ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #89, PART 1:
The Mystery Tree is a Yellow Buckeye! Here’s a step-by-step demo of one of my bark experiments. First I wet 140 lb. hot press watercolor paper, then applied a quick wet-in-wet mix of watercolors:
While the paper was still wet, I applied a piece of very thin plastic cut from a free “gift” bag from UPS; they gave to me when they left a large package by the door in the rain. Different weights of plastic create different effects, so it’s fun to experiment!
Manipulating the plastic with a palette knife added more variety to the wrinkling pattern. I also tilted the paper and touched the edges with a loaded brush to darken the colors in a few spots:
After about 5 hours, I took off the plastic. Here’s the result:
The granulating pigments I used increased the sense of texture. You can see my paint choices below:
The plastic-on-wet paint technique is just step one. Here are some actual pieces of bark mixed in with a few of my texture samples:
Can you pick out the painted ones? I’ll explain the rest of the process in March, or you can see the steps demonstrated in person if you sign up for the next Mixed Media session — we meet on Thursdays, and classes start on March 12!
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