I thought I’d show you a few of the tricks that I used for the Lilac’s painting. First up is that lovely stuff Art Masking Fluid. You need to plan ahead a bit with this as it takes about an hour to go tacky (then you can work gently on and around it) or two plus hours if you need to press on it in any way. I popped mine on, went and watched Desperate Housewives with my lunch, and came back happy to recommence!
Be warned, it does knacker your brush because it’s like glue and gets stuck amongst the bristles. I like using it to print polka dots by using the rubber end of a pencil. It will wipe off then or you can use turpentine to remove the fluid.
Another of my most favourite tricks it to use cold tea as a stain when I want a creamy background. Make it a strong brew though! I haven’t tested it’s light fast properties so maybe in time I will have customers bringing paintings back for a re-paint (just like slap dash William Turner did!)
Below shows stages 1-4, the drawing, the masking fluid dots, the tea staining and then the lilac background wash. After that I painted the stripes at the bottom, the leaves, the lilac blossoms and finally the bird jug. (Penelope, hope that helps?!)
There are some great video’s here on Wyanne’s blog if you want to watch a painting from start to finish – oh and there’s usually really cool music too!
