PLASTIC WRAP TEXTURE

I love to play with texture in my watercolor paintings.  One of my favorite ways to add a little texture is with plastic wrap.  It is inexpensive and just plain cool. Today I’ll show you step by step how I made this piece using plastic wrap with watercolor paint.

I limited myself to four colors today. I gave myself black as an option but found that I didn’t actually need it in the end.

I lightly sketched the flours and lily pads with pencil, and then painted them in using a wet on wet technique.  Next I wet the entire bottom half of the paper with water and painted the rest of the background keeping everything very wet. Then I placed plastic wrap on the bottom half of the heavily wetted paper.

Holding the paper vertical, I then dropped liquid watercolor paint starting at the top of the plastic wrap and letting it drip down to the bottom of the page. I used my fingers over the top of the plastic to rub some of the color downward to help it move. After I got the paint where I wanted it, I used my fingers to twist and shape the plastic in to the shapes I wanted. Then I let it all dry for about 6 hours.

Then I pulled off the plastic carefully and signed it.

Thank you for reading today.  If you have any questions about this process feel free to email me. Happy painting!!!