Watercolour and Print

Watercolour and Print.

Today has been a day of experimenting and trialling with materials and subject matter. Basically, I have been testing my watercolour paints ("Simply by Daler Rowney) as a background for my dry point prints. I want to create a vivid amount of colour and perhaps experiment with light washes of colour also. 

I have been using only images of my cat as subject matter to understand better how to use them appropriately and it is harder than it looks. I made the mistake of using black with the colours and it resulted in a muddy colour, which ruins the point of watercolour (I am aiming for bright, vivid colour.) It is very interesting how the colours mix and the patterns which can arise from a mistake. I like to call them "Happy mistakes", so as to make it look like it is purposeful. 

Initially, I was looking at incorporating watercolour with printmaking, either harmoniously or juxtaposing the two, which is why I was going to experiment further with how to do this. I have mentioned in previous posts an artist model named Shannon Williamson who creates beautiful yet distorted watercolour drawings and I have been attempting to only use light washes of colour, however I find this incredibly hard as I am so used to working with darker more moody colours, like myself I suppose. 

Shannon Williamson

What I like about Williamson's body of work, is her use of line work which she overlaps using watercolour and the way by continuously overlapping bodies and faces, she begins to distort the human body and face creating unsettling subject matter.