Special Effects in Watercolor

Special Effects in Watercolor - student project

I started out by experimenting with cling wrap. I used various blues (Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Phthalo Blue GS). I put more water+pigment in the center, and less in the top-right, and I thought the effect would be weaker where there is little paint. But in fact the effect there was lovely - the cling wrap exposed the white of the paper and left wrinkle marks. In the area more loaded with paint, the paint pooled in areas, and I also got some spiderweb dark lines. This was really interesting and I look forward to experimenting further and combining this with doodle art line work.

Here is the initial watercolor wash, before putting cling wrap over it (see where there is more/less paint):

Special Effects in Watercolor - image 1 - student project

Here is the cling wrap over it. You can see how the cling wrap behaves differently where there is more paint as opposed to where there is less water+paint:

Special Effects in Watercolor - image 2 - student project

Here it is after removing the cling wrap a few minutes later. Not yet dry:

Special Effects in Watercolor - image 3 - student project

After it dried completely, I doodled over it with Dr Ph Martin's Spectralite Liquid Acrylic ink in Magenta. I tried to leave empty spaces so that the ink lines won't completely obscure the beautiful texture of the watercolor. I think this would be better with a lighter shade of ink or a sparser design. But I love this direction and plan to incorporate it more into my work! And to experiment with additional techniques shown in this class. Thank you Jen!

Special Effects in Watercolor - image 4 - student project