Working with Masking Fluid

25 08, 12 Filed in: Watercolor

While I don't often use masking fluid, it can be invaluable when you need it.
Early one morning, I spotted this cactus blooming in a neighbor's yard. I went back later to photograph it, since I thought it would make a striking painting.
I positioned the flowers and the buds in my drawing to draw the viewers eye around the painting and to the flowers. In this painting I used masking fluid, so I could be more free with my washes of color on the cactus.
To get the colors on the cactus, I wet the area and washed on yellow, red and blue colors allowing them to mix freely. I varied the sequence of colors to get various shadings (blue first with red then yellow was much darker then using with yellow first). I then went over the areas with calypso green. The spines or ridges of the cactus were under the mask, so that the color of those would be different and stand out more. I used the same red to paint the background, it was just a very watered down version.
I then removed the mask and painted the spines of the cactus with calypso green mixed with some of the same colors used on the main part of the cactus. The fruit was painted with the same red and some yellow. The cactus flowers were of course mainly white, but the green, yellow and some blue and grey were used to give shape and depth to the flowers.