Sunday, June 30, 2013

Brusho Zinnias

11" x 14"
Arches 140#CP
Brusho Watercolor Paint
Winsor Newton Artist Quality Watercolor Paint
Masking Fluid

I have always loved doing 'splash and splatter' watercolors - the method I created by splashing bits of water onto paper, splattering in different paints, and then creating something from the results -- sort of a "Rorschach" creation in watercolor.

I heard about Brusho from posts by Joanne Boon Thomas (www.saa.co.uk/art/artbyboon) and immediately fell in love with the vibrancy of the colors and the spontaneity of the methods. My dear friend Lorraine surprised me this summer with an early birthday gift - a starter kit of Brusho and DVD (See www.brushosecrets.com/) for information and more details.

When I got home and after catching up a bit, I began playing with the paint powders. This is my third painting using Brusho.

A few tips for its creation:

How I did it:

* Used a photo I had of zinnias
* 'Painted' the zinnia outline and highlighted areas I wanted to save with masking fluid, let dry
* Sprinkled yellow, orange and red brusho in those areas I wanted to color in those hues; green, yellow and
turquoise in those areas for leaves
* Brusho is VERY pigmented and so try to leave as much white as possible as I found it to be more difficult
to remove from areas than the Winsor Newton tube colors
* SPRITZED area with my fine mister - again be cautious about spritzing -- spritz lightly to retain some of the
powdered specks of pigment for texture and white areas; a bit heavier sprtzing for a flow and blend of colors
* Let dry
* Used negative painting to create petals and center. I did this with both Brusho and Winsor Newton tube
colors. The powdered Brusho pigments can be placed in a cup and water added to used like liquid
watercolor paint. I used heavier mixes of Winsor Newton as well.
* Added negative paint to make leaves and veins
* Added more brusho for tone and highlights

It was lots of fun!!!

Hope you have a great Sunday!

4 comments:

Lorraine said...

This painting is incredibly bright and colorful and just drop dead gorgeous Lin. After playing with Brusho myself, I know that it's not that easy and you have far surpassed any results I expected. Incredibly beautiful and so well done. Can't wait to see more.

Hugs,
Lorraine

ann @ studiohyde said...

Great method and results, you've reminded me what fun this is. I must give this a go again, it's very liberating.

Joan Tavolott said...

Super!!! I've seen Joanne's posts on FB where she used Brusho (which I hadin't heard of before she used it). You got some interesting effects. I saw Susan earlier today and she told me she had seen this post and loved the painting you posted today where you used some unusual paint. I took a wild stab and asked her if you had used Brusho. She hadn't heard of it before. Can't wait for you to do more work with it.

Debbie Nolan said...

Lin - this is stunning. I love the thought of splashing and then seeing what happens. Never have heard of or used Brusho...sounds like something I might want to check out. Aren't zinnias so pretty. I always plant a few in the vegetable garden.