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Description
Iron - painted WITH iron (dissolved iron supplements)

"Why does she have wings?"
"Because she's a FER-Y" *cackles at my own joke, alone in my house*
(The ring behind her could be called a 'fer'ris wheel)

I was given a partial packet of iron supplements (purely for art reasons), as the person could not take them anymore but when we broke them open to see what the inside looked like we found it made a gorgeous rust colour when combined with water. (I tried mixing it with rubbing alcohol as well and while it maintained its silver colour it didn't actually dissolve and, when the alcohol evaporated, it would fall off like sand, so that wasn't an option.)

I wanted to incorporate as many iron associations as I could, much like the Coca Cola piece, only this included a lot more. My first thought was alchemy, hence the circle behind her and the mark on her forehead (in before 'why does she have the sign for man?'). Iron also brings forth images of blacksmithing, hence the flame and chains. There were lots of other themes I wanted to bring in, but it was already crowded, so I left it where it was.

I really need to choose between sitting down and practicing drawing people face-on for a few days or never drawing that angle again. EVERY SINGLE TIME it ends up being skewed to the left. If it was either direction it would be annoying, but it's always the same direction, as if someone whacked her upside the head with a skillet. The whole piece leans that way, now that I look at it. It seems fine, then I mirror it, and it's leaning. Is something going on with my vision? Either way, it makes me grumpy.

As for actually painting with the iron, it was kind of like working with the Coca Cola. A bit patchy, though I think I found out what I was doing there (AFTER painting the skin and half the background, of course). The higher concentrations didn't dissolve fully, so it was fun seeing sediments floating around in the wet 'paint' on the paper. It respected the masking fluid beautifully. Most importantly: it didn't smell like cherries. (Didn't have much smell at all, really.)

The wings and accessories are actually somewhat metallic, which freaked me out initially, because "I'm not painting with metallic art supplies?!"
(I can be very, VERY dumb sometimes.)
There's a video of the metallic effect on my Instagram (same name as the FB page).

I don't plan on this turning into a series I actively seek out products to work with, but when I stumble across something that I think would be interesting to paint with I might add another rendition. I haven't abandoned the Unconventional Mermaids, but I started feeling like they were something I was doing because it was expected of me, and not because I wanted to. I'm giving them a bit of a break until I want to work on them again.

Description
Iron - painted WITH iron (dissolved iron supplements)

"Why does she have wings?"
"Because she's a FER-Y" *cackles at my own joke, alone in my house*
(The ring behind her could be called a 'fer'ris wheel)

I was given a partial packet of iron supplements (purely for art reasons), as the person could not take them anymore but when we broke them open to see what the inside looked like we found it made a gorgeous rust colour when combined with water. (I tried mixing it with rubbing alcohol as well and while it maintained its silver colour it didn't actually dissolve and, when the alcohol evaporated, it would fall off like sand, so that wasn't an option.)

I wanted to incorporate as many iron associations as I could, much like the Coca Cola piece, only this included a lot more. My first thought was alchemy, hence the circle behind her and the mark on her forehead (in before 'why does she have the sign for man?'). Iron also brings forth images of blacksmithing, hence the flame and chains. There were lots of other themes I wanted to bring in, but it was already crowded, so I left it where it was.

I really need to choose between sitting down and practicing drawing people face-on for a few days or never drawing that angle again. EVERY SINGLE TIME it ends up being skewed to the left. If it was either direction it would be annoying, but it's always the same direction, as if someone whacked her upside the head with a skillet. The whole piece leans that way, now that I look at it. It seems fine, then I mirror it, and it's leaning. Is something going on with my vision? Either way, it makes me grumpy.

As for actually painting with the iron, it was kind of like working with the Coca Cola. A bit patchy, though I think I found out what I was doing there (AFTER painting the skin and half the background, of course). The higher concentrations didn't dissolve fully, so it was fun seeing sediments floating around in the wet 'paint' on the paper. It respected the masking fluid beautifully. Most importantly: it didn't smell like cherries. (Didn't have much smell at all, really.)

The wings and accessories are actually somewhat metallic, which freaked me out initially, because "I'm not painting with metallic art supplies?!"
(I can be very, VERY dumb sometimes.)
There's a video of the metallic effect on my Instagram (same name as the FB page).

I don't plan on this turning into a series I actively seek out products to work with, but when I stumble across something that I think would be interesting to paint with I might add another rendition. I haven't abandoned the Unconventional Mermaids, but I started feeling like they were something I was doing because it was expected of me, and not because I wanted to. I'm giving them a bit of a break until I want to work on them again.