Lovely writing. I too felt (feel) like an alien from another planet. In fact my parents used to joke I was from the planet Zarg and they were my robot protectors (which was probably not the best thing to tell what I now recognise as a very neurodivergent pre-teen girl, but oh well!) Gorgeous art work. Can I ask a technical question? I always struggle with backgrounds with my watercolour illustrations - do you do the wash first and then do the foreground and detail over it? If so, how much do you protect with something like masking fluid? Or is there some other trick? I always worry that if I do the background first it will change all the colours of my foreground so I end up doing the background after it and getting tidemarks around my subjects. Sorry for the long post, I just really want to learn!
Thankyou! If you send out your signal consistently into the darkness of outer space, eventually a fellow refugee from Zarg will reply!
Backgrounds used to bedevil me too. Still do at times. I start always by masking off everything that is to stand out from the background. This can take a while. I mask with a splash of cobalt blue watercolour ( it doesn’t stain) mixed with tap water and enough Cooydex to make a liquid like single cream. Blue single cream! Then I apply it to the chosen areas. I’m going to do a walk-through in a subsequent newsletter-far easier to show than tell…
Then I let it dry naturally or I gave at it with a hairdryer to speed things up. Then a big deep breath, and start laying in the background washes. Sometimes I wet the paper before adding the wash, sometimes I remove areas of the wash with a small natural sponge. Let it all dry thoroughly, then gently rub the dried masking fluid away to reveal your foreground subjects in pristine white. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for this detailed answer (and I am very much looking forward to any walk-through you provide!) I will give it a go on my next piece. Thanks again for being so generous in your response
I feel outraged on your behalf about those mean tennis girls. Though can't help thinking your early life would make a great film... enjoying the lumpy bits very much!
Lovely writing. I too felt (feel) like an alien from another planet. In fact my parents used to joke I was from the planet Zarg and they were my robot protectors (which was probably not the best thing to tell what I now recognise as a very neurodivergent pre-teen girl, but oh well!) Gorgeous art work. Can I ask a technical question? I always struggle with backgrounds with my watercolour illustrations - do you do the wash first and then do the foreground and detail over it? If so, how much do you protect with something like masking fluid? Or is there some other trick? I always worry that if I do the background first it will change all the colours of my foreground so I end up doing the background after it and getting tidemarks around my subjects. Sorry for the long post, I just really want to learn!
Thankyou! If you send out your signal consistently into the darkness of outer space, eventually a fellow refugee from Zarg will reply!
Backgrounds used to bedevil me too. Still do at times. I start always by masking off everything that is to stand out from the background. This can take a while. I mask with a splash of cobalt blue watercolour ( it doesn’t stain) mixed with tap water and enough Cooydex to make a liquid like single cream. Blue single cream! Then I apply it to the chosen areas. I’m going to do a walk-through in a subsequent newsletter-far easier to show than tell…
Then I let it dry naturally or I gave at it with a hairdryer to speed things up. Then a big deep breath, and start laying in the background washes. Sometimes I wet the paper before adding the wash, sometimes I remove areas of the wash with a small natural sponge. Let it all dry thoroughly, then gently rub the dried masking fluid away to reveal your foreground subjects in pristine white. Hope this helps.
Copydex, not Cooydex. Duhhhhh.
Thank you so much for this detailed answer (and I am very much looking forward to any walk-through you provide!) I will give it a go on my next piece. Thanks again for being so generous in your response
I feel outraged on your behalf about those mean tennis girls. Though can't help thinking your early life would make a great film... enjoying the lumpy bits very much!
Oh... dearest wonderful Debi...
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
This is beautiful and moving, Debi. X