Above the Ocean

"Above the Ocean" is a textural extravaganza of mixed watercolor and acrylic ink. I began by creating outlines of flying birds. If you cut them out of tracing paper, you can arrange them in a pleasing way on the paper that you're planning to paint on. It's a good idea to make some of the birds appear to be just partially on the painting. This can give a sense of movement to the piece. When I decided on the arrangement, I cut the birds out of contact paper and adhered them to my watercolor paper. This is a great way to mask big areas.

This shows the contact paper birds on my watercolor paper.

Next comes the really fun part! Just throw paint on the paper. I used watercolors and acrylic inks. I spritzed with a mixture of water and ox gall liquid to make the paint granulate and to really make the ink spread. Next I covered with saran wrap.

Here's what's happened so far!

After I let everything dry, I peeled off all of the texture as well as the contact paper.

Here's what the piece looks like under all that saran wrap!

The next step is to finish the birds and add to the background.

"Above the Ocean" • mixed watermedia on Arches 140# cold press paper

I added to the ocean and painted the birds. I really like how the texture worked out in the water.
For more information about this piece click HERE.
cMelissa Gannon 2015