playing with masking fluid

I've been doing some water painting lately. I've had it mind to do for ... well, all year actually. I went to Phoenix Trading party in January. Like a little selling group that comes to your home and you invite your friends over to come and look at stuff and have a bit of fun doing it. It happens with all sorts of stuff. Tupperware is probably the most popular. Phoenix Trading is a card, gift wrap and stationary type stuff. Mainly cards. The designs are all artworks drawn by a whole range of people all over the world. You can send in your designs and they pay if they choose to use one of yours. So I've finally been working on some designs myself.

I borrowed a couple of watercolour books from the library the other day and they both mention (with photos as well) the use of masking fluid. It looked great in the books. Useful and fun to use. So I found some in an art shop and tried it the other day.

After sketching my design in a grey watercolour pencil I painted the areas I wanted left white with the masking fluid. It's a rubber latex solution.

Once dry I painted over the area in watercolour using quite a bit of water in my mix.

Once that dried I rubbed and pulled the masking fluid off to reveal a nicely kept white space.

Then I got out my watercolour pencils and did some colouring.

Then I painted over it with water using my watercolour paint brushes which hold more water in the bristles than a regular paint brush. This turns my colouring into a paint texture. I don't do it like this much now. I tend to prefer this method...

I pick up the paint directly from the pencil and just paint it on. I think it gives a smoother look like regular watercolour painting. Sometimes colouring first and then painting with water can look a little streaky. Either way the pencils allow me to control the paint a lot more than using a tube.

I've done a few pictures now though this one was a bit of a quick do just to use my new masking fluid. Not as happy with it as with the others I've done. I think I'll do a couple more and then send them in and see if they like my work enough to buy it. Hopefully they do coz it would be fun to be "published" and the money will help me with my UK plans. In the meantime, I'm having fun.