“Symbiosis” expressive ink blot abstract painting on canvas.

My first large-scale ink blot painting.

At 52 x 52 inches “Symbiosis” is my largest ink blot painting combined with drawing to date. I used Fredrix Archival Watercolor Cotton Canvas for the first time, it’s a very finely woven gessoed canvas for waterbased paints. The fine weave took ink from the Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pen very well.

"Symbiosis" by Mary Wagner, ink and acrylic on canvas. — “Symbiosis” by Mary Wagner, ink and acrylic on canvas.

Metallic gold and fluorescent red ink color scheme.

My color scheme is brighter than I usually go with but using acrylic paint and liquid pigment inks broadened my color choices over those of the pigment ink pens I usually use. I was looking for colors that are bright, cheerful, summery and chose metallic gold acrylic paint and fluorescent red—which looks more pink than red to me. Flecks of blue and green were also added for a bit of depth.

“Symbiosis” is a loose canvas 58×58 inches without stretchers as the canvas is folded in half to make the ink blot mirror image patterns. Images show the full final painting along with the underlying drawing and detail images.