Thursday, August 23, 2007

Justin Wiest Paintings

I'm in the process of doing another manikin painting based on the sacrifice of Isaac (son of Abraham and father of Jacob), and hope to post a walnut-ink study soon. The walnut ink I use is simply those green rotting things on the side of the road that stain your sneakers and hands. I get a bunch of them, smash them, add some distilled water, boil them, and then strain through some pantyhose. It is preferable to use someone else's kitchen and pantyhose. You then have an ink concentrate and can water down for lighter values. I also tried adding alcohol (which prevents the ink from smelling funky) and shellac to make it flow differently. The ink has a window of flexibility before it become insoluble, that is on some papers you can make a mark and then lift most of it off. I don't know how permanent or lightfast the ink is but I have some drawings that are 10-15 years old and haven't faded or changed.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, you gotta go through a lot to get something useful. my grandad here on the Eastern Shore used to wait till they hardened and then drive his 52 Dodge over them to loosen them up to get them out of the shell. Good luck with the ink, it looks great.

jesw said...

Huh, so the nuts are edible. The shell (which gets very black)is the useful part for ink making.

Anonymous said...

I really like that effect.

jesw said...

It was brought to my attention that manikin can also be spelled: mannequin, mannikin