Friday 4 September 2015

Vandy Massey - Week #34

Continuing on the theme of mark-making, I've started actively looking for everyday or recycled items I can use to make unique marks in watercolour.

The mark maker
This is the end of our cherry season so I'm gorging on these glorious fruits at the moment. The container my cherries came in provided two different mark-making opportunities.

1. The holes in the lid (one can be seen in the centre of the photograph)

Lifting off through the circle cut out in the lid
Pressing the lid down hard on the paper, over watercolour paint, and lifting off firmly with a brush creates some very atmospheric circles in your work. In the plain blue version, the paint was damp when the lifting off happened - this created cauliflowers in the paint which, depending on the subject, could provided added texture. 
The second was done on a dry combination of Perylene Maroon and Indigo. The result on dry watercolour is more predictable and controlled.


Just Add Paint
Ridges across the width of the plastic packaging create a pleasing rhythm. Paint was applied to the plastic which was then pressed down:


Onto dry paper
Fence posts? Staircases? Or just a great abstract rhythm.

And only wet paper

 Where it diffuses beautifully into soft colours on the left. A combination of wet and dry paper create a more textured, random looking result, as can be seen on the right of this page.

Now the next step is to use these in a final painting.

Happy experimenting, everyone.