Face It by Karen Elaine
Greetings Creative Ones! Let’s face it, stencils are a great way to overcome the fear of the “blank canvas” and faces are especially intimidating to create. I love the Jane Davenport faces I received in the mail the other day and thought it would be fun to play with them without a plan in mind and letting myself play. I enjoy creating this way, without expectations or a goal.
Today, I used the ASC061 "Coy" stencil and applied a light dusting of stamp pad ink over the stencil using a makeup sponge onto watercolor paper to bring out the subtle details of the stencil.
I used a pencil to finish the outline and painted with bold colors using transparent watercolors.
Opaque watercolors may come out muddy so choose your colors carefully. Make a handmade color chart of your watercolors to determine the color and transparency. Apply a band of black ink at the bottom area of the paper and brush the color over it. If you see color on the black after it dries, then it is not transparent. Some colors leave a sediment on the black and those are considered semi-transparent or semi opaque. I use those colors only when I need a pop of that color and I avoid mixing them with other colors.
Keep painting until you get the brilliance and detail you desire. For this painting, I wanted to keep the colors bold and juicy. I love watercolor because of the unpredictability of the results.
I used a Micron pen to draw the lines and doodles to bring out details of the face. This is where I can get really crazy with doodling and I may go back to this painting and doodle on it some more!
I filled in details with more watercolor and used a white opaque pen to create highlights. There are many white pens on the market but I have found the Posca Extra Fine white parker to be the most opaque and it dries permanent and waterproof which allows for over painting.
Supplies:
- Artistcellar ACS061 stencil
- Ranger Violet stamp pad
- makeup sponge
- Mission Gold watercolors
- Micron pen
- Uni Ball Posca opaque white paint pen .7mm
1 Response
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Briana
May 12, 2016
Hi Karen Elaine,
I love what you did with this face stencil! The way you combined watercolors, micron pen, and the white Posca marker is so fun! The doodled designs are so funky and fun, too! Spirals speak to me!! Thanks for sharing!
PS Is the line of black ink from a permanent marker, or does it need to be India ink, for the paint transparency test?