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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Watercolor Painting With Abstract Effects

Art 2
Exploring the use of secondary objects to give interest in watercolor painting.

We will start with random shapes and spaces to make an interesting abstract picture. Our subject will be an owl or a cat or a face.

We will experiment with different mediums to create effects with the watercolor.

     * Sprinkle salt into the water wash. The wash must be very watery.
     * Tape off an area with blue painters tape before painting it. Do this before you paint.
     * Marking off  a pattern with a white candle for resist. Do this before you paint.
     * Applying crumpled tissue to the picture. Hold it down to the wet paper until it drys.
     * Applying crumpled cellophane to the picture. Hold it down until the paper drys.
     * Splatter around a marked off area.
     * Dribble and let color run in a random pattern. You may need to "tickle" it a bit with the brush to get the paint to run down and cross tape or candle wax.

Example project.

An example of abstract techniques.
Note in the example the taped off areas at an angle. The tape was left on in this instance until the project was done.

The candle wax mimics the pattern of the owl's feathers. This is best observed in the lower quarter.

Splattering is present in various locations. Contrasting color and Paynes gray was used in the splatter.

Dripping and random running of green and red color from the top down.

Unfortunately, the crumpled cellophane did not photograph well but if you look hard you can see the random creases in the upper right area.

Area that was covered with a circle of cardboard by the right wing.

To bring the owl back up an ink pin was used to outline the owl.

These were a lot of techniques to apply to one project. The purpose of this lesson  is to introduce these techniques. Practice is needed to master this approach, the students are encouraged to experiment with this approach on their own.
(c)Adron Dozat