Friday, May 20, 2011

Resistance - Resists

As many of you know, this month's theme on the Sketchbook Challenge is "Can't Resist This". So I thought I would share one of my favorite techniques that makes use of a resist. In this case the resist is gesso, but you could use any kind of acrylic medium.

First I coat the sketchbook page or paper with a thin coat of gesso and let it dry thoroughly. Then I fill the page with acrylic color, in this case some reds, golds and purples. While the paint is still a bit wet I spritz on some water from a squirt bottle, and tip the page to get some drips. Let it dry a bit more (the water is still wet!), then blot with a paper towel. If I don't gesso the paper first, then it absorbs the paint more and you don't get the dramatic effect.

For a second kind of resist, I cut out a shape (in this case, a bird) in freezer paper and ironed it to the painted page. I learned this technique from one of our sketchbook challenge participants, Laura, who posts on our flickr site. Then, I painted around the freezer paper mask before removing it. Just a sketchbook page, not a finished piece.

Laura said she got the idea from a tutorial on the Sew Daily newsletter, in which they were making freezer paper stencils for quilts. Click here to view the article (Thanks, Laura, for the link!).

Here is my own video tutorial on the "Gesso Resist", or "Spritz and Blot" as I prefer to call it. I did include my own version of the freezer paper technique as well.



If the video doesn't work, click here to see it on YouTube.

Here is the piece from the video, stage one:

And after the freezer paper masks were removed and I'd painted over areas of it. Just an experimental piece, but I learned a lot from this experiment!


Thanks for visiting!


18 comments:

  1. it's a beautiful experimental piece! i have used the spritz method between different colors of paint, but not with just gesso for some reason. i really like the white showing through, gives such a nice contrast. and thanks for the freezer paper tip, will certainly use that.

    thanks for sharing!

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  2. this is actually one of my favourite techniques. i love the effect, i ought to try the drips though, haven't done that in a long time.

    and thanks for reminding to do masking again.

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  3. You've inspired me here to dig out some old unfinished sketchbooks and play. Looks like a whole lot of fun.

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  4. I'm fairly new to collage though I've used watercolors a lot and used the spritz/drip method with them. I'm off to go play in my journal! Thanks for sharing the techniques.

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  5. i was not able to view the video. when i clicked the play button it just gives me a large version of your journal page. am i doing something wrong?

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  6. THANKS for the heads up. I think I fixed it, but I'm adding a YouTube link just in case.

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  7. Jane!! I am so thrilled to have found your blog!! I love your books- have them all! the you tube video is wonderful thanks for doing it for us!! The gesso tip is terrific as I was not able to get the drips the way others do!! Thank you thank you!!! Now I am off to the studio!!!!

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  8. Jane, Thank you for your inspirational blog, and for your books. I've bought 'Collage with Color' a number of years ago and have just ordered your new "Adventures in Mixed Media'. Today I posted an entry and linked your blog address. Blessings to you!

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  9. Thank you for a great tip - I always look forward to your tutorials.

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  10. Great video and technique! Reminds me somewhat of the look of a Citrasolv molten page - great to use as background but pretty and interesting by themselves. Thank you.

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  11. This is definitely a winner technique that I have used.. but forget about it sometimes. Thanks, Jane.. your page is just beautiful!

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  12. J'aime beaucoup cette technique, MERCI.

    http://leblogdeliberty.canalblog.com

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  13. I love how the water and gesso react together. I got a spray bottle and was looking forward to wetting down my artwork. That's for showing this. {:-Deb

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  14. Thanks. I enjoyed the video and look forward to trying the technique.

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  15. Thanks for the technique!
    Instead of freezer paper I found ( after some googling) you can also use the wrapping/packing paper of copy/print paper. I tried it and it works! Great, since freezer paper is not easy to find here in the Netherlands!
    You use it the same way, shiny side down..

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  16. Love your blog and tutorials. Thank you for doing them. I'm a bit puzzled as to how you iron the freezer paper to the page. Do you put a sheet of something between the painting and the iron? I would think that a hot iron would damage the painted parts...... What am I missing here?

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    1. Oh yes, you could put a piece of parchment paper between your iron and the piece.

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    2. Thank you. I'll try that....

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