Crayon Resist, Art on a Shoe String

 Are you ready for another

Art on a Shoe String?

A couple weeks ago I posted the above piece of

art that I made using a watercolor resist pen

with watercolor paints.

Not everyone has access to a watercolor resist

pen, or to frisket, but most everyone has access to

crayons. Yes. Crayons.

So let's see if we can make a successful

watercolor resist using a white crayon.

Keeping with the theme of

Art on a Shoe String -

I headed to Walmart and went straight to

the school aisle. 

That box of 24 crayons was just 47¢.

(The 16 crayon box cost 57¢.

Go figure.)

 I used a scrap piece of mixed media paper -

you could try cardstock if you wish.

(The real question is: why does autocorrect keep

changing my word 'cardstock' to 'yardstick?'

Because it's a real pain.

So I just won't use that word again in this post.)

 I used the white crayon to draw a tangle on the

mixed media paper.

Next time I won't use a pattern that needs

precision, but this is a learning curve.

 I used a paintbrush to cover my paper in water.

You can already see that the crayon is resisting

the water, so the watercolor should work as well.

 Then I started adding color.

I used an inexpensive child's watercolor

pan set from the school row. You've seen

it in these posts before. 

 And I kept adding color and more water as needed.

The precision in that tangle is totally lost.

I think if I had used a light tan crayon

or a light yellow crayon

I would have been able to make the tangle better.

Sorry to all you serious tanglers.

Do better than I did. 

 Of course, according to the 

Hendon School of Color

one can never have too much color!

 I did blot up a bit of that liquid,

cause you can have too much water.

Hahahaha!

 While that piece sat to dry,

 I started another.

This time I drew a string line with the white

crayon and that works much better!

Pink, purple and teal are my go-to colors.

My mantra. 

Cause I love them so much.

Then I sat this aside to dry.

 OK.

Time to evaluate.

Can you successfully make marks that watercolors 

will resist with a common, every day crayon?

Yes. You definitely can!

Even in the one I messed the tangle up on -

it worked.

And I learned something.

Which is what this is all about anyway.

I learned 2 things actually:

* don't try precision tangles, unless I

* press down to make solid, substantial lines.

I like the way the first one worked,

the way the resist definitely worked,

I just wish I had made stronger lines to start with.

I pressed down harder with the crayon in this one and you can certainly see the difference it made. I can take both pieces and tangle them with success and be happy with my art.
Success of this Art on a Shoe String? 100%
And if you don't have crayons on hand - they are only 47¢ at Walmart. Or you can borrow one from your kid. Or a neighbor. Have fun!

Playing With Resist and Watercolors

Zentangle All Around recently had a prompt to think outside the box. Try something you've not done before. A product, a technique, anything that breaks the block we artists all feel at one time or another. Christine called the prompt: Break the Block!

 Months ago I bought a Prima product called

Watercolor Resist Pen.

A bottle of liquid that allows you to mask off an area

so you can have contrast when you watercolor.

It has a needle tip on it and you just squeeze.

I used a piece of mixed media paper and

made scrolls and loops using the resist pen.

Then I put it somewhere safe from Aurora

to dry overnight. 

 The next day, I used a small watercolor set

also from Prima and watercolored my paper.

I slopped on a lot of water to start with -

then added the color. 

It was cool to watch how the color moved to the 

borders of the resist and sat there.

I was curious about the amount of water I added.

I really thought it would seep under the edges

of the resist lines.

 Here is what it looked like dry.

I did not use a heat gun to dry this.

I wasn't sure how the resist would react 

with the heat, so I just stuck it back in 

the safe spot and waited.

I really love how the colors mixed with each other. Notice - when the color bumped up to the resist lines, as it dried the resist pushed  the color back in on itself. And made those cool little wiggly edges all around. I love it!

 Yesterday, I started peeling off the resist.

It pulled up in a little rubbery strip,

kind of like rubber cement did when

we were kids. 

Notice that the color did not seep under

the resist like I thought it might.

It left a good crisp, clear line.

And the white line left behind looks exactly like the resist line did.  All the little blobs and blunders I made - not thinking ahead of time where I wanted to go - all still show up. But that's ok. I like it! Next, I will take this sheet and start tangling it up!
Resist and frisket are the same things. And I truly believe rubber cement would do the same thing. Just remember with it - the fumes are killer for headaches. We don't even have any in our house just for that very reason.
Just have fun and play some today.