May 12th: Watercolors and Masking Fluid

Masking fluid is one of those magical tools in an artists arsenal.  It basically keeps paint from getting on some part of the paper you don't want it.  Usually, it's used for areas of white, so the paint doesn't bleed into it.  So last night, I was trying to figure out how to use said masking and I don't know if I failed or succeeded. 

 

So I took an old wash I'd done forever ago and splattered some red and gold paint on it for the hell of it.  Then I drew what I can only assume is a flying swallow on it ( I didn't really care what it was because I was just testing technique here).  Then I painted a portion of the wing with masking fluid.

 Now, I don't know much about masking fluid, but the stuff I was getting out of the bottle was thick, gloppy and not easy to spread.  Seeing as how masking fluid is supposed to paint on, I'm not sure if I have an old bottle or if it's supposed to be that annoying to get on paper.  Regardless, I'm glad I only chose to do a section of the swallow and not the whole freaking thing.  Then I proceeded to paint the negative space black, deliberately going over the wing with the masking fluid to see if this gloppy crap worked.  

I peeled it off.  It had the sticky consistency of dried rubber cement.  It worked.  No black paint got on the wing.  So... test successful I guess.  I still don't think it's supposed to be thick and crappy looking.  Also, now I'm left with this random painting and I have no idea what to do with it.  I'm thinking collage sometime down the road.  Maybe I'll cut around all this badly painted black stuff and keep the bird.