Inkwash Session #1

Doing inkwash can be a lot of fun if you deliberately choose not to get frustrated when the ink doesn't do what you want it to.  We've been given the choice to approach out washes with whatever color or additive medium that we choose.  I've been painting with a mixture of black and green because I find desaturated gray-greens to be very relaxing and sort of mysterious/ancient, in a way that I felt would communicate well with the aquatic, alien nature of the shells. 

Below is my first attempt at making a decent inkwash shell drawing/painting.  I didn't have my original shell at the time so I was forced to use a different one.  This shell is much more round and simpler in form than my usual, which I found extremely relieving.  Not having to worry about the lines of spokes sticking out at the viewer allowed me to focus on much simpler, muscle like forms as opposed to the confusing bone like structures I have to deal with usually.  The green never got fully pronounced outside of a subtle nuance of color, so I had to be sure to use more the next time.  In doing the painting vertically I had a few nice drips down the page, which I find somewhat pleasing.  If there was too much of this going on I wouldn't like it, but I found the three or so streaks appropriate.

Below is my first full inkwash after having some experience under my belt.  Here I got the green to shine through with the desired amount of subtlety.  Main flaws I had to deal with was the inside of the shell, with cross contours that don't seem to reflect an adequate amount of depth. The only thing I might consider doing is pulling out specific shadows with very dark, black ink.  What I felt succeeded was having the unattended white sections pop out at the viewer, and using the green to create an atmospheric effect on the spirals pointing away from the viewer.   Overall I'm very satisfied with the way this shell turned out.