Watercolour - Step 3

Who knew watercolour painting on fabric would be so relaxing!?  I think its a form of meditation.   I was handed a Margarita so thought I should back away from the paint and wash it off of my hands.   I'm working on the background now, which takes a steady hand.  Still fun though. 

 

The background is supposed to seep and create shadows.  Hopefully mine won't look too blotchy when I'm finished.    Think I will touch up the fruit once the background is finished.

Watercolour on Fabric

A cousin of my husband is back from a two year mission in France and we were supposed to all meet at an aunt and uncle's place tonight.  Unfortunately, one of Taffy's grandchildren was hospitalized and she didn't make it down here.  Our visit has been postponed; but I was able to work on the second stage of my fabric painting. 

Step 2:  This time, the paint isn't watered down as much and you paint on dry fabric.  The colours are deepened and shading is added.  The background hasn't been touched yet.

 

 

There is still some bleeding of the colours into surrounding areas.  The background will be varying degrees of blue and should absorb much of the bleeding.

 

A comparison after drying last night and after drying tonight:

 

      

 



I couldn't wait to start a new project once I saw a painted table runner in Cloth Paper Scissors.  What was utterly amazing was the amount of fabric that I've collected (hoarded) over the years. I rediscovered what I had while looking for a plain piece of white cotton that I could use to do a water colour painting.  If it turns out, maybe I'll mount it to a canvas to sit on the fireplace mantle.

Figure 1:  pattern

Trace the pattern with a permanent black marker onto white cotton.   Lay the cotton on a plastic covered surface and spray the fabric with water.   With watercolours and paintbrush, start with the lightest colour first working your way up in colour depth (Fig. 2).  I started with yellow, then pink, blue, green, purple (Fig. 3).  This first staining of the fabric is done with very watered down paints.  This is a lighter, transparent layer so less paint is better. 

Figure 2:

 

 

 



Figure 3:

I'm not a patient person when I have to leave things to dry before I can go on to the next step... let the fabric dry on a rack.    The second layer of highlights and shadows is painted onto the dry fabric to make any lighter areas darker and less muted.  Then add a darker background colour, which will seep and create brilliant shadows (so they say).    So for now, goodnight!