Today’s experiment:

I had a lot of fun with today’s experiment. I normally apply latex masking fluid to my watercolor paper, paint or ink on top of it and remove it when I finish. I switched my procedure a bit, today.

I began by dripping some permanent ultramarine blue (Winsor Newton) ink on my paper, rocked it and jarred it into a pattern.

Stage 1 – First Ink Application of Permanent Blue

I added some permanent yellow ink, hoping to get the ink strands to merge in a nice green color. It didn’t happen exactly as I planned it.

Stage 2 – Addition of Permanent Yellow Ink

I didn’t document all the next steps, but here’s a summary:  I added water soluble inks, again yellow and blue as a prelude to the washes I intended to apply later.  I then dripped on the latex resist on top of all the pigment.

Stage 3 – Addition of Blue and Yellow Water-Based Ink and Frisket

I then washed the lower left area with Hansa yellow deep, which I thought would mix well with the greenish pigments in that area. I washed the upper right portion with opera rose to bring out the blue and yellow.

Here a photo of the composition while it was still wet:

Stage 4 – Hansa Yellow Deep and Opera Rose Washes

“If it looks good when it’s wet, it won’t look good when it’s dry,” is a saying that I can confirm by showing you Stage 4 of this composition after it dried.

Stage 5 – After Drying of First Wash

To maintain that ‘wet’ look, I added two more sets of washes to my composition.

Stage 6 – Two More Washes of Hansa Yellow and Opera Rose

And for the final reveal, here is the study with the masking removed:

Abstract Sunset
12″x16″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

Comment:

I like the color blending of the inks and the washes. I did not expect the water soluble ink to seep under the mask. However, I should have known that it would since I applied the frisket on top of the ink. I do need to work on the white spaces. As it stands, they seem to interfere with the colors behind them.