Demo

DEMO Painting with masking fluid

SIÂN DUDLEY shows why we should stop treating masking fluid as a purely protective measure and start seeing it as a medium that offers the freedom to be more expressive

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Siân's materials

•Paints Lemon Yellow, Gamboge Hue, Permanent Rose and Sap Green, all Daler-Rowney Artists’ Watercolours; Cobalt Blue and French Ultramarine, both Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolours •Brushes Rosemary and Co. Series 33 round, size 10; Da Vinci Series 35 round, size 4 •Paper 300gsm watercolour paper •Masking fluid •Ruling pen •Colour shaper, size 2 1 Mask your drawing Masking fluid is often used to simply prevent the paint from reaching a section of the paper, whereas I believe it should be firmly seen as a medium that can be expressive in its own right.

I began by drawing up the main flowers, but only marked roughly where the grasses would go. I wanted to retain the white paper for the daisies and clover later, so I painted them with masking fluid.

I placed a small drop of masking fluid on each petal with the colour shaper and then used the tip to pull it across the area to be preserved. I took care to manipulate the fluid from the top of the meniscus and not allow the colour shaper to touch the paper. 2 Lay down colour I wanted to keep the colours fresh so I loosely applied a pink layer first and allowed it to dry. Then working wet-in-wet I applied the other colours, allowing them to blend. The tones should be a little richer than you'd like, as some of this colour will be removed or covered later. Allow uneven tones and even a few cauliflowers, as the variety adds to the richness.

3Practise marks I looked back at my preparatory sketches and looked for ways of making similar marks with masking fluid. I experimented making those marks with a ruling pen and a colour shaper on a spare piece of paper. I thinned the masking fluid a little to ease the flow. By altering pressures and angles, I found I was able to make a large range of marks, drawing expressively and confidently with the masking fluid.

4Draw the mask I used masking fluid to draw the rest of the design over the dried paint, while referring to the practice marks made in the last step. I used the colour shaper's side to shade in leaves and the chisel-shaped head to print buds.

I used an old toothbrush to spatter masking fluid for frothy grass heads. When it was dry, I rubbed off some of the excess with my finger to leave an

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Top tip To lighten fine lines, use a putty eraser with an eraser shield – dab, don’t rub 7 8

appropriate shape. Stems were drawn with the ruling pen, altering the width of the nib to give different sizes. I let them cross to form geometric shapes similar to the ones seen in the hedge. I let the rest of the masking fluid dry.

5Carve out shadows I could now fill in these shapes, using the masking fluid as a dam between areas. Within each shape, I worked wet-in-wet, varying colour and tone, carefully painting around flowers and leaves I would define later.

Dark shapes represented the shadows in the hedge, while paler, brighter colours represented the unexpected places where sunlight broke through. 6 Pull it together When everything was dry, I carefully removed the masking fluid by rubbing it off with my finger. The first layer of paint was revealed and the stems, leaves and flowers I had drawn with masking fluid showed light against the darker background.

Although I liked the graphic quality of the drawing as it was, I decided to alter the tones within some of the stems and leaves. I did this gently, rolling a damp size 4 round brush across the drawing, dragging paint from the surrounding areas.

7Pick out flowers I added detail to the daisy petals by pulling in colour from the area around each flower. I painted the centres in a bright clear yellow made with Gamboge Hue. I added a few shadows to the grass flowers.

8Add fine details I used the size 4 round brush to paint in the details on the honeysuckle, bramble and clover flowers. Complementing the green background, the reds emphasised the sense of movement and busyness of the hedge.

Applying masking fluid in the same way as paint can open up exciting opportunities. It becomes part of the creative process – not for what it prevents, but for what it can do. www.moortoseaarts.co.uk