The Magic of Masking Fluid
Aug 14, 2023Have you ever used masking fluid with your watercolor paintings? If you haven't, it's a really fun technique to incorporate into your artwork. Masking fluid is basically used to keep certain areas of your painting dry since it resists water. Once you are finished with your painting, you remove the masking fluid to reveal crisp white paper and edges. You can then leave the paper white or tint it using a bit of watercolor paint like I did in this painting.
Here is a photo of the kind I use. It's called Pebeo Drawing Gum. But I've also used other brands like Winsor& Newton.Sometimes the masking fluid is tinted so that you can see where you apply it. (The tint doesn't transfer to the paper in my experience as long as you don't wait months to remove it! (Hint: don't leave it on for years)
It works like this. It's a liquid that can be applied with a brush or other tools. You then apply it to dry paper in areas that you would like to keep the watercolor paint away. I use an old brush since it will ruin your brushes. (You need to clean it off your brush with water before it dries on the bristles.) In this particular painting, I used it on the lily pads. Once it dried on my paper completely, I then started painting the water and the ripples in the pond.
In this photo, you can see just the masking fluid on the lily pads before I started painting the water background.
Here is a photo of how I remove the masking fluid using a square piece of rubber. You can also use a pencil eraser.
In the above video, you can see a glimpse of how the masking fluid resists the watercolor paint. I then removed the masking fluid once my painting was dry, and then proceeded to paint the lily pads while leaving a few sparkly white highlights on them. I think it helped create a fluid smooth background while maintaining the detailed edges of the lily pads.
What do you think? Let me know if you have any questions!
Happy Painting!
Katrina
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