Isn’t it strange how seeing things or using things within a different context alters your approach and attitude?

I have been whining on about how I never know how to use inks and I can’t get to grips with them especially acrylic inks.  I really want to use them because they have such great colours but I don’t know how – whah whah whah.

Today I watched the lovely Amy Maricle on the Get Messy tutorial page demonstrating a lovely technique using circles on a journal page.  She uses Neocolor II crayons and I only have Neocolor I which are the oil pastels and not at all what we need for this.  So I racked my brain, do I have anything else I could use?

Way back when I was a twenty something fashion student, I used some chunky water soluble crayons which I adored, so I went to dig them out.

In the same shoe box they were stored in were some card making supplies I used to make little cards to sell and send.  Among the supplies were a few bottles of FW acrylic artist ink.  Two are completely used and dry and the other three or four are well used but have some ink left.  I remember thinking that these inks were the best thing ever when I was painting cards.  I had never used inks like this before and loved them.

Fast forward a couple of decades, I find them today and my brain does all kinds of creative cartwheels as I remember the planet type designs I used to paint on the cards.  I used a circle stencil and just filled it with the inks creating all kinds of cool effects.

I am super excited that I have rediscovered these inks and my confidence to use them again.

It just goes to show that if you just let yourself use a medium and don’t worry or think about it too much, all the wonderful things can happen.

This page was made in my altered book ‘The Shape of Towns’ and under all the crayon and gesso is a page about the interior of a cathedral.

I was inspired by the tutorial over at Get Messy Art Journal and I really enjoyed using my water soluble Stabilo crayons again alongside white gesso and gold acrylic paint.

So, if you have any art supplies which have not seen the light of day for a year or ten, go get them out and see what you can make!

Happy Thursday x