"Swell" is the latest in the beginner's experimentation in "common art" as a stress reliever in a time of the SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 pandemic (which some predict to end a year from now, so September 2022). This slideshow includes some new learning in terms of digital image editing.

1. Swell
A beginner’s play in alcohol inks,
acrylic paint,
synthetic papers,
and digital image editing…
Shalin Hai-Jew
Sept. 2021

2. 2
Recast

3. 3
Stir

4. 4
Until

5. 5
Practicing Cursive

6. 6
Fissures

7. 7
Reverberations

8. Swell
• “Swell” is the most recent slideshow in the alcohol ink drip playing series
started in January of 2021 as a comfort and a distraction at the start of the
second year of the SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 pandemic.
• In terms of the pandemic, progress is being made, with every step hard-won and
expensive.
• Meanwhile, on the visual front, I am learning slowly.
• Sometimes, I do “court disaster” in a visual because it then forces my hand to find a
solution.
• I am determined to learn water coloring at some point, but that is so much
more elusive than alcohol inks and synthetic papers. Perhaps it is much
more subtle, and developing a lighter hand will take a lot more learning
and practice.
8

9. Swell(cont.)
• In one work, I used acrylic to solve a visual challenge.
• I have learned the lesson that if water color or ink goes in a certain way, one
lets it go…or one can try to mop it up. One just does not want the fix to be
worse than the initial unintended movement of the liquid.
• I wondered if soaking synthetic paper to lift alcohol would provide a different
visual effect. It ended up muddying the visual worse.
• Still, there is always the digital salvaging of inartful work.
• In one endeavor, I placed various black dots using alcohol ink
markers…on synthetic paper and was a little shocked at how dilute
alcohol inks laid on top wiped out the dots. The ink was much more
opaque than I would have assumed.
9

10. Swell (cont.)
• I am aware that I need to more consciously change up my method of
how to create, so that I can have more variant outputs.
• In terms of digital image editing, as some of you may note, I recently
discovered halftone patterns (AI 2021). These seem somewhat
promising for some variations.
• The above discovery led to one of the works here that reads visually as
following the so-called “pixel art” tradition. (This was considered an earlier
form of algorithmic art. The works were simple, often drawn by computer,
and were viewed at the “picture element” or “pixel” level.)
• One work uses the various strokes separated from the image trace
function in Adobe Illustrator 2021.
10

11. On white synth paper
11

12. 12
Mettle

13. 13
Exchanges

14. 14
Finding Sun

15. 15
Bright Lines

16. 16
Slake

17. 17
Stasis

18. 18
Tire Spatter

19. 19
Prairie Fire

20. On translucent synth paper
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21. 21
Harsh Conditions

22. 22
Intertwined

23. 23
Weather Systems

24. 24
Loss

25. On digital variants
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26. 26
Landscape

27. 27
Breathing Water

28. 28
Stasis
(6 colors)

29. 29
Stopping

30. 30
Falling Pieces
(outside window)

31. 31
Boat

32. 32
Cold Map

33. 33
One Drop

34. 34
Flower Chains

35. 35
Drooping

36. 36
Mechanical Bloom

37. 37
Autumn

38. 38
Threads

39. 39
Hidden Web

40. 40
Shadowed Sun

41. 41
Sun through Trees

42. 42
Harbin

43. 43
Quiet

44. 44
Facets

45. 45
Microbial

46. 46
Sudden Rain

47. 47
Dark Bud

48. 48
Downpour

49. 49
Dark Bloom

50. 50
Last Bouquet

51. 51
Sun on Rocks

52. 52
Emanations

53. 53
Greening

54. 54
Gray Leaf

55. 55
Uncontrolled
(photocopy)

56. 56
Thrum

57. 57
Available Light

58. 58
Open Triangle

59. 59
Stormy Skies

60. 60
Pixel Art

61. 61
Stormy Skies
(6 colors)

62. 62
Held Luck