Okay, so I wanted to share something I tried out recently. I kept seeing these interesting art pieces popping up, looked kinda abstract but with a nice flow, you know? Someone mentioned the name Sylvia Dana in relation to them. Couldn’t find a ton of info, like step-by-step guides or anything, but the style stuck with me. Decided, what the heck, I’ll try and recreate that vibe myself.
Getting Started
First thing, I had to guess what materials were involved. Looked like some kind of painting, maybe acrylics, but also had these sharp, dark lines, possibly ink? I’m no art expert, just guessing here. So, I went down to the local craft store.
- Grabbed some cheap acrylic paints – basic colors, nothing fancy.
- Picked up a couple of small canvases. Didn’t want to commit to anything big.
- Found some black India ink and a few different cheap brushes.
Figured that was enough to get started. Didn’t want to invest a lot until I knew if I could even make something that didn’t look like total garbage.
Making a Mess
I set up shop in the garage. Good thing too, because it got messy fast. Laid down some newspaper. Started by slapping some paint on the canvas. Tried to make it a bit textured, kinda thick in places, like the pictures I saw. Let that sit for a bit.
Then came the ink. This was the tricky part. I wanted those flowing, sort of controlled lines I saw. My first try? Disaster. Ink went everywhere, bled into the wet paint. Looked like a Rorschach test gone wrong. Second try, I used less ink. Better, but the lines were too faint or they beaded up weirdly on the paint.
Realized I probably needed to let the paint dry more. Much more. Patience isn’t my strong suit, but okay. Waited longer on the next attempt. Tried applying the ink with a finer brush this time, and also experimented with tilting the canvas a bit. Started to get something that resembled the idea I had in my head. Still messy, still not quite ‘it’, but progress!
The Results (Sort Of)
After an afternoon of fiddling around, I had two small canvases that were… well, they were finished. They definitely don’t look professional, haha. They’ve got that experimental, slightly chaotic energy. One of them is mostly a muddy mess, but the other one has a corner section where the paint texture and the ink lines actually work kinda well together.
Here’s the takeaway: Trying to mimic that Sylvia Dana style (or my interpretation of it) was fun, but harder than just looking at pictures. It’s all about how the materials interact, the drying times, how thick the paint is. Stuff you only figure out by doing it.
Didn’t end up with a masterpiece, obviously. But spending an afternoon just messing with paint and ink, not worrying too much about the outcome? Pretty satisfying. It’s a good reminder that sometimes just trying stuff out is the whole point. Maybe I’ll try it again sometime, focus on that one corner that actually looked decent.
