The Organic Painter

Learn to paint with tea, coffee, embroidery, flame, and more; Explore Unusual Materials and Playful Techniques to Expand your Creative Practice

Carne Griffiths

• Publisher: Quarry Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781631596087
• eBook ISBN: 9781631596094
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

Bored with the same old paints? The Organic Painter introduces innovative techniques for using non-traditional "paint" derived from materials like coffee, tea, and alcohol, to encouragefreedom and expression! Traditional art supplies will only take you so far! Sometimes you need to try something completely new and different. That's where The Organic Painter comes in. With a little guidance, you'll soon be painting with everyday materials you'd never considered as an artistic medium. This inspiring book gives you all the techniques and ideas you'll need to boost your creativity, learn natural paint-making, andbe more resourceful with your art materials. Imagine the unique things you'll make when you create natural paints from coffee, tea, embroidery and flame. Each project in this guide bookcomes with instructions on how to make the paint, and alsoincludes experiments and explorations for you to try. Plus, asimple painting accompanies every featured material and combines it withother materials ortechniques, so you'll never lack inspiration.

Part 1:

PREPARING YOUR MATERIALS

PREPARING SURFACES: STRETCHING PAPER AND PRIMING OBJECTS

In this section, I show you how to prepare surfaces for painting so that they are robust and ready to be subjected to the rigorous painting methods you will put them through.

MATERIALS:

• Sheet of watercolor paper, 300 g/m2 (140 lb) or heavier

• Solid board, either wood or metal, 24 × 30 inches (60 × 80 cm)

• Sponge or large decorating paintbrush

• Gumstrip

• Primer or watercolor ground

GETTING STARTED

There is something very relaxing and almost meditative about preparing a surface to paint. The process of stretching a piece of paper is methodical and such a contrast to the chaotic methods I use in my work that it is almost like a limbering up and buildup of excitement before I get to start a new painting journey. I normally prepare five or six sheets at a time, and the process I use fits this really well.

I first learned to stretch paper at college, where students were encouraged to stretch paper in preparation for all work, even pencil drawing. I’ve since learned that there are many ways to approach it, and I have now totally abandoned the process of soaking the paper in water in a tray or bath for several minutes, as I found the mixed results using this method.

For most of the projects in this book, I work with 535 g/m2 (250 lb) watercolor paper called Bockingford and made by St. Cuthberts Mill. I love this paper and have worked with it for more than seven years. It has a great vibrancy and is a real workhorse when it comes to using boiling liquids and alcohols and being attacked with the odd graphite stick.

THE PROCESS

To start, you will need a sheet of paper, preferably watercolor paper of a good weight—300 g/m2 (140 lb) or heavier. Place the dry sheet on top of a drawing board, which should be fairly sturdy because the paper has quite some force as it contracts when drying.

Preparing the Surface

Take a clean, soft brush or sponge and cover the surface of the paper with clean, cold water using light strokes. Once the surface is completely covered, wait 30 seconds, and then turn the paper over and apply the water to the other side of the paper. Try to avoid any pooling of water by brushing it away. If your paper starts to crinkle slightly, lift it from the board and place it back flat. At this point, wait 2 to 3 minutes to allow the water to soak into the paper. Meanwhile move on to stretching a second sheet.

After 2 to 3 minutes, you should see that the paper has softened and hopefully expanded very slightly—this is barely noticeable but you may see some kinks or wrinkles in the paper. As before, lift the paper and place it flat on your board. It is really important that your paper is flat at this stage; if one edge is raised or there is a significant lump on one side, it is because the coverage of water was uneven. Try rewetting the paper and seeing whether it will settle flat.

Next prepare lengths of gumstrip for the four sides of the paper. I generally buy gumstrip 11/2 inches (3.8 cm) wide, which is fairly heavy-duty and has a decent amount of gum applied to it. Using a clean sponge (not the one you used to dampen your paper), moisten the gummed side of the strip and place it along the top edge of the paper, with half overlapping the paper and half overlapping your board.

Smooth this down firmly, making sure there is good contact between the gumstrip, board, and paper, and then apply a second moistened strip to the lower edge, smoothing out any uneven paper as you apply the strip. Finally, apply the left and right strips in the same way. If using boiling water and liquids, apply a second layer of tape slightly overlapping the board. Sometimes when drying the work with a hair dryer, the wet gumstrip develops a weak spot where it meets the paper; a second layer prevents any tears from appearing. If this happens when you are working, just apply an extra layer of gumstrip.

Drying

Now you simply need to leave your board flat to dry. If you lean the board or store it upright, the water will run down one end of the paper. The paper will dry unevenly, buckle, and come out from under the gumstrip. Using a hair dryer will also produce uneven results, so patience is the key here.

Applying Watercolor Primers

There are a large range of watercolor grounds and primers available that emulate the surface of watercolor paper. You apply the primer or grounds to surfaces such as canvas, panels, glass, or found objects and let dry. Then paint as you normally would on paper. This opens up endless possibilities for exploring new textures with watercolor or water-based paint. Many of these grounds also allow you to...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Preparing Your Materials
• Part 2: Projects
• Samples of Work
• About the Author
• Index
• Dedication
• Copyright