Monday, February 28, 2011

End-O-Month Update

Let's see how those frisket paintings are coming along . . .

 Hmmmmm . . . . .

Beauty in Depth

Now it's time to visit The Sculpture Department!  I've been waiting all month to . . .
. . . What in the - - - - ? ?

 Wh wh wh - - - - !!

Wh !!! . . .

Saturday, February 19, 2011

More Frisket

I feel the need to make some more pictures to put frisket on . . .
Here is an idyllic and nostalgic garden scene.  I drew this on watercolour paper . . . hmm . . .  is there anything wrong with the picture? . . . no, I guess everything is okay . . .
 Now for some frisket!!  I hope I don't overdo it.
After putting the frisket on, I see there really is something wrong with the picture -- it's too "cluttered-looking". 
So I start another . . .
This is much less cluttered -- and I've placed the subjects in such a way that the viewer's eyes will be subtly pulled into the distance. . . .
But, just after inking the lines, I noticed that the dog's head maybe looks like it's supposed to be a horse's head?  To fix this I must change the ears to look more strongly dog-like. . . .
But now my dog is starting to look too effete.  I'll change the ears back a bit . . .
. . . and add frisket.  Another problem hits me, though -- none of these characters are touching each other!  Have I created a sad and disquieting scene?  What will people think?  So another picture is needed . . .
This  domestic scene seems about right.  Now I'll add some frisket (still not sure how much to put on) . . .
My next question is, how do people know what colours to paint things?  I'll look at some old postcards, maybe I can copy the colours from those.  In the meantime I'll . . . put these drawings beside the fridge --- and get back to them soon hopefully ---

Friday, February 18, 2011

Frisket!

In the Book Box is Watercolor And How by Graham Scholes.  (I got a library card recently.)  This is a good book!  For copyright reasons I won't show any of the inside pages, but I'll try to do one of the lessons > > >
First I do a sketch of a local building here in lovely Toronto Canada.  I did the sketch on real watercolour paper, which I taped down.  I do notice there are a few mistakes in the sketch – some of the windows are crooked, and I couldn't figure out how to draw the people – but maybe I can paint over those things later.
Next -- this is the best part -- I use a liquid latex 'masking film' -- sometimes called 'frisket' -- on the shape of the street lamp.  The frisket I bought works great, and it is grey in colour, so it stands out on the white paper.  The book says that you can also buy transparent frisket, which you can tint with some paint (preferably a "non-staining" paint).


Now I cover the rest of the building with masking tape and construction paper . . . by now maybe you're thinking I'm CRAZY, but hold on a minute, hold on . . .

I splatter different colours of paint on the sky to suggest that the winter air is icy cold and seems to crackle!  (I got this idea from the book.)  And then . . .

. . . I remove the masking tape and the construction paper . . . and the frisket lifts off easily when I stick masking tape to it . . . and this is the result, the sky area is now painted!  (Although this looked better in the book.)
And now I just have to figure out what colours to paint the other things in the scene . . . mmm . . .

Oh my goodness look at the time!  I should be getting to bed!  I'll stick this painting beside the fridge for now, but I'll try to get back to it sometime soon . . .

And I hope to be looking at a book every month, if I can stick with it -- join me won't you!!!