Wonder what new technique I tried for the first time in this painting? You can find out the details next month if you’ve signed up for email updates; I’ll explain more about it in May!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #79:

Amazing things can happen when you combine lots of water and color and 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper! This closeup shows part of a painting inspired by the shapes and colors of sassafras leaves in the fall. I began by using a brush filled with water to “draw” the outlines of the largest leaf on the  paper, filling in the wet shape with additional water until the unstretched paper began buckling into hills and valleys; then I added diluted acrylic ink to the valleys of water. As the water slowly evaporated, the edges of the puddles dried multiple times, leaving behind linear traces.