Slippery When Wet:
Exploring Stenciled Watercolor
The
pandemic hit and I took that “in captivity” studio time to return to a medium
that I love and, at times, hate—watercolor. I returned with a vengeance
determined to bring my bag of tricks from the other fluid mediums I split my
time between. Truth be told, when
everyone was at the grocery as everything was shutting down, I was at Dick
Blick making sure I had ample supplies for new adventures. My watercolor work uses good brushes, high
quality mainstream and artisan paint, and mid-range watercolor paper that works
well for exploring. I made an exception
and wanted to try out a new-to-me dimensional ground so this first project is
done on deep cradle canvas. I gessoed
one coat and put two coats of dimensional ground (QoR Watercolor) and was
pleased with the absorbency and movement of the paint. I mixed colors and soon
the first layers were finished after a little fussing. You’ll see what I mean in the video. The real fun begins when I begin to variegate
the final layer with StencilGirl® stencils, fingers, credit cards, and
sometimes even scratch tools or something near my hand.
Could
I do this with a brush? Yes, I could,
but I find the randomness of the stencils keep my final product more
organic. I work fast without too much
thought except to build up shadow and interest areas. With a brush I am more apt to overthink. I put together a video to show you what I
mean. I videoed this fun final layer,
but included still pictures showing the first steps. Detail shots give you a
close up of all the visual texture and showcase the mark making possibilities.
The pièce de résistance is the final beauty shot that shows you how all the
madness came together. Watercolor is some knowledge and a lot of hope
mixed with happenstance, and I feel that these random marks go hand in hand
with that aesthetic. You can view this 3 ½ minute video here.
The following stencils were used:
Floral
Dots Mini Crocodile
Repeating Pattern Circles
Circles Botanical
Wildflowers Stencil Club 10/18 Curry
Interesting
Dots Repeating
I
had so much fun with the painting that I left my pile of curated stencils out
and spent some time painting small pieces with stencils. My process has been to
tape the sides of a piece of watercolor paper down and spray with water before
placing the stencil. Then I take one or
more colors and push them through the stencil with a brush in what’s called a wet
in wet application. The paper is wet and
the watercolors are a bit diluted so the paint moves around the paper under the
stencil yet leaves the pattern or partial pattern. I leave it a few minutes to let the paint
soak in and then use a heat tool to speed drying. I actually recommend air
drying, but I don’t always do what I recommend. This will leave a mid-toned
background. I place the stencil back in
to bring out more detail. For this
layer, I use a cosmetic sponge or go in with a just barely wet brush and spot
color areas using one color or a limited palette. This is less of a commitment than doing a
full on painting, yet you really get a painterly effect with the layering of
loose to defined. In this piece I used
white gouache as a final layer to bring out the pattern. The pictures below show the single color process.
The stencil used in this piece is from the 6/2019 Stencil Club (a great monthly
subscription value) set by June Pfaff Daley.
The
same process can be done in multicolor with amazing results. In this piece I used Mary Beth Shaw and Seth
Apter’s Club stencil from January 2019. (You
must be part of Stencil Club to buy this stencil I used, but that’s easy to
take care of on their site.) This piece was made during the horrible rioting
and this collage that spoke to the idea of inclusion literally fell out of me. When
chaos is surrounding me, I often use art as my voice. I used a limited palette of Quinacridone Gold
Deep, Cobalt Green Dark and Payne’s Gray. Places that needed more contrast were
spot colored a second time with a sponge.
All the pieces were cut into house shapes to resemble a street where the
homes were all different, yet unified since they all shared the same three colors. I arranged and then mounted them on a piece
of black watercolor paper for even more drama and wrote the quote by hand. The foreground was just a piece of watercolor
paper colored in the same palette. It was a big release for me once it was
finished. Art does heal.
The
next three pieces use stencils all by Traci Bautista. I never get tired of them because there are
so many places of interest. With the
first one I paired her Soulful
Scribbles Let Go stencil with some of my favorite pearlescent colors by
FineTec. They certainly pack a
punch. I plan to cut that piece up and
use it in a symmetrical multi-tiered square collage. The last two are done with
a dry surface and very wet brush. If you
want to retain a white background as I did in the third piece, then paint the
watercolor onto the stencil and do not spray the paper with water. You will get a bolder print that stays fairly
sedentary on the paper. I sometimes use
a brayer and roll it over the stencil, but often use just a brush. The stencil
is divine and is called Tropical
Floral. If I am doing a larger piece, I pick the stencil corner up along
the way and if I am careful I can add extra paint without moving the stencil if
my coverage was off. I’m a word person
and Traci’s playful font spoke to me when I did this one. On the last piece, I used her Circles
Circles stencil again to make this tiny, but mighty, sunset colored piece
of art. No water was used on the paper, but there was a good solid pigment load
on the brush that really helped with the saturation. I used Jacquard’s Piñata Real Gold Ink on the dry watercolor and then cut my
original sheet into three smaller pieces for framing.
As
you can see, your choices are only limited by your imagination. You can soften the effects of the stencils by
keeping to a wet process or go for a more saturated and usually sharper final
product by using less water. You don’t
need expensive materials, but I will say that you will have better outcomes
leaving the cheaper student paint behind.
WN’s Cotman paints are readily available and the best student grade
paints I’ve heard of and Strathmore 300 is a good starter watercolor
paper. I use it for my swatching. Experiment and see what look is pleasing to
you. As always, I appreciate my time on
the blog and love to share what I’m doing.
To see more of my pursuits, follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Nancy Curry
Art. For my class schedule, blog, and
full galleries, hop over to Nancy Curry
Art.
