Sea of Flowers

I wanted to share a piece I did about three weeks ago but never got around to doing till now.  Again, I wanted to experiment using coloured pencils and this time blending with a non-odour solvent I had recently purchased.  The smell of turpentine was getting to us, especially my boyfriend, so it was an idea to buy a bottle of this solvent.  Another thing I was keen to try again was the masking fluid!  See where I’ve drawn some squiggles and flower designs on the paper with it?

Ecoline Ink

The paper I used was the smooth Bristol paper as I was happy with the outcome the last time I had used it with coloured pencils.  And I wanted to test it with water-based ink or paint.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve used Ecoline Ink which is water-based.  Quite transparent and thin in consistency.  After letting the masking tape dry, I added a few drops of the ink, using two shades of light blue, the lighter one on top and the slightly darker one on the bottom half.  They were blended using a dry brush, ie no additional water added as these inks are already quite well diluted.  Where there was no masking fluid, I tried to be as careful as possible by not going over the outlines.  I didn’t notice much wrinkling or buckling as Bristol Paper doesn’t absorb as much as ordinary paper, although it tended to roll a bit on the sides.  But this was easily rectified by flattening it with heavy books on top once the paper was dry.

Coloured Pencils

I peeled off the masking fluid once the ink was dry which I have to admit is one of the funnest part.  Then colour away!  Holbein Artists Colored Pencils were used again but just the pastel shades only for this piece.  I didn’t do much serious blending this time but used the non-odor solvent to spread the colour.  It worked quite well, and I like that rather painted appearance, like using aquarelle water-soluble pencils with water but with stronger colour.  For some areas in which I had used masking fluid, I left as they were since I thought having some white would look quite cool.  Even looking like under water!

Embellishments

Although I was done with the colouring, I thought the piece look quite dull and “flat”.  Something was missing   I then grabbed a bunch of stuff like sequins, acrylic markers, and glitter glue and started adding some random details.  And now, that’s much better!  Amazing what a bit of details would add to an otherwise dull painting!

I remember doing this piece with so much enthusiasm (as usual) as it was one of those “let’s see what happens if I …” moments.  Here I had the chance to test again the effects of Bristol paper, then see what pretty effects the masking fluid had with the Ecoline Ink and then to check out the non-odour solvent with the coloured pencils.  Then to complete the picture I got to get all creative again and add all the details in the end.  And I am very happy with how it all turned out.  Looks very refreshing to look at, and I love how the colours pop out against the ocean or sea blue background.  Hence the Sea of Flowers…