Following on from Class
I decided to follow on this weeks lesson and try using stencils to complete a much larger painting.
I collected a few leaves from the garden. I laid the leaves on a sheet of watercolour paper to see what they would look like.
The next stage was putting a wash to use as the background. I taped the paper to a board. Using a large brush I wet the paper all over. Then dropped in a loose wash of yellows, browns and greens wet-on-wet.
I let the background wash dry and then placed the leaves back on the paper. I mixed up some stronger browns. I used a toothbrush to splatter the paint over the leaves (the leaves acting as a mask – protecting the paper underneath).
Letting the splatter dry. I overlaid a sheet of tracing paper over the watercolour paper and traced the leaves.
Below you can see the outline of the leaves on the tracing paper. I then used a craft knife to cut out the shapes of the leaves. The plan was to use the tracing paper as a mask for painting in the leaves.
This sheet show the results of using the leaves to act as a mask. You can see where the paper has been protected from the paint splatter.
I overlaid the tracing paper as a mask, this time protecting the splatter area. Using a combination of sponges and stipple brushes I painted in the leaves.
Final Painting
Below is the final painting.
I liked the process. It was a bit complex but I am happy with the results.