Watercolor Gift

I had never used masking fluid or frisket until yesterday. Everywhere I would read though, artists would talk about using it to save the whites and to create these wonderful highlights using it instead of opaque white watercolor paint. Watching Susan Scheewe using it in her DVD last Sunday made it look quite easy to use and wonderful for so many project ideas. I bought some Wednesday at lunch from the local Hobby Lobby store close to my office. I took it back to my desk so it would not be sitting in the car getting over-heated.

I used an older brush without soaping it (that is how I’ve seen many artists & the advertisements recommend using it - Susan Scheewe is the one who recommended soaping your brush first so you can use good brushes to get good lines not the worn out brush coverage types) - it was a brush that I wouldn’t mind if I had to throw it away - most artists generally have one or two (sometimes more) of those laying around in their art supplies.

I let it dry on my 140 lb watercolor paper. I painted over it with a few different colors. I let those dry. I used an eraser to pull the dried masking fluid off the paper. Yes there were bright paper white areas.

First … the masking fluid dried on the brush it seemed before I could even get it down on the paper almost. I did not like that at all. I did throw the brush away after trying to clean it because all the masking fluid did not come off the brush - it is always nice for me to know what actually happens instead of just taking some one else’s word for it - I trust them that they are right but I cannot talk intelligently about something I have not tried). If you are going to use this stuff - soap the brush first - I haven’t tried that yet … maybe tomorrow …. but my guess is that it will at least keep it from drying into rubbery clumps on your brush at least. The rubbery clumps came off on my paper too - perhaps I needed to be using a brush with longer bristles so I would not have gotten those - I have more “okay to pitch after masking fluid use” brushes - those old brushes are finally going to come in handy that I just had not thrown out yet.

Second … I generally do not draw the design on the paper first … I have a plan in my head and work around that … that way of working and using masking fluid DID NOT work well together for me. The masking fluid dried too quickly - I needed to know where to put it right away - it gave me no time to think about where to place it as I applied it. If you are going to use masking fluid - put a drawing on the paper first and know where you want to put the masking fluid BEFORE starting.

Thirdly, I did not like the hard edges that I got from using the masking fluid. It will be awesome in some paintings and really not good at all for others. I am not expecting to be able to create soft or lost edges using masking fluid - perhaps I am wrong … only a lot more testing will let me know for sure if I will ever be able to use it for lost edges. My best guess so far is that it will be best used in a painting to mask places where I want hard edges.

This was an experimental painting that I was fully prepared to throw away if it did not work well for me … yes … I definitely threw it away … but I learned a lot from trying it and I will keep experimenting with the masking fluid to see if I can create paintings that I like and will want to keep … maybe I can and maybe I cannot .. only time and trial & error will tell me for sure.