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?