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Another “Trick”

March 15, 2013 by Margaret L. Been

Lands Beyond

It took me about 5 years to come up with this one:  another way to be sure of creating painterly edges. 

For starters, you will see blurs around the trees.  These were formed first by charging wet paint onto the clean, wet Arches 140 lb. cold press paper.  Then I washed in the sky and rolled a wad of facial tissue (without lotion) over the blue.  The trees (or whatever they are beyond the sky) were achieved by dropping more color on the wet surface.  I dabbed in the flower type thingies in the foreground, and outlined the tree trunks with a knitting needle.  Finally I filled blank areas with yellow. 

Okay, but not okay.  I felt there was still a harsh, cut and dried look to the painting.  So I ended with my new trick—new to me, that is.  I’m certain that many others have done this trick, but I’m delighted to say I “happened” on it by myself.  Rather than waiting for the painting to dry before wetting the back of it and weighting it face down between paper towels, I ran water over both the front and back and then weighted it.  Additional edges got fuzzy in the process, colors ran into one another, and the paper toweling blotted the diffusing paint.  Voila!  A painterly painting!

Many of my past renderings turned out to be bla/bla/bla to my eyes, due to boring concise edges.  A chair, a table, a bowl of fruit—so what else is new?  Or mountains that looked like paper dolls.  No thank you!  Recently, I’ve recycled some of my former duds, by using the wet surface trick and it seldom disappoints me!

Again and again, I see proof of what my favorite watercolorist artists claim to be true in their experience:  that the medium is the artist.  With a minimum of manipulation, paint and water do their own thing far more beautifully than I could ever dream of doing!  🙂

Margaret L. Been, ©2013

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Posted in Affirming life through art, Arches 140 lb. cold press paper, Art, Creative Living in a Condo, Painting Color and Light, Redeeming failed watercolor paintings, Spring Paintings, The Fun of Being Unconventional!, The joy of experimenting with art, The joy of making a mess!, The joy of making art, The joy of sharing our art, Transparent Watercolors, Watercolor painting, Watercolors | Tagged Arches 140 lb Cold press Paper, Art, Creative Living in a Condo, Fun and Funky, Spring Paintings, Watercolor painting, Watercolor tricks | 5 Comments

5 Responses

  1. on March 15, 2013 at 2:24 am Roberta

    I see a lot in this pretty painting..trees, water and reflection of clouds and reflection of mountains..


    • on March 15, 2013 at 1:08 pm Margaret L. Been

      Hi, Roberta. How are things in the beautiful wilds of CA?


      • on March 16, 2013 at 3:54 pm Roberta

        Hi Margaret, we have thawed out a bit and absorbing the warmth but we hear that another snowfall may be on it’s way. I am looking forward to the Iris’s that bloom near our local library… (: ps my husband is mending from surgery in his foot.


  2. on March 15, 2013 at 3:46 am Alicia Stokes grandaughter to a GRANDmother

    “the medium is the artist” wonderful freeing truth. in highschool when i first ventured into painting and drawing i would always get so so so (i mean so) frustrated with the “imperfections” of my work. Then I learned to relax and enjoy the art that was unfolding in front of me. A lot less paintbrushes went flying across the room after that. Thankful for those patient teachers!


    • on March 15, 2013 at 1:04 pm Margaret L. Been

      Hi, Alicia! You’ve got it! And patient teachers are so important. I’ve heard horror stories about teachers who insisted that a student did it their way, or criticized experimentation and creativity.

      I really think that anyone who wants to can be an artist. It’s a matter of time and commitment!



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