PDCC125 - Jane Davies Inspired

This week's Play Date Cafe Challenge (PDCC125) is to use Black/White with a splash of Brown!!  Was there ever a challenge more "Michelle"??!!  It stated on the Play Date blog that, "it's the first time we've ever done another 'neutral' as our splash".  That may be very true for them but when I saw the challenge online I was sporting - wait for it - a shirt that was black/white with a splash of taupe!!  YUP - I'm fashionable that way!

Decided to get artsy with this challenge - very fancy materials were used in the construction of these two cards.  I'll wait for you to get a pen/paper to write down this extensive list:

Black India ink, brown acrylic paint and a straw - yes, a straw.  It becomes an invaluable tool in moving the India ink around your paper before it dries.

This isn't the first time I've used this technique - back in early February Kim and I had a waxy good time but I never got around to posting pics of what I worked on until now.

Jane Davies is a collage artist from Vermont who posted a great video on doing Ink Doodles.  These were my first attempt at trying my hand at it.

The first layer is a collage of torn patterned papers that are then covered with a layer of gesso to tone it down.   Then comes the fun - squirt some random ink on your paper and blow, blow, blow with that straw! Yes - it can give you a headache but the most wispy feathery marks are the ones that look the best to me despite the dizzy aftereffects!  Geometric shapes were added with watercolor paint and then

a layer of beeswax added more dimension that I spent a great deal of time buffing up with a soft cloth to get that fabulous gleam!  Definitely a fun technique to try!
Linking to:  Artists in Blogland - Show and Tell Saturday #22 and Balzer Designs - Art Journal Every Day