Watercolors and Tar Gel on Yupo

30 09, 16 Filed in: Watercolor
On an approximately 16x22” piece of Yupo, I poured in various hews of blue and green and allowed and encouraged them to flow and mingle together to form a very still, peaceful background. I made sure the colors at the top were lighter then those at the bottom.  When this was partially dry, I lifted out some color on the lower right with a tissue to form a distant reef.  When the painting was totally dry, I lifted out more color in front with a brush and water.
I then added some details to the reef with a brush and 2 or 3 different colors.  I left the area lifted out with the tissue alone, so that it looked like more distant layers of a reef.
I then wiped out an area of the background with water and a Mr Clean Magic Eraser.  Because I was adding yellow in this area if I did not take it back to white, it would look green (yellow added to blue).  I tried to vary the colors to make it look like a reef you would see while snorkeling.
My next step was to make a sandy looking area in front of the reef.  I did that with paint in a spray bottle, paint on a rough sponge, and by running my finger over a toothbrush loaded with paint (it makes a very fine mist). Here is a close-up view of the result.
I call this painting Tar Gel Octo Too as it is the second in a series. You can order prints from my Underwatercolors gallery at Fine Art America.