When I started working on the latest Taekwondo kick painting I broke a rule and then panicked about it. I did something that I thought was right and cool. And then I saw it from a side angle and panicked while thinking, now I know why that’s a rule. So I tried to undo it. But…
A little background. The painting is in watercolor. In watercolor it’s generally considered not ideal to use white paint to get the paler colors, instead just use more water. White watercolor paint has a tendency to make the colors not as bright and luminous. I suspect, because I don’t know all the science behind it, that it has to do with how it’s made and that in order to get the white you have either more or larger pigment particles. Whatever the reason, it creates a sort of opaque layer when used and when colors are mixed with it they can be sort of chalky looking. That means the paper doesn’t have a chance to shine through and let the light bounce off of it. And it can make things look a little dull.
I know this rule about using white in watercolors but when I set out to do the bright areas on the uniform I decided that I really wanted to have a pale pale yellow and not just a fine tint. I wanted the white with just a faint bit of yellow to make it glow. And it looked great when I laid it down on the paper. The paper isn’t as bright white as what I was able to get with that combination of white and a touch of yellow. It added just a little extra. I thought it was going to look great. Then I saw it from a side angle with the light hitting it just right and I panicked.
I thought I’d done this all wrong. I mean what was I thinking. That white was so messed up. I was going to fail and make a mess of this watercolor painting. So I tried, as can sometimes be done, to basically scrub it out with a lot of water. This was a bad idea. Really bad idea. I used too much water and too much scrub and started to damage the paper. So I stopped. Let it dry and then regrouped.
What I saw at that angle was that the white paint was sitting on top of the paper. The other paints were more absorbed into the paper. And that’s what made me think I’d done it all wrong. I didn’t want that to stand out like that. It might look weird if it were shown in an exhibition, it might show up when it goes to the photographer, and what if someone looked at it from a certain angle then they’d know that I did it wrong, so I would have to take it out.
As I said, trying to remove it didn’t really go well. The integrity of the surface was compromised in the area that I tried the most to lessen the effect. I finally stopped and decided to just keep it and go with it. I did end up redoing it, (adding some of the yellow tinted white back) to a few places so that the ‘glow’ it was meant to create was back. I also had to fix the surface so that it didn’t look rough and like it was peeling or pilling. If you’re wondering how this is done, it’s done very carefully with a razor blade. You basically shave the bits that are sticking up.
I cleaned up the mess I’d made and fixed it back to how I had originally painted the particular areas. I was annoyed with myself at this point. Not because of using the white. I was annoyed at trying to remove it because I felt like I had second guessed myself and had not trusted my instincts.
As it turned out there was no need to panic. It became a non-issue and adds the bit of pop that I was hoping for. No, you can’t see the white paint sitting on top of the paper now that it’s complete. And that’s because of something I knew I was going to do for the painting when I finished it, I just didn’t know all the effects it would have on the painting. That’s for another post. The good news is that I panicked for nothing and got a lesson in trusting my instincts.
Cheers.