Experiments with Alcohol and a Buffalo

 I have practiced my art sporadically over the last two, or three, weeks. Hubby nearly put his eye out while weed eating, then got food poisoning on top of it, then the shingles jumped on his head and face around the injured eye. The shingles have almost dried up, the stomach is better, and, hopefully, the eye is almost well. At least, it looks much better than a couple of weeks ago. He's on steroid drops for the eye now and has to go back to the eye Dr. September 1.

During multiple trips to doctors with him, I had to go to the dermatologist to get some places on my face checked out. The one that was most concerning to me, they said is ok, but they froze fourteen possible skin cancer cells off my face and hairline. They are almost healed now. All but one doctor was out of town by several miles, so they weren't quick trips. 

I hadn't driven in over a year, so I found out I can still drive, although I'm not that comfortable in our current car. We've had it almost six years, but hubby does the driving most of the time, so I haven't driven it enough for it to be second nature to me. Thankful I can still drive though!

These are what I've managed to do between trips, all in my 7 x 10" W/N 135 lb sketchbook...

This one is a watercolor from an original photo I took on our road trip out west in 2019, with just a touch of a colored pencil.

This one is acrylic inks (darker and more vibrant in reality). I spritzed alcohol on the paper, dropped the inks, spritzed alcohol again, and tilted the paper in different directions, then let dry. I added a micron pen and Pebeo India ink with a stick on top of the inks.

These two are on the same page, and are also acrylic inks dropped onto alcohol damp paper then spritzed with alcohol again and tilted around, salts added, and left to dry. The metallic copper is not showing up as pretty as it really is. 

The same two as above, but separated...

A page of experiments with alcohol, acrylic paint, ink, and watercolor.

This one is an experiment with gouache and water, which didn't work very well. I didn't like it, so I added parchment colored acrylic paint strokes for sort of an impressionistic effect (below). I'm still not happy with it, but I'm leaving it for now. I can't say that gouache has won me over yet.

Anyway, that's it for this post! Some days I didn't get to paint at all, but when I did, my soul sung, and I felt at peace! I hope you have something that makes your soul sing.