Monday, April 25, 2011

Positive and Negative Space - Watercolor Study

I did a lot of painting this weekend... a lot of spring cleaning, too! The painting was a way to keep me sane during the process. It was intense, and yet satisfying, to get into the nooks and crannies of the apartment, and to put things away, and to reorganize and redecorate. I had wonderful help, of course, and by Friday afternoon, the place looked amazing! (Weekend started on Thursday, because K had spring break.) So, speaking of taking things away, I worked on a couple studies of positive and negative space... 



First half of first picture, using stencils I created

Other half of first picture
Detail

Detail (you can see the damage from stencils lifting)
Second painting, reusing stencils
Detail from second painting


The first picture I made, the stencils stuck to my soft press paper. I was disappointed, because I thought that I bought the right "contact paper" for this project, but it wasn't very good. Too sticky. However, when I reused the stencils, they didn't stick as much, but they also let the paint seep under. Not a big deal, really. I used cold press watercolor paper for the second painting to prevent the damage seen on the first painting (above.) Cold pressed paper did the trick, really. But I'm going to have to do some research on good contact paper to use for this type of painting, as I like the effect and want to do some more! I think the images remind me of illustrations on children's story books... as K put it, "Very friendly shapes and colors." 

9 comments:

Terriaw said...

Beautiful watercolor studies! I love hearing your experience with using stencils and different papers. I am not familiar with soft press paper - just cold press and hot press. I do love both! I have heard my art teachers use frisket paper, commonly used by airbrush artists, for stencils and masking.

Karla Tull Aron said...

these are beautiful ... i especially enjoy seeing how those organic shapes you've made have such depth by the way you layered them. some stand in the foreground, some are faded into the background .. lovely work!

Orion Designs said...

Lovely work Shari!

shari said...

Thank you, all! I appreciate the feedback so much! I am enjoying the painting very much... It feels good to do something expressive. I love book making, but it's such a different craft!

Next to do... a watercolor of the ocean, but tomorrow, I'll be posting what's known as a "broadside"... a poem written on one sheet of paper, sometimes illustrated.

Brandi Hussey said...

I've only ever used cold press paper, so I'm not much help. But I love the studies!

Anonymous said...

i love seeing the details up close! it's like a whole other painting! the colors and shapes are very pleasing to the eye!

Pingos do Céu said...

I loved the entire study.
I liked the colors used and the shapes of the stencils! Very original!

shari said...

Thanks so much! :-)

Fenny Setiawan said...

Shari I think this is beautiful. You really mastering the watercolor art already :)... Nice progress doll..:)

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