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IAN CHRISTIE

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

Dropping coffee on your work?


Another day and more work.This time a portrait( actually2) of Maria, a good friend of mine.
Started with treating the paper with coffee and tea. Love this effect and I used it many times before. It's very simple : basically you sort of sponge a wet teabag on the paper( use thickish watercolor paper as thiner one would start falling apart) .This give it an uneven brown tint. Than, while the paper is still wet sprinkle some coffee ( using powder rather granules gives a more subtle effect) which will seep in the paper , giving the paper a mottled finish. And 'tada' you are ready to start the painting. I remember ages ago doing the same thing in my history projects to age the paper( believe it or not we used to get extra marks for crap like that!)
I find aquarells give the best results , with inks to deepen some areas.Funnily enough the mottled pattern looks like freckles in some areas which luckily enough Maria has:)

Any way me be off to bed.Damn it work tomorrow.
Ian

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