Elizabeth Sanford

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ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #84:

This is a great example of how important paper choice can be — I’ve only been able to get this technique to work on Arches cold press. Here are my tools:

I started with an underpainting of white diluted acrylic ink, painting a few linear shapes to vary the surface. After these dried, I used large hake brushes to thoroughly wet the paper, then added diluted Hydrus watercolors, Winsor & Newton Granulation Medium, and more water to make the liquid paint flow across the surface. By tilting the paper, using pipettes to apply the paint, and minimizing the use of brushes, I was able to increase the granulated effects. When the surface started to dry, I sprayed it with a spray bottle to increase the texture and pressed a wadded-up dry paper towel into the damp paint, which partially lifted the paint and created more complex textures. The “paper towel texture” doesn’t seem to work as well on other brands of papers.