Month 6 — Experiments in ink.

Each of these is a 6” x 4-1/2” piece of watercolor paper, either dipped in water with various levels of india ink in it or with shapes painted in clear water and then drops of pure india ink squeezed onto the wet parts, and then tilted around to see what shapes they made. As you can guess, many many many have been thrown out.

I could rarely get what I wanted. But the experimentation has been fascinating. I have decades of experience in ink, or drawing animals in ink (it’s a thing for me, I hate drawing people), but the mastery I had is gone. I don’t know if, given more than one month, I could discover a different form of mastery. The point of this project is to discover what I can do, and with ink I can make something. I just have to decide what I like to make.

Some people have asked if I could get used to a shaky style of drawing. After all, certain artists and illustrators use that style intentionally. The best I can describe it is that it doesn’t feel good. Watching your hands shake and the line shake is like watching a seismograph, a literal seismographic line of my tremors. That’s why it’s fun to abandon drawing and make mountains that can go wherever they want to.

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