DRAWING WITH MASKING FLUID!

In the middle of everything, I just had to paint today. I was packing for the workshop and came across a sheet of watercolor paper that had been prepped in one of my favorite ways. You need two sheets of watercolor paper, at least one of which is a failed painting. Apply gesso to one sheet of the paper then brayer a sheet of wax paper over the wet gesso. Lift off the wet wax paper sheet and transfer the gesso from the wax paper to the failed painting. Keep doing that until you have a textural buildup of gesso on the failed painting leaving some of the old painting showing through in areas. I like to use the new press and seal wrap, as well. It creates a very intersting texture ...tiny little dots. Let everything dry. Now you have two pieces of paper with interesting texture that you can put watercolor or acrylic on.

That is how this piece started out. I tried drawing with Pebeo frisket the other day using the larger oiler boiler from Cheap Joe's. The lines were too big. I knew the smaller bottle had too fine of a needle. I tried the bottle from Tap Plastics and it was perfect!! The trick is to have another bottle of clear water handy. You need to rinse the needle out before the frisket dries by forcing water through it. Just transfer the cap to the clear water bottle and squeeze the water through in the sink. Works like a charm. I limited myself to just rose red deep, Paynes Grey and chrome yellow deep. I thought I would get a decent green but chrome yellow deep and Payne's Grey make a khaki color. It does have more color because of the previous painting showing through. After I finished painting and pulled off the frisket, I went over most of the lines with color leaving some white in the hat.

Having gesso on part of the paper and not all allows the paint to act differently, getting absorbed into the untreated paper and sitting on top of the gesso. It creates a random gestural surface that I love. That is what created the background in the last painting, too. Different paper, different effect.

I think this frisket drawing concept has lots of potential. I will work with it more in the future. I love how the hat turned out. The colors pretty much reflect the weather today. Overcast with rain off and on.