Airbrush Experiments

I've been experimenting with other ways of making art, of putting marks on paper, of introducing colour into my work. I love making my pen and ink drawings, but I need to stretch myself in other directions. I've been experimenting with an airbrush I purchased 2 years ago now, and hadn't got round to using yet. My first experiment was with a black and white pen and ink drawing which was dying on its feet. I'll post that image later. What I'm posting here is a later experiment. It's based on a failed pen and ink drawing I made earlier this year. I really wasn't happy with that. But something made me begin this new experiment. I began by making a quick sketch on tracing paper. Then I made a tracing of that. I cut my first stencil from that tracing and applied some acrylic ink with the airbrush. I masked out some areas using masking fluid then I made a second tracing, cut a second stencil and applied a second layer of ink with the airbrush. I then made the mistake of applying pen and ink to the foreground and hated it. So I painted this out with gouache and made another stencil and sprayed ink, then another, and another 'til I got this.

I carried on with a few more layers of watercolor, coloured pencil, gouache and stencil applied acrylic ink and I'm at this stage...

I'm working on several pieces at once instead of working intensely at one pen and ink piece. I need to do this as I'm scared to death I'm going to make the wrong decision. I need more thinking time. Here's another piece I've been working on. It began as a straight pen and ink drawing, but I started messing about with colour, layering stencil applied pigment, watercolour, ink and coloured pencil. Here's where I'm at with this piece.