Brusho, Liquid Watercolor and Acrylic Inks

November 3, 2021 / Diann Zimmerman

Let’s take our creativity for a drive and try some new things: Pigment crystals, liquid watercolor, and acrylic inks.

Our first stop is Brusho. This is simply concentrated watercolor pigment powder. Think of it like freeze-dried coffee crystals. Add water, and it makes magic. There are two brands I use: Brusho and Ken Oliver’s Color Burst.

Sprinkle the powdered pigment like you would adding salt on your food when you shouldn’t be eating salt. Lightly! If you use too much, you won’t get to see magic on your paper.

Sprinkled pigment crystals on wet paper, spritzed with water and tilted the board several different directions to get help from gravity.

Sprinkled Brusho on dry paper, misted water and allowed it to move around. Let it dry, then did it again. When completely dry, added gold foil for accent.

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Our next stop is liquid watercolor. My favorite brands are Schmincke Aqua Drops and Dr Ph Martin Hydrus. (please note the Dr. Ph Martin Hydrus formula is made with pigments and is lightfast, while their Radiant Concentrated Watercolor is dye-based and will fade.)

Schmincke Aqua Drops are highly pigmented — a little goes a LONG way. Trust me!

Schmincke Aqua Drops

Dr. Ph Martin’s Hydrus liquid watercolor

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Our next stop is right around the corner…. where we will introduce Brusho/pigment crystals to liquid watercolor. They get along so well!

Wet entire paper (6″ x 6″)with water mister. Added 1 drop of Schmincke Ultramarine blue aqua drops on the top, spread around with wet brush. Added one drop lemon yellow and one drop ultramarine blue on the bottom and spread around loosely with damp brush. When it was almost dry, I spritzed the bottom half of painting with water, then sprinkled some rose, olive green and gamboge Brusho. When it was almost dry, I added a touch of the Magenta aqua drops in three places to indicate flowers. Then added a small dab of opaque white in the center of those pink flowers.

Our last stop on our journey today is Schmincke Acrylic inks on Mineral Paper. Mineral paper is made from rocks, and results in a non-absorbent paper (similar to Yupo). Can be used with watercolor, acrylic, inks…