Monday, June 22, 2009

Mixed Media - Watercolor Crayons

This is a demo I did for my Mixed Media class. In it I show samples of different ways that you can mix watercolor crayons with watercolor. If you double click on it you can appreciate the different ways of using the watercolor crayons.

The first thing I did was sketch out the brick pattern and put in red earth colors in watercolors. The first line of bricks shows how you can use the watercolor crayons as if they were watercolors. First you scribble some of the crayons on a piece of scratch paper. Then you apply a damp brush to it and loosen up the crayon. It turns to a "watercolory" substance that you can now paint with. I then painted the bricks with a wet on wet wash.

In the second row of bricks I used the crayon like a crayon and drew over the brick. Then I used the damp brush to moisten the crayon and it melted into the brick.

The third row of bricks I used crayon sharpenings on scratch paper and wet them with the damp brush. I then got a little clumpier watercolor mixture than I did in the first row and I painted the bricks with it.

In the forth row I wet the bricks with some water and drew with the crayon into the wet brick. The crayon melted onto the paper as long as the paper stayed wet.

Then in the fifth row I dipped the crayon into water and then drew with it. The watercolor crayon just flowed over the paper and let go of it's color.

Finally I painted the grout in between the bricks. (Is it called grout or something else?) I did this in a different way than I did any of the bricks.
Can you guess what I did? If you are one of the first two people (with an address in the continental United States) that sends in a correct answer then you win an 8 X 10 print of one of my paintings. You need to send your answers to the little CONTEST in a COMMENT.
I hope you enjoy these little "classes" on mixed media and watercolor and I hope you get the chance to try some of them.

Good luck with the contest!

6 comments:

Dick Mitchell said...

i thought I had left a comment. the matter between the bricks is mortar. I guess that you used shavings or small scrappings of w/c pencil or crayons over a moistened areas between the bricks with minimal brushing to blend the colors and spots. maybe some japs with a w/c pencil for dots.
Dick M

Anonymous said...

Testing

Anonymous said...

I really like the bricks. I think you pressed the tip of the crayon down to form the spots and then you wet it.
Joanne Greer

Kathy Staicer said...

Make sure that you leave your answer to the contest in the form of a comment. You cannot win by e-mailing me.
Good luck.

Meera Rao said...

Great demo! I am guessing you dropped crayon shavings/scrapings on to the wet paper and used a wet brush to blend them.

Kathy Staicer said...

Congratulations to Dick and Meera. You were correct in that it is a mixture of shavings and water. You both win an 8x10 print. I have prints available for most of the paintings I have posted. Please email me through my profile page and let me know what you want and where you want it sent. Thanks so much for participating in the contest. This one was very difficult to guess.