Capturing the Beauty and Character of Trees with Tom Norton’s Walnut Drawing Ink: An Artist's Product-Review

           One of my favorite fluid art-media that I have been using for several years is Tom Norton’s Walnut Drawing Ink.  The first time that I used this ink I was immediately inspired by the possibilities of the media.

 

"View Through Graceful Branches", by Linda L. Anderson. Acrylic and Tom Norton's Walnut Ink.

            I am very attentive to the marriage between my subject matter and the media I use to express my creative response to subject and theme. The wooded landscape and portraits of trees are among my primary subjects—and Tom Norton’s Drawing Ink is ideal for the manner that I portray this subject matter.  The earthy browns of the ink allows me to create paintings that have a natural timeless quality—as well as a contemporary feel.

 

"Along the Skyline", by Linda L. Anderson. Acrylic and Tom Norton's Walnut Ink.

            I also appreciate how well the ink mixes with other water media.  I often create subtle shifts of temperature and chroma through inter-layering or mixing other water-media during the painting process.  By adding a small quantity of black India Ink I can create cooler shades within my ink washes.  These cooler notes complement the warmer-range washes I can achieve with Tom Norton Walnut Ink. 

"Between Silent Junctures" by Linda L. Anderson. Tom Norton's Drawing Ink.

I can also increase the richness and opacity of the ink washes through layering one wash on top of a previous dried layer, as well as through adding a small quantity of brown-tone, or golden-tone watercolor paint into the walnut ink. I often do this to create warmer mixtures and washes.  

I use the sepia-toned ink as a painting media—similar to watercolor; layering my ink-washes to achieve a variety of values and textures.  The rich browns that I can achieve with Norton’s Drawing Ink are ideal for the mood and aesthetic characteristic that I seek to create in each of my walnut and mixed-media paintings that form my “Umber Woods” series.  Several of my Walnut Ink paintings have been the impetus to create a larger, mixed-media composition that integrated the walnut ink painting as a featured part of the larger design of the composition.

I am excited to learn that Tom Norton now makes a Darkening Medium that increases the density of the ink.  

( NOTE: You may view additional examples of my walnut ink paintings that form my "Umber Woods" Collection.  View these works at http://www.lindalandersonfineart.com )

                                                                               Linda L. Anderson, MFA.