Bleeding is good

This was after observing an exercise by Jenny Manno using the Elegant Writer to do all the nuances of shadow on a face. She was drawn in pencil; then, gradually, feature by feature, outlined with an Elegant Writer calligraphy pen, which bleeds on contact with water. So after each application of the marker, you take your wet paintbrush and pull the color out of the line to make shadow. The beauty of this particular water-soluble marker is that when it bleeds, it spreads out into multiple subtle colors of turquoise, pink, and purple, even though the pen itself is black. The dappley effect on the dress and in the background (and accidentally in part of her hair!) is the result of salting the wet paper; the salt soaks up some of the color, and, after it dries and you brush the salt off the surface, it leaves little blooms in the color. It works a lot better if you have coarse or rock salt, but all I had was regular sea salt, so it's not quite as spectacular. (Also, I covered some of it up with another application of ink.)

This is taken from a photo of a young Frida Kahlo—she was just 18 when this was taken, and betrayed no hint of her later, more flamboyant look. Her hair is drawn back severely, and her dress is a plain dark satin, almost like a postulant's from a nunnery. I don't feel like I captured the likeness too well, and this was one of those times that, despite duplicating the photo as closely as I could, I couldn't get her to look at me. In the photo it's her usual direct gaze, but in my painting she's focused on something out in the distance. So frustrating.

This wasn't the ideal picture on which to play with the Elegant Writer, because the best use of it is to make crazy cloudy colorful hair; but I'm happy enough with the subtle shading in the face that reflects all the colors it makes. I'm less happy with some of the awkward lines in the hair, dress, and border, but playing is how you learn to do better.

"Young Frida"—pencil, Elegant Writer (black), Stabilo All pencil, Daler Rowney ink (whites of the eyes, tints, and background colors), and table salt, on Strathmore Toned Gray 184-lb. Mixed Media paper, 9x12 inches.