Curious about how this was done? You can find out the special techniques I used next month if you’ve signed up for email updates; I’ll explain more about it in January!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #87:

It’s amazing how different the same 3 colors can look! MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #87 and MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #86 were both painted with the same restricted palette of Phthalocyanine Blue (Green Shade), Quinacridone Magenta, and Cadmium Yellow Light Hue acrylic ink. #86 is on Yupo and #87 is on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press watercolor paper. Both feature lots of layers and wet-in-wet mixing. In #86, I used more water and allowed all 3 inks to mix more freely to create a more subdued palette. For added depth, #87 also has a first layer of linear shapes in diluted white ink and an intermediate layer of gloss medium shapes.

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #86:

Exciting things happen when you combine acrylic ink, Yupo, and water! Here are my favorite 3 inks: Phthalocyanine Blue (Green Shade), Quinacridone Magenta, and Cadmium Yellow Light Hue. They’re too strong for me straight out of the bottle, so I typically work with a part ink/part water version that varies by color — half water/ half ink for Phthalo Blue, less water for the others. The piece of blue painter’s tape on each bottle is my signal that it’s a diluted mixture. I started by drawing looping root-like shapes with water, which tends to bead up on the plastic paper, so I used “custom” brushes to convince the water to adhere before adding the diluted ink. The brushes are just old hog bristle ones that I gave a haircut. Next, I created wet-in-wet mixtures by dropping in different amounts of the 3 inks. Because Yupo is nonabsorbent, intriguing textures happened as the water slowly evaporated. Repeating the process several times added more depth and richer color.