#51 -TRANSLUCENCY

This is such a fun way to paint.

I create big puddles of clear water into desired shapes throughout a sheet of white watercolor paper. Then I inject watercolors into the puddles and allow the paint to swirl around.  I can add up to 4 colors in a small puddle, but they do not move any further than their puddle which contains the color chaos.  Look at the pink blooms. Where you see white is where the pink paint stopped bleeding however the small dabs of pink paint were contained in an overall larger circle puddle of water.

When I am finished creating layers and puddles of color I then move onto acrylic paint. In this instance I chose black for its high contrast against color and for its opacity.  I carefully paint around each of the puddles editing and creating the shapes I would like to convey in my final image.

This makes you focus on both positive and negative space.  Translucency vs. opacity. You get the feeling like the sun is shining through the flowers.  This painting reminds me of Eric Carle’s illustrations.  I believe he probably used a similar technique but he cut his images out and collaged them, where as I like to choose a dark opaque background.

I think this would make a gorgeous fabric.  I will have to use this technique some more because the richness of color just makes me so darn happy.

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