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qualities of India ink, but produces a rich
sepia tone instead. In Ingleborough and
Ribblesdale Limestone – The Yorkshire Dales
(page 30), I applied India ink as an
underpainting in glazes. If the ink had
been water-soluble it is very likely that it
would have lifted into the gouache, which
I really didn’t want.
Quink ink was developed for use with
fountain pens, not as a fine art product. It
produces one of the most compelling ink
wash effects, as seen in Pennine
Weathered Landscape(above). Quink dries
by absorption rather than evaporation,
like other water-based inks. It is not
waterproof, unlike India ink, and if any
paper is wet, black ink will run and
separate into blue and yellow
components. It is really exciting to see
and use these interesting creative
dimensions in your drawings and black
and white studies.
Acrylic inks dry really fast and the acrylic
binders used are waterproof. The inks can
be used with wet-in-wet techniques,
glazes, diluted washes (using water toartistApril 2016 http://www.painters-online.co.ukthin) and also more opaquely.
Winsor & Newton’s lovely drawing inks
are made with soluble dyes in a fluid
shellac solution. These remarkable and
brilliant inks can be applied with brush,
dip pen or airbrush and are used widely
by artists. These inks have exceptional
colour brilliance and ease of handling.
Daler-Rowney ‘FW’ Artists’ acrylic ink is,
in my opinion, one of the best ranges of
coloured ink waterproof inks on the
market – they are superb. This acrylic-
based water-resistant ink is lightfast and
fully intermixable – I often mix my own
tones in separate containers and, by
adding different amounts of water, I have
ready-made washes. All washes will dry to
a water-resistant film on a wide variety of
surfaces, including canvas. Colours can be
layered for powerful effects in glazing. I
often prefer to use these inks in
traditional watercolour, partly for their
brilliance and partly because previous
washes of pigment do not lift once dry,
and maintain their transparency.
Daler-Rowney also produce a beautiful
ink called Kandahar, available from 28ml
bottles to 1L containers. This beautiful
dense black ink flows easily from pen,
brush and airbrush and is ideal for line
drawing and painting. It is water resistant
but not waterproof, so a degree of
‘workability’ is possible even when the ink
is dry.
Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus Fine Art
Watercolour Inks are real favourites of
mine as I have used them for as long as I
can remember. Although the bottles of
ink have changed in appearance over the
years, this ink still delivers the samebrilliance and permanency when dry. The
handy dropper allows you to transfer ink
from the bottle to the mixing tray in the
exact amounts you want and, given their
brilliance, these inks are great value.
Waterproof or water-soluble inks really
can add new dimensions to your work. So
go on, give them a try – a wonderful
world of colour and creativity awaits in
those lovely glass jars!Pennine Weathered Landscape,Quink ink,
Nitram charcoal and black, white and grey
tones of soft and hard pastel on Canson
Moulin du Roy Not 140lb (300gsm) paper,
21 30in (53 76cm).
Quink ink was used on the strong 100 per
cent rag content watercolour paper in
multiple layers in different strengths of wash,
working vertically all the way through the
painting process. Its beautiful blue-black
tones are superb as underpainted tones in
this dramatic vistaRobert Dutton
regularly tutors mixed-media drawing
and painting holidays, combining
outdoor and studio workshops,
throughout Yorkshire, the Lake District
and Spain. For more information visit
http://www.rdcreative.co.uk.TA