This slideshow is a continuation of the "common art" series using various alcohol inks, synthetic papers, and digital editing... Some are created with pure materials, and the digital are seeded by materials and then digitally edited. On a continuum between "accidental" (and serendipitous) and "highly controlled" down to the pixel level, I prefer "accidental" for such play during a time of a pandemic (work from home, work cubicle visits, social distancing, and going around masked). (Sorry about the multiple uploads. I should actually review more closely for gaffes before I upload. Any other mistakes I see, I'm going to let ride.)

1. Molten
Shalin Hai-Jew
February 2021

2. 2
Onshoring

3. 3
Rear Window

4. 4
Water Sprites

5. 5
Barnacles

6. 6
Uncertain Weather

7. 7
High Noon

8. 8
Profusion

9. 9
Charm Offensive

10. Molten
• When doing the alcohol ink drip-art, there are almost always
intervening states which look “perfect.” The ink sits in the alcohol
pool exactly right, in the right form, and then, of course, it continues
to move and mix…and the illusion of perfection is gone.
• Or the desirable form has disappeared into some misapplied canned air, some
awkward tilt of the synthetic paper, or another spill of ink.
• The idea is to go with it as it reformulates.
• One watches the riveting process of alcohol ink drying fast on synthetic paper.
• And the idea is to learn about how to use the wet and the dry, the air,
the brushes, and what-not, to get closer to less accident/more
intention.
10

11. Molten (cont.)
• The transient is not what holds (even as it is pleasing) but the resting
state or equilibrium.
• And then there is another recuperation maybe through digital means
or painting over the underlying pigments.
11

12. Molten (cont.)
• To play well, it helps to start being aware of one’s go-to’s (and
habits)…and avoid them.
• Purposefully keep up with the experimentation and extremes.
• Dry works better than lots of dropped rubbing alcohol (because the
inks will just melt together and lose definition).
• It helps to pay attention to the requisite textures.
• It helps to pay attention to the sly and subtle colors that emerge.
• It helps to consider whether to layer after initial work…but too often,
this is to cover undesirable looks-and-feels. It is hard to go sparse and
accurate.
12

13. Molten (cont.)
• A major struggle is to try to create intelligible form because the
alcohol inks have their own mind.
• They are fast to muddy at least in my hands.
• Another major struggle is against the pixel-scale ability to edit in the
digital image editing tool.
• It is too easy to select down to the pixel and to change anything invisibly.
• It is too easy to move from digital pseudo-fidelity to digital artifice.
• It is too easy to go from accident and serendipity to high-control.
13

14. On translucent synth paper
14

15. 15
Terraced

16. 16
Grazing

17. 17
Sub Rosa

18. 18
Thin Air

19. 19
Sentinel Plot

20. 20
Thaw

21. 21
Eruption

22. 22
Skyward

23. 23
Damp Cavern

24. 24
Deep End

25. 25
Into the Wind

26. 26
Underwater

27. 27
Endemicity

28. 28
Path

29. 29
Ice Melt

30. 30
Plato’s Cave

31. 31
Lizard

32. 32
Orange Smoke

33. On white synth paper
33

34. 34
Unattainable

35. 35
Political Winds

36. 36
Dulled Spring

37. 37
Electronic Hive Mind

38. On black cardstock
38

39. 39
Metallic Taste

40. On digital variants
40

41. 41
Beach Fare

42. 42
Wind Shear

43. 43
Touch and Go

44. 44
Lattice

45. 45
Metallic Taste (Redux)

46. 46
In Winter

47. 47
Mechanical Flower

48. 48
Animal Host

49. 49
Twists

50. 50
Satellite

51. 51
Reconnections

52. 52
Railyard

53. 53
Counterspin

54. 54
Subtle

55. 55
Patriotism

56. 56
Empty Vessel

57. 57
Fade

58. 58
Digital Lily

59. 59
Ancient

60. 60
Goblet

61. 61
Flow

62. 62
Struct