Ink Wash Experiment

I have completed this week's required assignments so I thought I'd try an optional, an ink wash according to instructions in Beautiful Botanicals. Even though I love books, I went at it without a review. I must have read the ink wash instructions at some time but they didn't seem available upstairs this evening.

I plodded along with light washes until I began plowing in the ink and then reducing the mix and dumping in more ink. I wanted it darker. Then I remembered something about using water washes to smooth the edges--that made things looks less blotchy. So I figured, why not? Why not just try a tiny bit of raw ink on a watered down spot? I liked it. Only thing is that I think I needed the rest of the leaf to be darker. (It looks mildly better here in real life.)

Those white veins? My first try using masking fluid from a bottle a bought a few years back when I thought I was going to watercolor. It looks kinda rough and it should--I used a pine needle to apply it!

Fabriano Artistico HP 140 lb on 9 x 12" block.

The instructor reviews on my uploads came in this morning. Wow, wow! That's a quote from her messages.