This painting of the World Tree turned out great!

Hi there. I'm Kim Das Holm and this is Inkplot Alchemy where we use our creativity to draw something from out of chaos. Now, what will we find in today's ink blot? Adding some water without something. [gasps] And then doop and then doop. Ooh, that's interesting. I don't know what to say about it. I don't know if this speaks to me or speaks to what I want to do today because I have an intention going into this. So I I have something not concrete but something still I have a feeling I want to find and I don't know if I see it in this but that's why we will keep looking. And while we keep looking and seeing the possibilities allow me to briefly explain what inkplot alchemy is. Two times every week, I sit down and draw something, make art from a random ink plot, and release the full process video, unedited and unscripted, except for this tiny intro script. [sighs] I may have intentions, but the ink always decides the direction. It might get dark, it might get silly, it might get personal, it might get political. [snorts] If you want to skip the whole process, then you are free to do so. But the final image is marked in in the video. So you can just jump to the final image. No one blames you. But if you want to come along, then random ink drawing is more than just drawing. I It's fun. It's play. It's magic. It's inkplot alchemy. Now comment below. What did you see in this ink plot? And I'll figure out what I see. So last inkplot alchemy session, I was feeling under a lot of pressure and I was feeling like I was buckling under that pressure. And to be honest, that's exactly how I feel today as well. Time has gone by, but the feeling still remains. >> [snorts] >> So what I wanted to do with today's inkplot alchemy was to attack the same problem but with a different method. So last ink pot alchemy I got I got a bit desperate. I got stressed. I fell out of the process and with today's inkput alchemy I want to do the opposite. I want to use the process to relax. So that's why I'm starting by ruining the whole ink blot. And you may say, "Oh, but I saw something in that." Okay, you do you. The point here is not, and I've said this before, it's not to follow and make the most ideal version. It's not to effectively exploit the inkplot in the most uh fitting way. It's not to find the secret best thing the ink plot could be. And the point is to let the randomness allow you to draw something or draw something in a way that wouldn't have happened without the randomness. And without the randomness in the beginning, we wouldn't have gotten this beautiful pattern that I don't know. I don't know what it is yet. Maybe it is simply a background for something. Maybe we're seeing a figure up here. I think we're seeing a figure there. Let's try to bring forth that figure. [snorts] Or is it a figure? It could be a tree. I think it's a tree. And it's a tree that is winding up like this. And in terms of drawing something for the meditative aspect of it, drawing something in order to relax while drawing it. I don't think you can do much better than drawing a tree. Because a tree it grows in all these weird and strange directions that do follow laws and pattern. But within those laws and patterns and also bending those laws and patterns just free to make up anything. Uh human usually have like two arms and two legs but and you can do humans with more or less. That's okay. But a tree has almost endless branches. You can do them till you get blue in the face. And as long as you follow some basic rules, which are of course different for for different types of trees. And here I'm not even aiming in on it's not a birch. It's not an ash. It's not an oak. Maybe it is an oak. But but I I I'm not honing in to that degree that I need to figure out what tree it is. It's just a tree. Which means I can follow some very basic laws. And those basic laws have to do with how branches never get thicker except for the knots where other branches grow out. And if you follow that basic logic, the branch is always going a bit thinner and thinner except for the knots where branches are growing out or or have grown out. As long as you follow those basic laws, you can do whatever you want. Happy little trees. As Bob Rod as Bob Ross said. Is this a happy little tree? doesn't look all that happy to me, but uh we'll see. Still a ways to go. Another wonderful thing about drawing trees is that they grow in all sorts of directions and on a 2D surface you can play with those directions. so much. And another fascinating thing for me is how many other elements in nature when you look at them From the veins of a human body or an animal to structures in the brains to fungi and other patterns. how they all often end up with these three these treel like structures. How the tree can be found in so many other organisms and structures. I find that fascinating, which is, you know, simply about that's all that has to do with is how something grows. And Maybe that's one of the things I'm struggling with now. Now, now I I'm not trying to be clever or to push the this in any direction and come up with some aha moment or or anything like that. I I'm just thinking aloud. But the way my thoughts and interests and maybe the way my focus works is kind of treelike in that sense. that one of the problems I've been having is that I I the way I've organized my life. I'm getting way too many tiny branches and I I keep wanting to needing to stick and focus on this part or this part or to grow this or that branch. But I keep getting distracted by all the other branches. Keep jumping like a squirrel like Ratatosker. The squirrel in the world tree and u the squirrel in the world tree in Norse mythology. There's a squirrel jumping from branch to branch, carrying messages from the creatures that live in the branches of the world tree [sighs] and uh carrying those to carrying the messages I think both to the other creatures who live in Idrasil. And uh yeah, [snorts] I I'm feeling like my ratatoser my ratatosk is getting exhausted by running around the branches. all the time and I'm scared that the tree is dying. I don't think it is, but I'm scared. I'm seeing some of the leaves fall off and I have to cut some of the branches [snorts] and I have to prune the tree a little. But you can do that also so that the tree gets to grow. I like this tree. I I see some things I have to do. But uh you know you can go wild and just yeah go hog wild and basically try to draw all the branches. But that all the little sticks, the tiny twigs, but that doesn't make for a better drawing. Keeping it rather limited usually makes for a better drawing. Now I thought I would create these bigger wet roots down here. Just a few of them. and add some water to them. Not too many. And then add some roots in the brown color. When I started this drawing just a little while ago, I said I had intentions. And my intentions were to get into this sort of meditative state to to use the pressure in order to dep pressurize. And That with that intention came also a vague hazy image of the potential of what the the ink plot could become long before I created the inklot. But that intention, while it was never fully formed, was definitely something including a figure. And now I don't really see the need for a figure here. We can have some I mean we've been talking about Ignasil and the world tree and all of that. So this is clearly that that is what this is. So so I can start adding figures. I can add the snake underneath. I can add ratatos. I don't know why I keep sayingatskit because I usually try to keep the modern Norwegian pronunciations. So I would s say uh Ratatosk and Ddrasil and um Slayer and Hugen and all of that need hog. But for some reason in this video I'm adding the north R, which I normally wouldn't know why. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I think I will add some of the creatures. But first, I think I'm going to go in with the color red. And while yesterday's Yeah, secret. I I filmed the last video yesterday, even though there's a few days between when they will be published. Yesterday's drawing felt it felt more hectic to do it. Now adding the red feels a little bit hectic because I I feel like I I'm I might lose control of the image. I think I know what I'm doing. And I think I just have to trust it. I just didn't like how the brown the sepia stuck through and made the tree look almost like it was transparent. So in order to get rid of that transparentism, I had to do something to fill it out. And red seemed like a good idea at the time. And I do think that once I have [sighs] completed this layer of lines, I think it will turn out to be a good idea. And I think that I need some of the lines to go all the way down to the roots. Yeah. And then I'm squinting with my eyes to see how the drawing works out of focus as well. And I can also see how it works over there. And uh these are ways to get a fresh look at what you're doing because when you are drawing something, you become blind to what you're drawing. And it can take hours or days or weeks or even years to start seeing the drawing as it is. But using things like seeing the drawing mirrored or in a smaller format or foggy are ways to trick your brain into seeing the drawing fresh, seeing it a new. Okay, I think I I know a few things I need to do that will I think it's working. But there are a few things I want to do. One is to go in with some white gouache here and just create some sort of a background. Other is to use the red to make some leaves because we're in autumn so you can have leaves and they can start falling off. And those really actually help bring out the tree from the background. So very happy with [sighs] with how those are turning out. It's just this is sort of the meditative process is when you find something that works, you can just do Okay. And I I think I am starting to form an image in my head of where this art is going. And for that image to work, we have to add a snake. And there's not a whole lot of places where the snake can go in front of the roots. So we have to create some here. And I think I want a snake to twist up towards the middle like this. Okay. I think that works. Just a few tiny [sighs and gasps] few tiny things fixes. Yeah, I think that works. And then I will go in first go in with just some water and lift a tiny bit because all the colors I'm using are liquid watercolors from a company called Royal Talons. It's the Eoline brand. I like them. Um, not quite as good or to my taste as Dr. PH Martins is, but I haven't ordered a new set of liquid watercolors from them. So, I should really do that. But, they have the Ecoine at my local store, and they're very good. So let's Yeah. The way the way the liquid watercolor works is that you can activate and reactivate it. And also when you put other types of paint on top like gouache or [snorts] liquid acrylic, it will seep through. So that's why I want to use some gouache. Good dab of gouache here on my wooden block, which is I'm using randomly. Why do I have a wooden block to mix paint on? I don't know. It was here. Then I can add these flames. And here add some flames. And I will need to sort of go over these again afterwards to make some hotter areas where it goes more towards white. And they will also sort of lick [sighs] up against the trunk of the tree. Just a tiny bit. And [snorts] I'm thinking these this fire should be very like cliche firelike. But I can actually make it more explosive and it will work better, I think. More abstract, less cartoony, more just these patterns like those. Okay. Yeah, that helps a lot. And I want to find a See if I have a much thinner brush in order to just add a few tiny highlights. I'm going to do a few small things here as well. But one of the things that hinders me from often having these more meditative artistic experiences is the fact that I'm so competitive that when I see that I'm starting to get a good image, I want to make the best image and that is a destructive impulse. I'm using a much thicker brush, but I'm using it to apply this tiny thin lay line a few places on the trunk, the side of the trunk of. So, and to create some almost like bark texture. Then just these tiny things that help integrate things little bit more. Okay, that works. >> [snorts] >> squinting with my eyes in order to see again where I need a tiny bit more. Okay, then let's go back and just create some bold lines that go up into the gouache which I will go over with red as well just to one of the most important things in any drawing painting that makes it look professional or finished or whatever is how the different element of the painting of the drawing. How they merge together in a deliberate way that is not to Not too smooth, not too deliberate. It seems loose and seems alive and seems like it was always intended that way. And that is really difficult when you're working a bit haphazardly with different elements such as gouache and watercolor and different colors, different techniques. And it's all still wet. But with a little practice and a few ink blotss, ink splatters, you can often do it. I think I will take some of that red and mix it into a pink. And just use that pink to get a tiny bit of texture in on the tree trunk. Again, just in order to tie things tiny bit better together so that you don't know how things were made. these mixing techniques in order to make it difficult to assess. Is this a brush stroke? Is this ink? Is this paint? Is this line? Is this uh texture? All these tiny things can help make the art more fascinating to look at. Okay, let's have some of those lines down here. Here. Here. Yes. And then tiny eyes on the snake. Like that. And [sighs] we will add a tiny little ratatusk still in the tree. with this big bushy tail. And we'll add a tiny bit of white on the tip of the tail. You don't have to recognize that that is the tuskcuit and the others are leaves. That still works. And then [sighs] we will do a double. So [sighs] a blue [snorts] circle broken by the root underneath here and a red circle above the tree. Before we do that, adding just a touch more of the gouache because the paint is seeping through like this. Okay. So, blue circle first, red circle last. No, red circle first, red enso first, and blue and so lost. And if any of them don't work, then we have to toss away the art. And I didn't make the rules. I just made the rules. And what I want to do today is to not worry about it. Just know that it will be okay. Whether I have to toss the drawing away or away or not, it's okay. Perfect. And the rest. Usually when I do this, the pulse is high, but I'm not going to allow that today. It's okay. Whatever happens happens. And I think that's perfect. As above, so below. mixing some good old occultism with some Norse mythology. And uh have I drawn variations of the Ignasil tree both alive and dead? Yes. Ton of times. Ton of times. Is this one somehow special? Yeah, I think so. I think so. Burning egg seal. And that is inkplot alchemy number 23. And so inkplot alchemy 23 burning is done. Was that what you saw in the ink plot? I would be impressed if it was. [sighs] But whether it was or not, then then if you like my art, please do support. You can support by using the art. I release all my art for free use under a creative common attribution license. So you can download it, you can print it, you can change it, you can even sell it as long as you put my name on it. And that's also supporting me. If you want to support me with money, these originals are for sale and some of them go really fast and they're also available as print on danungahadholm.com. So check out danungahadholm.com. If you want to learn how to do this, then I'm just about to launch a course called Mastering Ink Through Negative Space where I talk about all the underlying structures and techniques that I use in order to be able to do these improvisational works. So, if you're interested in that, then there is a link to the waiting list and you can sign up and it will hopefully launch very soon. Okay, now that was all for today. I'm very surprised and happy with how this inkplot alchemy turned out. See you in a few days.