Monday 25 August 2014

Masking a Border

ink and watercolour crayon 
Jim absorbed and unaware of me drawing him
The sketchmaster, Jim Belisle, also introduced me to using masking tape to create a border when we were making smudges on Centre Island.  He recommends the green coloured masking tape and shared his secret of tacking it several times to your shirt so that it's not so sticky that it takes up the surface of the paper.

Many people draw a frame within the page, but the tape very sharply limits the paint and sets off the sketch quite nicely.  It's a rewarding moment removing the paint and seeing the crisp white border.

The upper sketch was done with watercolour crayons - I liked the intense colours but was having trouble controlling values to convey depth,

4 comments:

  1. Nice tip. I use masking tape to hold down large sheets of watercolour paper but have never thought of using it to frame a sketch. I've always roughed in my composition and then drew border lines to delineate the space I wanted to paint. It never bothered me if my lines were a little squiggly - I figured it was kinda artistic that way. But your tip may be something that I might try out in the future. Thanks.

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  2. Part of the fun is in peeling the tape and seeing the painting"pop" with its crisp edges.

    I have been working on "when to stop" and trying not to paint everything, and this is the opposite.

    I had a boo at your site and like your work btw.


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  3. Like the sketch of your friend Jim, very relax and natural :)

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  4. Gifted artists present awesome works showing life and times on planet earth, using minimalistic materials. Simple pencil lines and watercolours on paper.

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