepted and will find a new home while giving back to a worthwhile charity that is really making a difference in the Chicagoland area. Stay tuned for more pieces in the FloraVine series!