Project 2 Sampling - Wax Resist, Oil Pastels.

You have more likely than not already used the Wax Resist Technique in primary school, using a white crayon you make a drawing and apply paint on top which relieves the drawing you've made. Wax Resist materials is based on one fact that wax repels water, the paint either runs off where the wax has been placed or it collects in little drops. The main materials that can be used are anything that contains wax, a wax block, candle, crayons and oil pastels; I also came across Gel Pens and Bees Wax. Henry Moore also used crayons from Woolworths on his Underground War studies of people which have the same effect. The wax gives a random speckled effect which is quite eye-catching which could be used for many different effects such as rocks, cliffs and water.

After sampling with different materials, candle, oil pastel, Vaseline, Gel Pens, Bees Wax Bar, China Markers with different types of paper and brushes I decided Hot Press watercolour paper with watered down gouache was the best to use with the oil pastels. On this occasion I have chosen to apply Acrylic paint as well as Watercolours, also I've used wax crayon and oil pastels to create the resist. The resist also reminds me of dry brush techniques in certain parts. Other materials you apparently can use to do resist that I haven't already mentioned are Turpentine, liquid frisket, paraffin, Wax Resist Sticks, scoring on wax paper and even by using wax based pencils like Prismacolor.

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As I wasn't happy with the outcome of the above picture I decided to experiment some more and decided to try again. The Wax Resist worked a treat you can see the watermarks that have been left behind but the image was rushed, I was more bothered about giving it a go and seeing what happened. After some more experimenting I decided to use oil pastels with watered down gouache rather than watercolour and acrylic paints. Below are some of the stages towards the final image, these were taken with the camera and not scanned in; I took a lot longer reproducing the Van Gough's Starry Night.

Below is the final finished peice, the problem is I got carried away with the oil pastels and didn't leave enough white paper. I mentioned all the way through the project that I liked the dried water drops effect. I managed to produce that effect in the sky on the finished piece; you can see it better in the lighter part of the sky next to the hills. I decided not to use the technique on the Cypress tree or in the landscape; I felt it wouldn't add anything to this part of the picture.

To be honest after spending all the time on the picture I was in two minds if to put the wash on it. I was worried in cased I ruined it with the wash, this is only my second time with oil pastels I know it sad but I was happy with the outcome without adding the wash. Once I started using the oil pastels I was more concerned how the picture looked then thinking of the reason why I was creating this piece in the first place. I'm pleased with my version of Van Gogh's' Starry Night, its done good enough that you know what the picture is resembling. I found the landscape part easy to do and I really took pleasure in doing the Cypress tree, I think this shows it the image. However when it came to the sky and the stars I struggled, I found it hard to reproduce the look of the stars with the sky going around them. The oil pastels and crayons were just too thick it was hard to control and in the end I used the sgraffito technique to scrape the overspill from the pastels. To make it easier next time I would have to use thinner oil pastels or use a larger paper to work on to enable me to produce the correct lines in the sky.

Project 2 Sampling - Wax Resist, Oil Pastels, Candles, Gouache.

Using the Sgraffito Technique I created the below piece with oil pastels, I cut up a credit card and used that to scrape the oil pastels. Out of the materials I have used experimenting with Sgraffito I think I prefer Oil Pastels as they are a lot less mucky then using ink and the Acrylic paint. I also liked that I could leave it and come back to it later where with the other materials you had a time limited as it would dry out and become unscratchable.

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Project 2 Sampling - Sgraffto Water Based Printers Ink, Cityscape.

The below has Acrylic Paint on the bottom layer but I have tried a water based ink for the top layer. A cut up credit card was use for the Sgraffito technique. I found the Ink took quite a while to dry, there's a possibility I've used too much of the ink I should have spread the ink a little more making it a thinner layer. The last time I used the ink I used it sparingly and it dried a hell of a lot quicker than it did this time. I found scraping the ink away was very messy to do and the stuff got everywhere. However as it dried slower I was able to play with it longer than I would if it was done with the Acrylic paint. I like the way it hasn't removed all the ink the lines aren't as sharp as the samples I've done previously. I might try and do another one very similar to this but instead of randomly putting the first layer on I will lay the colour on in vertical lines so the colour of the buildings will be the same in the reflections rather than random colour reflections as in this sample. I think what I've produced has a nice effect it just needs a bit of thinking about, building reflections, colours, composure instead of just getting on with it. I would like to attempt this type of thing in oil but it takes so long to dry it won't be feasible this time.

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As the sample is still wet I wanted to try and remove some of the ink to make it dry quicker so I could place it in this folder. I burnished the Sgraffito sample onto some cartridge paper, I know this has nothing to do with Sgraffito but I really liked the marks it left behind so I've decided to include it. After doing this process about 15 times or so the excess ink has nearly all been removed. I even tried a Fixative that is made for oil pastels, it works wonders with oil pastels but unfortunately it doesn't really work with the water based ink. Thinking about it may be using a clear varnish might work; I don't have any in so I can't experiment with this idea.
 

If I'm honest I think I prefer the print version then the original sample; this also gives me a opportunity to view a mono version as well as the original random coloured version.

Project 2 Sampling - Sgraffto Oil Pastels, Fish.

Using the Sgraffito Technique I created the below piece with acrylic paint, I cut up a credit card and used that to scrape the paint. First of all I knew the image I was going to have; I then added the colour and waited for it to dry then added black Acrylic paint over the image. Whilst the black paint was still wet I scraped back into to paint and removed the paint where I wanted to see the colour below. The problem I had were the paint drying out extremely quickly even after added retarder to the paint mix. Hopefully when I get the chance I will redo the design but on a larger scale, also remove the marks left by the brush on the black parts by using a blending brush.

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Project 2 Sampling - Sgraffto Oil Pastels, Apples.

Using the Sgraffito Technique I created the below piece with oil pastels, I cut up a credit card and used that to scrape the oil pastels. Out of the materials I have used experimenting with Sgraffito I think I prefer Oil Pastels as they are a lot less mucky then using ink and the Acrylic paint. I also liked that I could leave it and come back to it later where with the other materials you had a time limited as it would dry out and become unscratchable.

Please click the image a couple of times for a lager image…