A little learning is a dangerous thing, they say…..

Carlos Castaneda writes about how gaining power can be an enemy to growth - you think you have control, but control is an illusion…..

There’s the old saying: ‘In a beginners’s mind there are many possibilities, in an expert’s there are few’….

They all point towards the same thing.

Thinking you know what you’re doing is a fearful trap…..

Yesterday I messed up, repeatedly.

I’ve been making ink for a little while and I reckon I’m starting to know how to do it.

Yesterday I had a day at home so decided to make ink from some pomegranate rinds I’ve been collecting.

First screw-up: I used the pith as well as the skin, so the liquid pigment came out cloudy instead of clear.

I decided not to throw it away, but to see what i could make from it.

I added a mordant (alum) and some binder (gum arabica) and the cloudy ink intensified to for a lovely yellow.

I read that if I added a little citric acid it intensifies the yellow.

So I reached the tin from the shelf - it was getting late in the evening by now - and added a teaspoon of powder.

The yellow turned dark green.

Wrong powder. Screw-up number two. I used iron sulphate instead of citric acid.

So I ended up with nothing like I intended to make.

Bordering on the disconsolate, I painted some of the muddy green onto a scrap of paper.

It is utterly, utterly gorgeous.

A rich, dusky green which, painted thickly, becomes almost black.

My current favourite ink.

I am so glad I’m foolish, know so little and control nothing. It makes life much more interesting.

#inkpainting#specialistpaper#interiordesign#handmade#irishartist