This lovely purple iris came from the garden of my friend, Rosemary. I used Laurin McCracken's method of masking with 3M drafting tape. I covered the blossoms and the stem with tape. The outline of the flowers could be seen through the tape. I cut around the images with an exacto blade and removed the excess tape. With the flowers protected I applied multiple washes to get the neutral putty-colored background I wanted. No pigment from the multiple washes of color seeped under the tape. The drafting tape works as a method of masking. The paper was in pristine condition when I removed the drafting tape.
The challenge for me was cutting away the unwanted tape without cutting into the watercolor paper. This is a skill I need to perfect. I will try this masking method again. It is kinder to the paper than fluid methods of masking. I will save the fluids for very small details.
Scroll back to the May blog, "Observing McCracken", to see the application of drafting tape.
2 comments:
This is a beautiful painting!
I always appreciate your positive comments, Vicky. Thank you!
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