Project 6: Watercolour Resist Techniques

Resist Technique Sample Five

Paper: Economy Board Weight Unknown
Paint: Crawford & Black

I have unfortunately run out of hot pressed watercolour paper so instead of using watercolour paper I have used Economy Board which is similar to cartridge paper just a little bit thicker. As I was quite sure that this paper wouldn’t allow me to do a wet on wet due to it might cockle I had to use wet on dry for the salt technique on the background. I have used the White China pencil and an white Oil Pastel to do the drawing. The drawing was a quick study and I found it hard to see where I was putting it on the paper. I might do it again but on watercolour cold press paper as I prefer the wet on wet sample I did with the Rock Salt. I have also used a lifting out technique to get a paler colour on the figure, I shall look more into this technique next.

Project 6: Watercolour Resist Techniques

Watercolour Resist Techniques

I have previously tried the water resist technique with Oil Pastels when I was sampling with Oil Pastels. That time I used just the Oil Pastels with watercolour and Ink however this time I will be looking at more materials that can be used to resist the watercolour. I will be experimenting with Bees Wax, Oil Pastels, Candle Wax, crayons and also a China Pencils. All these have wax in the material and therefore should repel the watercolour as wax and water don’t mix. You can use this technique for creating textures in rocks, on water to create the sparkle or even in full paintings as in Henry Moore’s London Underground paintings where he got the idea from a child’s set of wax crayons. PLEASE CLICK THE IMAGE TWICE FOR THE LARGEST SIZE.

Resist Technique Sample One

Paper: Gerstaecker No 3 @ 200gsm
Paint: Crawford & Black Watercolour

All these samples can be used for different textures it really depends what you are looking for. I have tried different colours but I do prefer using just the white however I find it hard to see what you are drawing if you don’t have the light shining straight onto the paper. It might help it your paper isn’t totally pure white which different brands of paper seem to be different shades of white.

01. Block of Natural Beeswax
02. Berol Oil Pastels 
03. House Candle
04. Crayola Crayons 
05. China Markers (Chinagraph)

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.

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



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.

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