Artist, Danielle Parent shares her art and techniques for reusing items that most alcohol ink artists throw away every day!
This weekend, alcohol ink artist, Danielle Parent shared a gorgeous work of art on her Facebook page (Artist Danielle Parent) that was made from paper towels that she had been using to catch ink drippings! So cool!
This isn’t new for Danielle either. She also uses finger painting paper, extending her creative options and getting the most mileage out of her supplies! Most of us just throw these away without a second thought… but not Danielle!
From Daniele Parent
by Artist, Danielle Parent
I have been saving my paper towels that I used to wipe surfaces and brushes. I hate to waste those precious inks. So I ripped my dried paper towels in small pieces and used gel medium and glued the paper pieces to my canvas to create a 3 dimensional composition! What you see is not brush painted but all glued from the stained towels. So Tadda!!
It is crazy how much ink we end up throwing away in the towels. So, I also use finger painting paper under my painting surface so I can reuse the ink in other projects.
If you use finger painting sheets under your painting to catch all the ink flowing down, you will end up will amazing and colourful paper that you can use to make cards, scrapbooking, backgrounds for paintings or use them to wrap your gifts with them!
I use the finger painting paper under my paintings instead of using the towel paper to catch overflowing ink. Once dry I use them as background and paint over them. I use them to wrap gifts, or for cut outs in scrapbooks or line cards inside, make bookmarks, gift tags too! It is insane how fast you build up a collection of backgrounds that way. I fill them into an accordion file by color themes to make it easier to find later.
I used to get the dollar store’s brand but now I buy the Hilbroy brand as the sheets are bigger and more sturdy. It does not shrivel because of too much wetness. I find them at Staples and the pad cost about $5 in Canada. They are well worth it!
This painting was created on a background from ink I saved on finger painting paper and painted the tree on top of the background.
This is also stains that dried on finger painting paper
This painting was also done with saved ink dried on finger painting paper that had a great pattern and textures and was perfect to use as background for a naval theme.
This painting was also done with saved ink dried on finger painting paper that had a great pattern and textures and was perfect to use as the background for a naval theme. I drew and painted the anchor right on it. Added some to highlight some of the stains that looked like bubbles. Now that finger painting sheet was a dollar-store brand and you can see how it is buckled from the wetness. But in this project, it worked to my advantage as it looks like ripples in the water.
In this painting only the background is saved ink dried up on finger painting paper and I painted Elvis on Staple photo paper then cut out Elvis and glued him on the background and added details around Elvis’s cut out so it blended better with the background .
Elvis on Photo Paper
That is the gel medium I use to glue each piece of paper and covered the layers of the painting with the trees and grass blades with. You can buy this ad your local Walmart or craft store.
Here is a sample of paper towels I used to fix mistakes or wipe my brushes with while painting. I let them dry. Before I use them for a collage, I use an old iron on low setting and flatten them out. It shows more details that way. That is what I did for the sky in the first painting of this discussion (with the trees) It makes it easier as well for cutting small details like the grass blades I did on the roadsides. As you can see it is a shame to not save them. They have fabulous colors and patterns once dried.
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Danielle Parent
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Wow such a brilliant idea never heard of finger painting sheets must look out for them.,I do waste alot of ink great way to save it as the saying goes “waste not want not” as mum aways says! What beautiful paintings Danielle x
Thank you Veronica ! You can buy the pads at Staples in the children art section. Where the gouache and kids crayons are. They are about $6,00 in Canada
Oh my fiend,. How awesome are your ideas! Love them. Thank you for sharing them with u!
Great article Danielle x
Thank you Willow , happy you enjoyed it ! 🙂
Very interesting, great idea with the finger painting paper
Thank you Sue. Glad you enjoyed the article. Yes it is a great way to make the most out of these gorgeous ink. I keep all of the finger painting sheets for later projects . Once they are dried I store them in accordion files and sort them by color themes. It is easier to retrieve them later when I am searching for a specific color I then can reuse them for background in some paintings or card, cut outs, embellishments in scrapbooks . Thank you for your comment. 🙂
Thanks Danielle,
I have been looking for your techniques for awhile. You once posted on Alcohol Ink Connections and then I couldn’t find the post. Your paintings are beautiful! I used to use freezer paper under my paintings, but then stopped. I will look tor fingerpainting paper.
Danielle, I love your paintings and your thriftiness…gorgeous!!!..great idea with the fingerpainting paper! thanks for sharing…
Very cool idea I am just starting to work with The alcohol inks my sister got me into it but I love it very relaxing and thank you for all the tips and advice