Brightbeard

10.5 x 7.5 alcohol inks on freezer paper done yesterday, my third in a series of men with beards.  No pencil used with this.  Taking a cotton swab that already had a bit of ink on it, I moistened with 91% alcohol and made an oval right eye shape, then added blue, then black.  The left eye followed.  Marks were made with ink drops on the tip of a chopstick.  Ginger and Tangerine were the gold and orange accents.  Mantilla Black was last for the bottom half of his beard.  Inks mixed using canned air and blending solution for this abstract portrait.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Blackbeard

8x8 alcohol inks on paper done today after a beginning pour of inks using three different browns for his beard.  An imaginary fellow, I did lots of negative painting here using only cotton swabs tipped applicators dipped in 91% alcohol.  Lines were made of a swab tip that had ink on it, used like a pencil.  Lastly, black ink was put on top of browns in foreground of this abstract portrait and mixed using blending solution. I gave him a ginger mustache for a bit of color variety. This is titled after the notorious English pirate Blackbeard. Some of these techniques will be taught at my September 16 all day ink class in studio. 
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.