FINISHING TOUCHES ON STARFISH

 MORE BUBBLES?

I was so fascinated with the idea of using bubbles to create sea foam, that I added some more. First I tried Jean Haines way, applying soapy bubbles with a spoon onto an area and dabbing wc paint on top of them gently. Then I tried a bubble paint recipe using white paint, about a teaspoon of liquid dish soap, and a cup of water. I blew through a straw to make it bubble a lot. Then I scooped out the white/paint bubbles on top of dark areas. I really loved the effect.

You really need to be patient with this. There is no rushing, and it needs to dry naturally to be effective.

Below are  some close ups of the bubbles after they are dried.  

Then I thought, What else could I do to make the edge of the water look like sea foam?"

Spatter? Sponge some white paint? Both would make cool textures. But I'd been playing with making some Christmas cards and had used some pearlescent watercolor ground. What about that? 

So the next pictures show the watercolor ground sponged onto the sea edge to make foam. Then I spattered it with a toothbrush afterward. I really like it now. Lacking ground, you can still spatter or sponge on Titanium white or white gouache. 

Now I just had to finish the starfish. 

First, finish the dot patterns on each arm, darkening a few. Try to keep some of those whites formed by the salt to create light ridges in the starfish. 

Then work around the edges. Using a small brush, I started along the bottom of one edge with quin burnt scarlet. Instead of using a smooth brush stroke, I sort of jabbed the paint in in short, uneven strokes to create the feeling of the starfish texture, softening the edges over the sand. I dropped in some purple where I wanted it darker.  (Hard edge on starfish/soft edge toward sand)

Be careful not to make it looked outlined. There are some places where you might want to make the starfish appear as if it is partially buried in the sand. In those places, you won't darken the edge so much. 

Also, the light is coming from the left, so most of the shadows are going to be on the bottom right edges.

Just for fun, I opened up my buff titanium ground. Using the edge of a credit card, I popped some of it where I wanted a little rough texture on the starfish.