"Gray Feather" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

Unfortunately, I did not have time to finish this piece this morning. I do love all of the gray with a very complimentary gray feather. It was one of those treasures just lying on the ground.

The background of this piece was a perfect set up for my gray feather....and it was very easy to do. I began with a small piece of Fabriano 300 lb. CP paper. I then created two mono prints...one on top of the other.

A mono print of this type is best created on a glass surface. By mixing up some watercolor and water and sloshing it around on the glass with a brush, the dry paper is then pressed into the paint. When pulled off, you have a mono print that is totally spontaneous. If you like the dark spots in the piece, I left more saturated color in several areas on the glass. After this first print was partially dry, I mixed more color and did a second print. This created a couple of back runs and several hard edges. This was a perfect contrast to all the soft watercolor areas.

The palette was the key for these beautiful grays. It was two colors....Neutral Tint,  and Alizarin Crimson. (Daniel Smith Brand) It is so easy to overwork watercolor but this is a surefire method of keeping it fresh and luminous, since none of your brushes or hands ever touch the painted side of the print.

There is another very creative option of finishing off a watercolor like this. If you create the mono print on Arches Text Wove....you can then print over it with your printer and favorite photo. It creates really nice effects. (Arches Text Wove is light enough to run through your printer and available at Jerry's....Dick Blick....or Daniel Smith.) So this innovative process is the result of two different kinds of printmaking in one piece.

You will then, of course, need to mount it on a cradled board after spraying (3x) with spray acrylic coating or spray varnish. After mounting the piece, you will then be able to truly secure the surface by brushing on liquid varnish (Liquitex Gloss) (3x). And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.