Do You Want an Explosion of Color?

'Nature's Peace'             9x12          pastel        ©Karen Margulis
sold

 I came home from New Mexico to a wonderful surprise. A friend had sent me two wonderful aprons and a set of Derwent Inktense sticks. What special treats!  I couldn't wait to put the sticks to use. I pulled out a piece of Uart paper and a photo from New Mexico and set to work.

I've used the Derwent Inktense blocks as they are called but I only had a few single sticks. I was like a kid in a candy store with the set of 24 colors. I have a set of 24 Intense pencils but the blocks are better suited for underpaintings.

Derwent Inktense Blocks are ink in stick form....wet and watch them explode with color

 If you aren't familiar with this product they are actually inks in solid form. They are called blocks but they are the same shape and size as a Nupastel stick.

• You can work with them in a variety of ways but they are meant to be wet. Once they are wet they turn into liquid inks. You can wet them with water or rubbing alcohol or even turpenoid. Once they are wet they just EXPLODE with rich vibrant color. 
• They can be mixed and layered. You can manipulate the wet ink with sprays of water or alcohol. I got some great drips with the rubbing alcohol.
• They are fantastic for underpaintings for pastels. They are more vibrant than watercolor and very portable. 

My reference photo and underpainting on mounted Uart (the old uart mounted paper) 

I had a lot of fun with this underpainting. I used yellow Inktense sticks for the foliage to give my trees a head start. I find yellow very challenging to keep vibrant!  I loved the effects I got with the alcohol wash. Look at the interesting drips!  My goal was to allow some of this underpainting to peek through. If you haven't tried these yet put them on your list. They are too much fun!

The finished underpainting. Look at the cool drips!

Watch the underpainting come to life in this week's Patreon Video!

Come join the fun on my Patreon page. This week I posted the video of the underpainting and step by step demo of this painting. The cost is $4 a month for unlimited access to all of the content on the page. I also have a community page for you to share your work and ask for feedback. www.patreon.com/karenmargulis