Loose Floral finishing touches

 Here is what the floral looked like just after removing masking.

The first thing I did was to remove that green leaf on the left that bothered me. I used Bleed Proof White to cover it up. After it dries, you can paint over Bleed Proof White, which is why I used that instead of gouache. I had tried removing it by lifting it, but it must have been a staining paint, because it didn't remove at all. 

The next thing I did was figure out where I want to add darks and hard edges. I put a piece of clear plexiglas over the painting and used markers on the plexiglas to indicate changes I want to make. Below you see just the plexiglas after I put dry erase marker on it.

Below you can see the plexiglas over the original painting with the changes I wan to make.

In class I handed out tracing paper for people to put over their paintings. They made the changes on the tracing paper, then penciled in on the painting the changes they like. Below you can see the painting after I made some of the changes. 

I added some green to separate some roses. I added a few strokes into the rose petals. I used credit card and squeegie to make stems, and did some final touches with a small brush.

If doing the foxglove, add stems and some darks before removing the masking. Using a small brush, lightly shade the white ones, using some pale blue. You can strengthen the color in the colored ones.

They don't have to look outlined, but you do want them to be hard edged on at least one side.

You can sponge or spatter some whites (gouache or white acrylic) if you want to.

Next week I'll show how to use pastels to make corrections/changes. 

BRAG TIME

Tho none of these is completely finished, I want to show the diversity of styles:

This uses skinny tape to mask off straight edges, and sponges cut into leaf shapes for leaves. Contact paper on flowers and miskit on the white table. 

This one uses some spattered miskit, miskit in some petals, and contact paper over some areas that had been painted pink. She used credit card on leaves and vase.

This one used sponged on miskit, credit card on the vase and stems, and some sponged on paint on the flowers. Also daisies were miskit. 

This one is a large sheet of 300 pound paper with a torn arch at the top. She sponged on some miskit, then sponged on some paint. Used credit card on stems and vase, and some spattering at the end. 

 

Starting a loose painting without paint brush

 DESIGNING the painting

You can look at a reference photo. I am making this one up as I go, but it's helpful to have a reference. I used a sponge dipped in miskit to mask out a pattern of flowers, as I said in the previous blog. You can use contact paper to mask out petals and other hard edged flowers, leaves.

To make a symmetric vase, cut a piece of drawing paper the length of the vase. Fold it in half lengthwise. Draw half of the vase, using the fold as the center line. Cut it out just like we used to cut out paper dolls and hearts when we were kids. Open it out and you have a symmetrical vase. Just trace that onto your paper.

First step was to add yellows and reds using a sponge dipped in watercolor. I used hansa yellow, transparent pyrrol orange, and quin magenta. Before it dried I sprayed it to make some of the paint run. 

You can tip your painting in the direction you want to make the paint run. 

The vase area: I wiped some yellow and orange on the vase after spraying it. I just let the paint run even below the vase. Using the small cut credit card, I put in some edges to the vase, trying not to outline the entire thing with the same color. I use a cut up credit card (small) and run it through some green paint, and drag it through the damp paper to create some stems in the water. Also drug it through some of the flowers above the vase. 

Here is what it looks like before removing masking fluid.

Here is how I cut up a credit card. The two small narrow ones for applying paint and making lines; a triangular one with sharp points for scoring and one with rounded edges for scratching whites, as for trees.

Below is the rubber from a squeegie. It's more flexible than a credit card, so you can make the curves around leaves, petals, and other hard edges.

Using a small edge of credit card to create some edges.

Using the credit card to put color around the edge of a leaf.

After removing masking fluid, you can see where I've put a tulip shaped contact paper to preserve a hard edged white.

After removing the masking fluid. 

I was showing how to make a leaf with squeegie rubber, but I don't like how it turned out or where I put it. So this will have to be changed somehow. 

If you want to watch Karen Rice demo a similar floral  with no paintbrush, I've included the link here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKgkKuqDNT4&t=647s

Ways to apply Miskit (Masking Fluid)

 The next project involves using masking fluid to create textures and effects, so I wanted to show different ways to apply it. Once you get started finding creative ways to apply miskit, you just keep thinking of more.

Masking fluid comes in lots of brands, but you don't want to get "permanent" miskit that cannot be removed. I like to use Pebeo because the gray coloring lets me see where I have put it on the painting, but others prefer white so that it more clearly shows the white. 

You only put miskit on DRY paper, and you let it dry completely before painting over it. And the painting should be dried completely before you try to remove miskit.

Pour a little of the miskit into a small disposable lid or cup, only what you think you will use at one time. Put the lid back onto the jar so air doesn't get in and dry it up.  Don't try to put leftovers back into the bottle.

Here are some examples of ways to use it to create textures and save your whites.

Left to right, here are some of the tools I used: White masking fluid and Pebeo; a sponge cut to shape, a yellow pot scraper and green scraper; stamp; straw, bamboo pen, thin brush, graphing pen, color shaper, toothbrush. In front are a piece of corrugated cardboard and a cut credit card.

Pictured below: 

#1 is green scraper

#2 yellow pot scraper

#3 star shaped stamp

#4 star drawn with shaper (silicon)

#5 Sponge cut in triangle, used as stamp

#6 Contact paper cut in a shape

#7 Drafting pen

#8 credit card

#9 torn sponge (cellulose, not natural)

#10 toothbrush spatter

#11 Corrugated cardboard

#12 dip pen

#13 spatter from brush

#14 rubber squeegie-- to cover larger flat area

#15 Stencil letters

Here are a few more. The tenth one shows miskit that has been dried and then rubbed

through with fingers to rough it up. The 8th one (with stamping) shows a circle made

by a milk bottle lid and two small circles made using the "bullets" from a Nerf gun.

So look at the textures you've made, and imagine what you could use it for. Fine lines on the whiskers of a cat? A bushy beard? Spider webs? Snowflakes? Wording on a sign? Gravel or sand? Windows? siding on a barn? Smoke from a chimney? Fence posts?

To remove miskit, use a RUBBER CEMENT ERASER. Hobby Lobby sells them for about $2.50. Lacking one of those, you can use your finger, or just wrap masking tape around two fingers, sticky side out, and remove it with the tape. Make sure your paper is completely dry before removing it.

TIPS ON APPLYING MISKIT WITH A BRUSH

Most of the methods I've shown use a tool that can be wiped clean after the miskit dries or just pitched, like a sponge or scraper. A brush is different. NEVER use a good brush. You can wet the brush and apply a little bar soap before dipping it into the miskit. Some people just wet the brush often. Wash well with soap and water afterward. You will not be able to use this brush for watercolor afterword. Miskit will clump up on the brush if you're not careful. If it does, soak it in Goof-Off to clean it.

In the project we are going to start, we are mostly going to use sponging, scrapers, contact paper, and some stamps.

The project will be a loose floral painted mostly without brushwork. I got the idea from Karen Rice, who has a website and some youtubes, which I will attach to the next blog, giving full credit where it is due.

Your assignment is to find a floral reference (or take a pic of one) that appeals to you. Make some small sketches, concentrating on the white/light shapes that lead the eye through the picture in an interesting way.  You will be drawing just those basic shapes on your paper and applying masking fluid to the whites.

In the picture below I've applied miskit with a yellow scouring pad in different sizes and shapes,

twisting it a little to get small rose shapes. (I've darkened the shapes so they are easier for you to see)

In a way, I'm partially "composing" the painting with miskit, which I can add or erase if I don't like it. You can see that I didn't do a lot of drawing. 

Here is a small checklist:

Does it form an interesting pattern?

Do I have a variety of shapes and sizes?

Does it look balanced?

Does it fit the space? (In other words, are you filling the space without crowding)

Please don't begin painting yet. You can do a preliminary sketch if you like and put on some miskit, but that's all.