Blogging A to Z: D is for Distress

April is here!! It's time for daily blogging, lots of visitors and meeting new friends.  In other words, time for the Blogging A to Z challenge hosted by Arlee Bird and his team of minions.  Thousands of other bloggers from all over the world participate in this blog hop each year, and anyone may join in as long as they blog each day during the month of April, (except Sundays) the blog posts correspond to the appropriate letter for that day, and they sign up on the link list. Simple!

There are probably dozens of D words that would apply to art, and I can think of a few--draw (which I am not very good at), doodle, design, drip... but today I want to talk about distress.  As a mixed media artist, I use a variety of media, but one very versatile media is Distress Ink by Ranger.  It comes in mini and regular sized pads, markers and sprays. There is a large array of color options, and this year they are introducing one new color each month--as if there weren't already enough!!

I don't have them all, but I really like using them for heat embossing, rubbing along the edges of paper crafts, and even as watercolors.

These two ATCs were made with distress ink over clear embossed resist on a book page.

Another way the word distress relates to art is when an artist tatters, crumples, or adds grunge to a piece. Distress Ink is really good for that sort of thing, because once the paper has been "distressed" by tearing, or weakening, the Distress Ink can really highlight the areas that have been "damaged."

Here the distress ink was rubbed onto corrugated cardboard and burlap. Even the blue dots are Distress Ink that was applied through a stencil.

Distress Ink doesn't seem to ever really dry, and is easily reconstituted with water, which can lead to some really cool results, especially when water is dripped or splattered on it. So, if you don't already have some Distress Ink in your art supplies, I would highly recommend them.