It's all jelly play in the studio late in the day after I've lost the light to paint on the fall scrolls.

I'm printing on aluminum - which is different and fun and shiny! The aluminum takes the ink more heavily than the bamboo paper so I need to make some adjustments in the density of the images I'm using. There's something about printing water and ice on the aluminum surface that excites me! I'm using some roofing flashing I picked up at Home Depot but I'm in search of some recycled aluminum sheets.

I've also been printing on some dao paper from Southeast Asia which was sent as a gift from a friend. I'm coating it with a shimmery pearlescent material made by InkAId for inkjet printers. It's a delicate paper and requires a substrate beneath for support as it passes through the printer. I am loving the images and adding paints and pencil marks. This is the part of the process where it's total play! I've no firm idea yet of this new process and what I'll end up using to paint. But these papers will be where I work out my ideas for the large aluminum jelly works. I guess they'll be the jelly scribbles!

I am ordering some fluorescent pigments from Kremer, purple, yellow, white and orange I think.And some more Gofun Shirayuki, which is crushed oyster shells that were allowed to lay on the beach for years to bleach to a gorgeous pearly white. A long time ago I had a discussion with an egg tempera painter who thought it silly that I thought materials had residual qualities from their source. But I know the gofun shirayki has the memory of the ocean.

Yesterday I mixed some gofun shirayuki with zinc white and a smidge of purple pigment and got a lovely transluscent color. It's like that shimmery purple you see in clear bubbles or in oyster shells. I'm using it in the second and third fall scrolls. I think I'll use it for the jellies as well! Can't wait to play with it and the fluorescents! There's the bioluminescence!

Meanwhile I'm reading ALL (yes every single one) of the Safety amd Material Data Sheets. Working with tempera and pigments on aluminum is tricky and I am feeling my way along.