I took a workshop with Elaine and Lynda recently at the Shemer Art Center from Nancy Christy-Moore. We started by tearing and arranging assorted rice papers onto a 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper, gluing them down with acrylic matte medium, and setting aside to dry. The next step was painting with watercolor, but I didn't get to it on this one.
A second one was started on any old previously painted piece. We added the rice papers, glued and dried, then painted with watercolor. The next step which I didn't get to was using some gesso to do some negative painting around some of these colored areas. I thought I'd study it a while first, and maybe someday I'll get around to it, as I am not very good at negative painting. As I look at it now and then, I am seeing some colorful angelfish and underwater plants that could be defined, but who knows? I also didn't try the part of using clear or colored crayons over the layers as they developed, but it was very interesting to see.
This was a third piece I started. I had to try one with a resist, by writing with a clear gel pen Lynda had brought for us to try, then painting over it with watercolors. This ended up being my favorite, and I plan to work on a few areas a bit more, and then it should be done. We also tried out some plain mat boards as frames and most of the pieces looked so much better.
