I love painting faces and will always go back to that. But I also like to dabble and learn new things. Keeps me inspired. And often it would be inspired by something. This time, I saw the work of Kate Morgan online and was blown away by how beautiful it is. Check her out if you have not https://www.katemorgan.art/workshops. And while chatting with her, she sent me a video from an alcohol ink artist, Zimino Art https://youtu.be/kJlEe0lzV8M and I WAS HOOKED!!!!! I love how beautiful and soft the alcohol ink turned out.

And that begin my “addiction” this weekend.

So, to people who are not familiar with alcohol ink art, there are many good videos on YouTube you can check out. I used alcohol ink from Tim Holtz and the highest percentage Isopropyl Alcohol I got from CVS. You will need at least 91% to get that beautiful flow. You need to paint on non porous surface like yupo paper. Those can be expensive. So I paint on tiles from Home Depot. They are cheap and easy to clean. I reuse them. That way I don’t get too precious about what I made and feel free to experiment and make mistakes. Although I have to say I love this piece. May just keep it…

The thing I love about alcohol ink art is you never know what will happen. IT IS REALLY HARD TO CONTROL for a beginner. Which can be a lot of fun IF you are willing to go with the flow. I start by picking colors I like. Then a couple of drops of the ink on the tile, blow dry with hair dryer, then add the rubbing alcohol and PLAY! The rubbing alcohol and hair dryer moves the ink to get the beautiful streaks. Note: I use my hair dryer though I think a lower wattage heat gun would be easier to control the flow. Just ordered a 300 watt hear gun from amazon. Can’t wait to try with that!

And this is what I got. I was like – Ooh, I like it!

Then I added more drops, more rubbing alcohol, more hair dryer action and this happened. Now I am like, oh my I LOVE THIS! And now, the tough question, should I continue? What if I ruin it?…. gasp!

I couldn’t resist playing more… so I did! I do have a photo of it, so even if I ruined it, I can tell myself it LOOKED NICE BEFORE…lol.

The beauty of abstract art is you see what you choose to see in it. Here I see and angel, with her face on the left and her turquoise wings..

I continued playing…

The angel disappeared. I am okay with it. I LOVE THIS. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t care. I just LOVE it. I used a paintbrush and added some strokes on the side to complete it.

I am happy with this.

What do you think? Have you tried alcohol ink? What do you like about it?

I must have a premonition about today’s results. Played with these bright happy colors yesterday. And today is the perfect day to finish this…

Finally. Time to move forward. Heal. Come together. Work together to rebuild, repair. These tears are not just joy, also relief. But my heart of bursting with love and joy too.

Not meant to be a political post. A post about love.

The Japanese say we have three faces. The first one you show the world. The second one you show your friends and family. The third face, you never show anyone. The first reflection of who you are…. interesting quote that I came across. I wonder how many of us even know what our third face is like….picked three colors to represent the three sides of me… despite my best efforts to keep them separate, they flow and blend into each other. Which is not far from reality.

So glad it is finally the weekend. Been a brutal and stressful week. And all the noise about the upcoming election week and people buying guns… my head is spinning. Overwhelmed. I turn to art. This piece started with splashes of ink, messy, with no rhyme or reason. Just splashes. Dark and messy. Like life. As I played with the flowing water and ink, I am feeling the sun again. The sun always shine. And I find myself adding more lightness to the piece. I can still see and feel the darkness beneath but light is emerging from it. I add bubbles. No reason. Just because it makes me smile. Feels lighter. Bubbles float away.. taking away the stress and darkness.

Simple things. Sometimes we forget we don’t have to be busy all the time. To go go go. It’s ok to slow things down. To just go for a walk. To enjoy the sound of leaves crushing underneath your feet… this is a piece that started out gloriously with watercolor inks. Soon it became a disaster because I just couldn’t get the face right. That’s when I throw caution to the wind and just have fun with collage, modeling paste, gesso, doodling…. always thankful for mixed media to rescue my watercolor disasters😂

Thank you everyone for your kind words of support and comfort on my post about my almost accident. I cannot adequately express just how much it helped me. Your kind words felt like a warm blanket. Gave me a lot of comfort, also a lot to think about. I am filled with gratitude for a second chance in life 🙏 I wish I can say that magically I am alright now. I definitely feel better. Was able to drive. But not ready to get on that highway to Charlottesville yet. I will. One day. Right now, I am just going to paint. I still have no words to put with my painting. It just is. How I feel.

Have you ever had an experience that shook you so badly that you are left feeling unsettled and discombobulated? Reliving that moment in your head…

I had a gorgeous day yesterday. A day of sunshine, mural hunting and spending time with my son. What more could one ask for?

Well, on my drive home, I fell asleep at the wheel. It’s a problem I have. Made worse when I am exhausted. Today, I opened my eyes to find my car swerving like mad in the grassy ditch/median. I struggled to take control of the wheel, turning it back onto the highway so I don’t crash into the trees. Little did I know that getting it on the highway could have been fatal as it spun around on the highway. Miraculously I did not hit any car.

I narrowly escaped death. Could easily have crashed, died, be paralyzed or badly injured. But I did not. The car had to be repaired but I am fine.

I finally got home fine. And felt unsettled the rest of the day. Could not do any art or anything really. I can’t even put into words how I felt.

I did manage to splash some ink on paper.

This morning, I was able to paint something on it. I guess this is how I feel, but still without words. I don’t have a title for this. But it is just how I feel now.

Have you ever felt this way? You are feeling and thinking lots but can’t describe it?

I am thankful. For art. For my guardian angels who looked over me. For a second chance in life. To never take things for granted again. I will stop and take a nap the next time I feel sleepy while driving. I will not risk my own life and others. I promise🙏

Decided to have some fun with colors. Had fun using all my favorite colors.. what word comes to your mind when you see this? Mine is surrender.

I rarely paint male faces. But he is too beautiful not to paint 😂 #aquaman #jasonmamoa the thing about painting is you get to stare at the subject for a long time, what a treat😊 and it is interesting the details you pick out. His eyebrow and hair are so fun to paint! The beard was tricky… it was a fun exercise. Who should I paint next….

Making art is a process. A journey I usually begin with an inspiration but most often not knowing how the end will turn out.

It’s an interesting journey…. I find there are 4 or 5 stages in this journey. I have seen a funny quote about this but can’t find it anymore. Fellow artists out there, I am sure you can relate.

Want to use this piece to illustrate the 5 stages. Here goes.

Stage 1. Inspired by a reference photo on Pinterest. The crazy spiky hair. So I draw it out and think, oh this looks good! Let’s paint!

This is the stage where I think…. hmmm, the hair is trickier than I thought. She looks kinda crazy.. I wonder…

Now comes the OMG stage where I think..,. this is terrible. She looks hideous. 😱 I am a terrible artist. I am way in over my head…🥺

Now I tell myself, ….. it’s ok. You know this is the ugly phase. Paint in her eyes. Will give her some life. It’s what you enjoy the most anyway… don’t give up. You can do it.

Now you say, hmmmm, the eyes really made a difference, maybe I can do it after all…. and after noodling and fiddling with it for a while…

You look up, after being in the zone for a while. You like what you see. You think to yourself, I am not so bad after all!!

Lol, yes, this is a familiar process I go through. And even though I do get more confident with each piece, I still hit the stage where I am certain I am way in over my head… and I remind myself, what is the worst thing that can happen if it is truly ugly? I just throw it away!!!! It’s just paper and paint. Or apply gesso to it, turn it into a mixed media piece! Nothing goes to waste!

So there you go. Hope you enjoyed this peek into my mind as I paint. Let me know if this resonates with you! I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.