"Tides" is the latest in the alcohol ink drip playing series. Sorry, this is the second posting because I misnamed a tree that I thought was a sycamore but is actually a London Planetree.

1. Tides
A beginner’s play in alcohol inks,
alcohol markers, watercolor, acrylics,
crayon, and whatnot,
synthetic papers,
light compositing,
and digital image editing…
Shalin Hai-Jew
Jan. 2022

2. 2
Sowing

3. 3
Windblown

4. 4
Coded Paper 2

5. 5
Stalking Kitty

6. 6
Tree
(graphic pen)

7. 7
Wishes

8. 8
Sky, Ground, War

9. 9
Seepage
(diptych)

10. Tides
• “Tides” is the most current alcohol ink drip playing slideshow, in the
series started over a year ago as a way of relieving stress from the
pandemic.
• In alcohol ink drip playing, the more one tries to mask something
unappealing, often the more one draws attention to the thing that
one is trying to hide. Perhaps this is something like life (where most
hidden things come to light…thankfully).
10

11. Tides(cont.)
• Some of these works are “seeded” from re-drawn re-painted alcohol
ink artworks on synthetic papers. For these, one has to build on
lower layers, even as some of this may be covered with opacity. (To
create translucent, one uses “blending” alcohol concoctions or
isopropyl alcohol.)
• Some of the reworks look like variations on a theme to the prior work.
• Other reworks are full distortions and really look like something else
altogether. There is a level of malleability to engaging alcohol inks on
synthetic paper.
• All illustration is illusion, visual lies, low-fidelity representations of the
real or the imaginary. Or the illustration may be a total non-referent
but its own thing, an abstraction.
11

12. Tides(cont.)
• Each work, though, is a one-off, and it is not possible to reconstruct
(except digitally). Every edit mutes something else and changes the
focus to another part of the 2d plane.
• I’ve applied de-vibrance to some of the works.
• I realize that black is critical in an image. Doing a color select and
removing the black where I have too much dominating dark removes
the drama and the heart of the image in many cases. Technically, it
removes the lightness range.
• Anything except subtle changes can affect the mood of a piece.
• Others are created wholly from unspoiled blank canvases.
12

13. Tides(cont.)
• One work is a quick rough on white
draft paper inspired from an earlier
animated gif, titled “A Turtle’s Day.” In
the animation, a turtle walking over a
dry landscape is whisked away by the
speed of the day as indicated by a
giant red sun above. This work is
created in the tradition of a
storyboard rough.
• The animation (in Adobe Animate)
was drawn with a mouse. A
screenshot of it is shown to the left.
13

14. On white sketch paper
14

15. 15
A Turtle’s Day
(a storyboard rough
of animation scene)

16. On white synth paper
16

17. 17
Hill

18. 18
Clash

19. 19
Reeds

20. 20
Temperate

21. 21
Rock Pile

22. 22
Rock Collection

23. 23
Walled Garden

24. 24
Impetus

25. 25
Blue Sun

26. On translucent synth paper
26

27. 27
Electronic Hive Mind 2

28. 28
Intoxication

29. 29
Pairwise

30. 30
Eruption

31. On digital variants
31

32. 32
Rooted

33. 33
Overhang

34. 34
Icy Puddle

35. 35
Empty Witness

36. 36
Pull

37. 37
War Winds

38. 38
London Planetree
in Shade

39. 39
Targeting Poles

40. 40
Ranges

41. 41
Dissolution

42. 42
A Turtle’s Day
(ink outlines)

43. 43
Sheets and Puddles

44. 44
Drape

45. 45
Burrowing

46. 46
Cyberwar

47. 47
Grid

48. 48
Rising Air

49. 49
Inertial

50. 50
Winter Sun

51. 51
Unexpected

52. 52
Prickles

53. 53
Drenched

54. 54
First Smoke

55. 55
Emergence

56. 56
Stack Order

57. 57
Carry

58. 58
Run

59. 59
Towards Light

60. 60
Spirit and Matter

61. 61
Angel Fish

62. 62
Sun Trail

63. 63
Lavender Day

64. 64
Stalking Kitty 2

65. 65
Split Sun

66. 66
Water Flow

67. 67
Light Flow

68. 68
Black Leaf