I made some avocado seed ink a few days ago and had a little time to play with it this morning.

[femmedem]

I generally paint in oils or I draw so I didn't have perfect paper or brushes, but I like the avocado ink quite a bit!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Ge_w0nlMY/

I made about six ounces of ink from two avocado seeds. I chopped up the seeds, simmered them, covered, in a cup of water for about 25-30 minutes with a teaspoon of soda ash, then whisked in a teaspoon of powdered gum Arabic.

[samnsara]

1. pretty!!!

[femmedem]

2. Thanks. I love the color of that ink.

I've been lurking in this group for a while and appreciate all the talent here, and also appreciate getting to know a different side of my fellow DUers.

[lunatica]

3. It looks very good!

I had no idea avocado seeds were so useful. I like the hue very much. Do you know if it lasts well on the paper? How permanent is it?

[femmedem]

4. I'm not sure yet how lightfast it is.

An hour after painting, I was able to lift off some of the pigment with a damp paper towel, but I also wasn't using paper suitable for water-based media. I just bought some better paper so I'll see how that goes.

I've seen avocado-dyed textiles before--just lovely--and the color supposedly lasts for at least a few years.

[lunatica]

6. We'll be sure to use fixative or some plastic lamination sealing.

[MLAA]

5. I love the resulting painting. It is beautiful and mysterious.

[femmedem]

7. Thank you! Something about backlit interiors is so atmospheric and mysterious.

I usually paint landscapes but I wanted to stay warm this morning and also practice perspective.

[MLAA]

8. I need to continue to practice on mysterious backgrounds...

Especially as a background for a portrait...something there in the background but not quite sure what effect 🙂

[femmedem]

9. Could be as simple as darkening the background behind the lit side of the portrait

and lightening it behind the shadow side. Or if you are placing your figure in a scene, keeping the values less intense than in your subject and making sure the edges are soft and sometimes lost.

[MLAA]

12. 🙂 will give it a try!

[femmedem]

15. Is that one of your portraits in your signature line?

It's beautiful! And I love the background; the shape and color is perfect.

[MLAA]

16. I wish! No it's not. 😊

I will have to figure out how to post pics one of these days and will share.

[packman]

10. Nice - I remember painting ( A long, long time ago)

with black walnut nut shells. Well, not really the shells, but the pulp that we used to smash to get to the walnuts themselves. It was dark brown and would stain everything, but made some interesting pictures.

[femmedem]

13. Thanks! Walnut ink is on my to-do list.

Last edited Mon Dec 16, 2019, 08:19 AM - Edit history (1)

I was out painting late this afternoon, looked down and saw a ton of them. I think I gathered enough for a small batch of ink.

[Karadeniz]

11. Whoa! That's beautiful! I love the color and the transparency!❤

[femmedem]

14. Thank you so much!

Yes, it's such a beautiful ink. I'm really excited about it.