Everything in the proper order

There are so many things you need to keep in mind when creating a piece of art, and just one impulsive move can really put a crimp in your plans. I decided it would be cool to do this beautiful girl's hair by using a stencil. I put in the stencil part with black gesso, and then went over it with Burnt Umber ink. I should have stopped at that point, worked on the face, and then finished the hair after, but I jumped in without thinking and cleaned up the edges and put in some blown strands with my India ink. The hair looked good (although I "trimmed" the width of her face and neck a bit much); I let it dry thoroughly and then moved on to the face.

The first step was to put some shadows under the top edge/bangs of the hair, and what do you know? I somehow forgot, despite knowing perfectly well if I had stopped to think, that India ink will move again if you get it wet! Suddenly there was a gray tinge to all my nice pure ink colors as the India ink bled into them. I had to stop, mop a little, let everything dry again, and try putting the highlights back in by using white ink on the tan-toned background. It would have been okay if I had been using sturdy watercolor paper, but this stuff has a flat finish (no texture), and multiple coats of ink started picking up bits of the paper along with the ink as I tried to blend and shade.

I had to let it dry again, then brush off the paper bits and live with the highlights I had already achieved, so then I needed to go a little darker with everything else. Bottom line: It was a good idea, but I turned it into kind of a hot mess with one unthinking, impatient moment.

I do, however, like the effect (stencil hair) and will try it again sometime.

"Freckles"—Pencil, black gesso, stencil, India ink, Uniball pen, Daler Rowney inks, on Strathmore Toned Tan Mixed Media paper, 9x12 inches.