Watercolor Painting for Dummies (21 page)
Read Watercolor Painting for Dummies Online
Authors: Colette Pitcher
Tags: #Art, #Techniques, #Watercolor Painting, #General
This isn’t an excuse for not cleaning. The cobwebs used for this technique are the ones available at Halloween time to decorate with. These make way-cool textures when put in damp watercolor. One bag lasts approximately forever.
When the polyester strands are pressed into wet paint and allowed to dry, they make unique lines and texture. You can apply paint on top of the cobwebs, too, so they become saturated. The paint is left where the strands of cobwebs were placed, and this technique creates a slight blooming effect, which leaves a bit of a shadow.
1.
Pull apart a small bunch of the cobwebs so they make thin strands in random patterns.
2.
Stretch the cobweb strands over the edges of the dry paper to hold them in place.
Cover the area where you want the effect. If you don’t want the whole page covered with the effect, prepare just the area you want.
3.
Use a big brush to apply paint on top of the cobwebs, making sure the paint soaks into the paper.
Saturate the cobwebs first so that their wetness makes them stick to the paper. Then cover the rest of the area with paint. You can use a lot of paint because it will be absorbed by the cobwebs.
In Figure 4-6, I used a bunch of colors that were pretty dark. Lighter colors will produce a subtle effect. You really can’t go wrong. Try not to overmix your colors; otherwise they’ll blend to mud. Just quickly stroke the colors over the cobwebs, splash and spatter, and let them dry.
4.
Let the paint dry without removing the cobwebs.
Overnight might be a good idea if you have the patience to wait.
5.
Pull off the cobwebs.
Even though they are colored now, you can reuse them for this technique.
Figure 4-6 shows the results of the cobweb technique. After the cobwebs were removed, I outlined some of the patterns with white ink.
Figure 4-6:
The cobweb technique highlighted by white ink.
Cobwebs can be a lot of fun, though other items work as well. Anything that leaves a mark in wet paint is worth trying. Cheesecloth, for example, used as is or torn apart for a ragged look gives an interesting texture. I have used a fishing net, lace, antique doilies, and the netting that fruit is packaged in at the grocery store.
Two of the easiest and most used techniques are spray and spatter. You can spray and spatter plain water, masking fluid, or watercolor paint. You can also use stencils and stamps in your masterpieces. A
stencil
is usually made from paper and can be used to contain paint inside an area, or to protect the paper from paint where you don’t want it. A
stamp
is a tool that you can use to repeat a shape consistently.
You mostly use spray bottles with water, but you can also spray paint for interesting and useful effects.
The different types of spray bottles and their effects include:
Pump sprayer:
Pump sprayers give an irregular spray pattern, which is exactly what watercolorists want at times. These bottles have the pump at the top, and you use your index finger to pull down against a spring to pump the liquid out of the bottle to spray. Remember washing windows with a similar bottle? When you use them, push halfway down to make the spray even sloppier. This looks good in backgrounds and foregrounds, and makes interesting watercolor texture.
You can simulate the same pattern by dipping your fingers in water and fast flicking them against the thumb and opening the fingers in a wave hello. When I can’t find the spray bottle, this digit-al technique works almost as well.
Trigger sprayer:
Trigger sprayers are the squeeze triggers that release water in a strong stream, like a squirt gun. When you spray water against dry paint, it lifts the paint and makes a light streak. How handy to make a ray of light in the sky? I recommend you do this over the sink because it releases a bunch of water. Have a towel nearby to blot any areas of paint that may run.
Fine atomizer-type sprayer:
These fine-mist small bottles are better to use with paint than water. Because of the small spray pattern, they act like a poor man’s airbrush. Spray around the edges of a painting for a vignette look. Darken an area quickly with a spray. You can find these bottles in the cosmetics area of a drug or department store, but art stores carry them too.
To make sprayable paint:
1.
Choose what type of spray bottle you want to use and fill it half full (or half empty, depending on your philosophy of life) with water.
2.
Add a 1-inch ribbon of paint from the tube.
Adjust the pigment-to-water ratio if you want a stronger or weaker color.
3.
Shake the bottle until the water and paint are mixed.
Mix up as many bottles as you want to have colors to spray. I like to have several colors available — red, yellow, and blue at least.
Spray one color and a different color next to it and see them mix and combine on the paper. There’s no end to experimenting with spray bottles.
Figure 4-7 shows what happened when I sprayed paint over a tatted lace-edged cloth dish towel.
Figure 4-7:
Tatted lace used as a stencil with paint sprayed over the top.
