Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Koi on rice paper ... soon to be batiked

Watercolor batik koi painting WIP 24 x 24 inches ~ Two waxings so far

Initial drawing in pen and ink with ultra fine sharpie


Am continuing to explore and experiment with watercolor batik ... a few steps forward and a few steps back.  One of my forward steps was that I sold my batik reflective glass set-up from the Daily Paintworks Challenge [linked to Daily Paintworks in a previous post].  This is an incentive for me to join DPW.  I love that site and love the challenges!
With a tad more confidence, I started a koi painting in watercolor batik on a larger piece of rice paper than I have in earlier paintings.  This is 24 by 24 inches, and the paper is much more fragile and thinner than what I have used up until now.  I am only half way through the process, and I have a few small tears in the paper.  Am sure they will seal when I apply more wax, but would sure like to know how to avoid the tears!  Really, I have been gentle with the paper, moving it gingerly so as to not tear it, but, there you are.  And I drew the koi so large, that a crop may not work.

Would love to hear from some of you batiking artists for some insights!  Have to say, though, I still love playing with batiks!

1 comment:

Martha Kisling said...

Hi Dee - I love all of your watercolor batiks. You are inspiring me to get out my iron and finish off some of the ones I started a while back. I have used some of the washi papers which tend to be pretty strong and also tried it on masa paper. What papers are you using?