Part 5 Use a limited palette of acrylic inks to achieve a variety of effects, from drawing to adding washes, with Tim Fisher

Acrylic ink

Tim Fisher

Hill Top Farm , FW Acrylic Ink on Sennelier 140lb Rough watercolour paper, 6x9in. (15x23cm)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

How to handle, apply and mix acrylic ink

Methods to adapt and erase mistakes

Find a clear working process

Tim’s equipment: A set of six Daler- Rowney FW Acrylic Inks, three brushes and palettes

At first glance, the strong colours of acrylic inks may appear a little daunting, but used in their entirety they can provide a versatile medium, both to experiment with and to create transparent and vibrant paintings.

I prefer to use the Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic Inks. These are available in a wide range of colours, but a convenient package is the FW primary colours set comprising: lemon yellow, process magenta, process cyan, sepia, emerald green and scarlet. I also find bottles of black and white FW ink come in handy. Each glass bottle contains an eyedropper type phial, which can be used to dispense the ink cleanly without contaminating the contents with another pigment. Some bottles require a good shake before using, as the pigment tends to settle over time.

For a palette I like to use something disposable, generally a waxed or plastic plate with divisions. I pour the ink into a collection of small wells, which have been used previously as packaging for chocolate. Alternatively, the base the bottles are packaged in can be used as a palette. The ink can be transferred from these wells into the mixing plate using a No. 3 Pro Arte Rigger. These are better to use than the working brushes, as the Rigger transfers very little liquid back into the ink, keeping the colours bright and strong. My working brushes are a Round No. 8 nylon brush and a Jackson’s No. 6 squirrel mop.