Finished up a new picture, "Above and Below"

"Above and Below," detail of lower portion

Been working on this off and on for a couple of months. Started by priming some birch plywood with white latex primer, then added layers of colored ink. As I applied ink I moved the board around letting colors intermingle and dabbing some areas with crumpled paper towel to create some patterns. Let it dry, then some more until I had several layers. Then I basically drew a couple of almost circles and started applying detail with my Rapidograph pen.  This part takes a long time because I use a thin tip and because you can barely touch the surface of the board, otherwise the pen will get clogged from the paint. Caress the surface. Micron and other similar pens don't work well on this. They smear and the ink just does not adhere well to the colored ink surface. 

"Above and Below," detail of upper half

After getting some basic shapes going, I added some more colored ink with a brush to fill in some areas, then more pen. Back and forth like that. Decided to leave the background purposely vague. 

Here is the finished version.

"Above and Below," by Joe A. MacGown

Here is what it looks like upside down.

"Above and Below," upside down.