Trying new tools

Nothing like spending a couple-three hours on a painting only to mess it up good with the last step because you're using a tool you haven't tried before. You've seen others use it successfully and to beautiful effect, but somehow, for you, it won't cooperate.

I got bored with my Sktchy portraits, where the choices are watercolor vs. gouache and every picture is fairly traditional. So this is either an homage or an unsuccessful copy of the work of my friend Phoebe Chatham, depending on how you want to look at it. She somehow picks up a new tool, plays with it for five minutes, and makes it her own. She also combines media—carbothello pencils, watercolor, ink, Stabilos, Elegant Writers—in weird and previously unknown ways to stupendous effect.

On this particular gal, I put a bunch of inky flower-like daubs at the bottom of the page from which she was supposed to emerge, and then did a lot of pretty subtle watercolor work to achieve her fragile but challenging look. I could have left it there, but....boredom.

I went around the whole image with a Stabilo All pencil and activated it with water, hoping to have a beautiful dark intense heavy line around her the way Phoebe does. Instead, you could see the "crayon" marks of the pencil showing through on the coldpress watercolor paper (first mistake, should have used smooth paper), and it didn't so much activate as bleed out in a cloud of unattractive brown.

So, I let it dry and then stole another method from Phoebe to try to fix it, which was to outline again (over the top of the Stabilo) with an Elegant Writer, and then activate that with water, which makes it bleed out into the background and, if you throw salt on it, make little pink flowers amidst the turquoise and gray. Second mistake, shouldn't have outlined the face inside the ears. But I was covering the Stabilo, which I had already put there.... Third mistake, you're supposed to use rock salt, but all I had was table salt, so I threw some of that on, to much lesser effect. Then I spilled the rest of it all over my art table (don't worry, some of it went right quick over my left shoulder with my right hand), so that pretty much finished today's experiment.

Also, she was supposed to look like she was emerging from flowers, but because I outlined (double) over her collar bones, it instead looks like she's wearing a kinda cheesy flowered blouse.

Well, if you don't succeed...you know the rest of the saying: Give up and buy art from Phoebe! Ha!

"Bald Girl"—Daler Rowney inks, pencil, watercolors, Uniballs (black and silver), Stabilo All (obscured) and Elegant Writer, on Fluid 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.