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Using Alcohol Inks And Yupo Paper To Create Art
It’s a tricky medium to work with but can be beautiful
The above painting literally took me less than a minute to create. However, this was due to necessity, not desire. I was using alcohol inks on Yupo paper.
Alcohol inks are hard to work with because they dry so fast. They are also hard to pin down — they don’t stay where you place them. Instead, they expand and flow, which can be frustrating if you want to create a particular shape or have a point of color just there.
Once they dry, the only way you can “erase” them is to use alcohol, which also reactivates the ink. Unfortunately, this can lead to disaster since, in addition to erasing a spot, you might also end up having the color spread and take over parts of the painting you didn’t want to change.
Given what a pain the medium can be to work with, why use it?
For myself — I was attracted to the brilliant colors and the translucency. I liked layering different colors and seeing the way I could see the shimmer of one layer under another. Plus as someone who loves to paint with watercolor, a certain amount…
