Building an Alcohol Ink Image of Substance

I was intrigued with blotches, blobs and splatters, so decided to explore that a little further to see how a contrast in textures could be achieved.  It is tricky to create a smooth image or surface within an image with these inks.  In creating the green circle, for example, I tried to do a little manipulation with the wet ink to get a round shape and not a more floral shape with irregular, petal-shaped appendages extending from a central hub. 

I discovered that it was more about limiting the amount of liquid in the puddle than coralling the borders of the shape - although to some extent both were important.

By simply touching an alcohol-saturated brush tip to a smooth background, the vertical blob patterns were formed that appear to stack on one another.  In the browns and blue at the bottom, spritzing 91% alcohol resulted in these very blotchy shapes.

The task at this stage in the process, was to look carefully, imagine what it image it could become, and then work with this new and foreign material to achieve something close to a desired result.

I decided to create a soil, earth or ground surface beginning in the lower left hand corner of the image.  I used a fine point liner to identify soil clumps, rocks, and elements in the surface. The stacked blue blobs reminded of tree shadows, so I began adding pine trees of varying heights in front of the shadows and tried to give them the appearance of being anchored into the soil.

I continued to work the rocks and dirt across the bottom of the image to give the trees a substantial foundation and added more defined shadows of trees in the background.  I tried to give the impression that all trees, regardless of their location in the foreground or background, are anchored in the soil below.

Before I continue with the development of this image, I want to be sure to respond to those who had questions about the YUPO product.

 The packaging is in tablet form in this particular brand.  As you can see the size is 11 x 14, the surface is smooth (implying there is something other than smooth which I have not seen,) and the material is 100% polyporylane - OIL.  Below is the cost for ten 11 X 14 sheet of this golden oil -

.....$29.68 plus tax or about 3 $$$ a sheet.  If you can find it at a store like Michaels (not all carry this material,) it is a little cheaper, but you are still looking at an average of $3.00 for an 11 X 14 sheet.  Although I have paid $40.00 for a piece of beautiful rag printing paper that is 30" X 40", I still think $3.00 is steep for a sheet of material I am going to experiment on..........I felt better when I cut the sheet in quarters so that each 5.5 X 7 piece was only 75 cents.  Of course, then there is the cost of those little, tiny bottles of ink........hmmmmmmmmm!  Bottom line - consider this experiment carefully before venturing to the store for some experimentation!!!  Beginning with a very limited palette helps......a little!