This work is about some alcohol ink drawings made by a newbie for fun during a time of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic over several days. The works explore how the alcohol ink interacts with a particular synthetic paper for different visual effects. The works occasionally include some other mixed media. Most of these were not digitally edited except for the creation of an alpha channel. A few did include some more digital editing to align with the name of the visual.

1. Alcohol Ink “Drip Playing”
Shalin Hai-Jew
January 2021

2. 2
Hidden Loops

3. 3
Residua

4. 4
Tumult

5. 5
Gem

6. Alcohol ink “drip playing” during a pandemic
• These works evoke for me something of working with the
characteristics of the various media involved (and the built-in
serendipity and chance factors)…while having some influence on
what is expressed
• I like that these are a mixture of abstract and pseudo-figurative and
that the titles give them a different spin or angle
• Sometimes, the titles arrive first before the visuals, and I write them on a
yellow sticky pad and use them when they seem appropriate
• These works have a rough-cut charm and an accidental quality, which
is alluring
6

7. Alcohol ink “drip playing” during a pandemic
(cont.)
• These digital scans do not capture the actual brilliance (vibrance) of
the colors or the metallic aspects
• Most digital edits were light
• In one case, I added a digital overlay; in other case, I did more than a little
light editing for an effect
• I’d accidentally bought the translucent background (non-porous)
synthetic papers (instead of white), so the backgrounds take on the
darker tones of the scanner
• These look different held up to the light or on a light table
7

8. Alcohol ink “drip playing” during a pandemic
(cont.)
• Perhaps one way to cope in the time of a pandemic is to play with
alcohol-based inks on recyclable synthetic paper…even as a newbie
and with mostly at-home supplies
• The present informs everything that we do…so, too, here
• My work involves heavy-duty focus on research and technologies, all
with high precision, so this play is a reprieve
• Dripping is not the only way to engage these pigments, but I have not
yet upgraded my supplies to electric blowers and paint movers and
other fancy things; I have yet to expand my first palette (but will)
• These are some visuals created from my first set of alcohol inks and
my first pack of the synthetic paper
• And then I ran out of compressed canned air
8

9. 9
Carnivorous

10. 10
Throughline

11. 11
Puzzle

12. 12
Garden Path

13. 13
Gravity and Indifference

14. 14
Harvest

15. 15
Five Flowers

16. 16
Far Enough Out

17. 17
Falling

18. 18
Breath / Breathe

19. 19
Serendipity

20. 20
To Wine