Category Archives: Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique #106

August 21, 2021 – 12:40 am

Watercolor pencils are great for making subtle changes! Next month you can learn more about how I use them if you’ve signed up for email updates!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #105:

Here are the paints I used for the tree roots, a liner brush for details, and a piece of the same painted paper:

I started by wetting the paper, then dropped in a mix of several Dr. Ph. Martin’s Hydrus watercolors, Winsor & Newton’s Granulation Medium, and more water to make the paint flow. Tilting the paper in different directions increased the textural effects. After the paper dried, I cut out the tree shapes and added shadows and details. Here’s a work in progress with the same torn paper stencil and modified bristle brush I used last month:

The color is a mixture of Ultramarine and Daniel Smith’s Lunar Black. You can see a test of the dry brush technique on the stencil. By painting a dark value along the edge of the stencil, I created a greater sense of depth:

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Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique #105

July 20, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Painting these roots was fun! Next month you can find out what special techniques I used if you’ve signed up for email updates!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #104:

Consistent measurements are so important when you’re making the hinges for a tunnel book, and this mini spring divider makes it easy to be precise! Once you set the distance between the 2 points, you can repeat it over and over again. I started by drawing a template for the hinges, using a scrap of blue card stock for visibility. After carefully lining it up on top of the selected fold, I used the points on the divider to punch through both layers of paper at once, making small holes. After removing the template, the holes served as a guide for my craft knife to cut 2 sides of a triangle for each hinge. When you look inside the tunnel, you can’t see the hinges; so the inner panels appear to float with no support. You need to reverse the template to make the hinges for the left side, as you can see below:

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Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique #104

June 20, 2021 – 9:34 pm

Recognize this tool? You can learn how I use it next month if you’ve signed up for email updates!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #103:

It took lots of layers to create the feeling of leaves on the forest floor! I used the liner brushes to make networks of crisscrossing linear strokes. The first layer was a mix of yellow and yellow green; next came golds and oranges. Since I got carried away adding the various browns, I mixed a little white gouache with yellow and yellow green to add a few lighter leaves into an area that got too dark.

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