Masking fluid - whether you love it or hate it
it's a valuable tool for us watercolour painters.
I painted this heron this week and I had a lot of people message me and ask
me how I painted the white feathers. In this video I'll show you how and I'll
give you a few tips about using masking fluid at the end of the video.
When I paint with watercolour one of the first things I have to do
is decide exactly where I need to preserve the white areas
because they're the areas that I don't put any paint on.
It's the white of the paper that becomes the white parts on the painting.
Sometimes I'll use masking fluid to help me preserve the white areas of the paper.
Masking fluid is a liquid latex based product that you can paint onto the
paper to protect it from the paint. I use it when I want to paint a loose
splashy background on quickly and I don't want to get any paint on my
subject. I'll put it around the edge of the
subject and then I can feel confident to let loose with
the paint without any fear of getting paint where
i don't want it. Here on this mouse painting that I
did a week or two ago I''ve masked the edges of the poppy seed
heads and I've masked the edge of the mouse
and the mouse's foot. You can see I'm using my big brush to
paint around everything. Because I've got the masking fluid on
the edge of those things I'm not worried about getting paint on
them. I also use it on fiddly bits of a painting like on the
stamens on a flower or on the highlights in an animal's eye
or on spiky white heron feathers. You might remember a few weeks ago I
painted a Carolina Wren and I did a study in my watercolour
journal. On this study I put some masking fluid
on before I painted it and the areas where I put the masking
fluid on didn't turn out the way I wanted them to.
So when I painted the main painting of the wren I
didn't put the masking fluid on and everything worked out okay.
On this heron painting I did the opposite.
Ipainted a study before I painted the main painting
and on the study I didn't mask off those spiky white feathers. I thought that I'd
be able to paint carefully around them with my
brush and I feel that because I did that - that area of the painting looks
overworked. So I find that on some paintings
masking fluid works well and on others not so much. Let me quickly show you
what I did wrong on the study of the heron.
So this is the study that I did before I painted the main painting.
I didn't bother masking off those spiky white feathers at the front.
I thought it would be simple enough to paint around them.
So I'm using my brush now and some gray paint that I mixed
and I'm painting the areas in between the feathers.
I thought if I'm careful enough I should be right.
So I'm painting that area around each feather
and I'm leaving the white of the paper showing on the feather itself.
Then I left all of that to dry and I painted some
more washes all over the bird. Then I came back to these feathers at
the front and I felt that I need to darken the area
behind them or the space around them so I'm painting another layer of my gray
paint there. So these feathers at the front ended up
looking stiff and overworked and they also took me
longer to do. So those feathers on that area of the
study I wasn't happy with and that made me realize that when I
paint the main painting I would be better off painting in those
feathers with the masking fluid and then washing
in a really quick loose wash over the top
of them to add colour to those spaces that are
around them. So I'll show you what I did there. I'll
also show you how I masked off the edges of the heron so that I could
paint my washy splashy background and I'll also
show you how I used the masking fluid on the feathers on the back of the heron.
Ok so now I'm working on the main painting. This is after I've done my
study. I've realized my mistakes and
I've decided to paint these white feathers in some masking fluid.
This is Schmincke masking fluid that I'm using.
The paint brush that I'm using is an older small
synthetic round brush that I don't use very often.
It's a good idea to use old brushes when you use masking fluid
or designate some specific brushes that you have that aren't too expensive.
Tag them and use them only for masking fluid.
Masking fluid will ruin your brush if you let it
dry on it so you can't put your brush down and go and answer the phone or go
and make yourself a coffee because when you come back it will more
than likely have hardened in your brush and you won't get it out.
Some people like to wet their brush with some water and then wipe it over some
soap before they use the masking fluid and that can help to stop it from drying
hard in the brush.
Ok I've got the masking fluid all over the top of those thicker white feathers
now I'm going to use a thinner brush - a liner brush
to start painting some finer ones. So here you can see the masking fluid on
the paper. You can see what I've done.
So that's got to dry now before I put some paint on there.
I'll leave them to dry and I'll use this flat brush now to start painting around
the edge of the heron. I want to paint on a splashy loose washy
background and I don't want to risk getting any
paint on these white feathers so I'll use it to protect the feathers.
That way I can relax when I put my wash on the
background. So here you can see all the areas and
I've got the masking fluid on.
Sorry about my wobbly photography there. The first thing I did was paint the
wash on the background. Now because these areas are masked
I'm not so worried about getting the paint on there.
Some of the areas I didn't mask because I thought I'd be right with the brush.
This is Payne's grey that I'm using. I'm trying to get it on there as quickly as
I can. Obviously I've sped this video up but I
was working pretty fast. I put some water on there to create some
watercolor blooms and I kept going around the front.
I didn't mask off the beak but I probably should have.
Now I'm getting down to this masked area. You can see I can paint straight over
those feathers that are masked and the foot as well because I put
masking fluid on it.
I can paint over the tail feathers and over the top of the legs quite easily
without worrying about getting paint on there.
And that's what it looked like after it had dried.
On the areas where I didn't need the masking fluid anymore I used my finger
to take it off.
So back to these spiky feathers at the front now.
I've still got the masking fluid there so I can put some paint
straight on there like I did with the background
and I don't have to worry about painting around them like I was on my study.
What I need to make sure is that the colour is dark enough
because I don't really want to have to come back and paint in between them
because that would have defeated the purpose of putting the masking fluid on
there.
So when it's dry I take the masking fluid off again.
Some people will use a rubber cement pickup tool to take off the masking
fluid. I don't have one so I just use my
fingers. Sometimes I'll use my eraser and that gets it off as well.
So there's my spiky white feathers without having to fuss too much.
Now there's some more spiky feathers on the back of the
heron but the feathers at the back here are
not as light as the feathers on the front
so I'm painting a layer of grey paint over the top
and then I'll dry it off and I'll put my masking fluid over the top of this layer
of paint.
That area is dry now so I can come back with my masking fluid and
my old brush and start to paint these wispy feathers in here.
This masking fluid that I'm using is white. You can buy
some tinted masking fluid which is a light colour
and that allows you to see what you're doing better.
I'll show you the masking fluid on the paper again so you can see what I've
done. So there it is there. That's dry now
and it's ready for me to put some paint over the top.
So now I've got a darker bluey gray colour here.
This is French ultramarine that I've mixed some Burnt sienna into.
So that gets some colour around all those feathers so that you'll be able to see
them. I'm going to soften away that paint
line there with a damp brush. That gets rid of those
hard paint edges. My brush is just damp with a bit of
water and that takes the hard paint edges away.
Watercolour paint always dries lighter than what it looks like when it's wet
so I'm putting a bit more colour there to make sure that it will be dark enough
for what I want
and then I wait for the paint to dry and I can take that masking fluid off now
and reveal those spiky feathers.
Then I come back with a bit more of that grey paint that I mixed up -
the bluey gray paint - and I paint some feathers over the top.
I run it down the back to give it a softer edge there. Down here I didn't
bother masking this little patch of white feathers.
All I did was paint the Payne's grey paint around it.
Once I've got the Payne's gray where I want it I come back with some darker
pigment over the top.
I could have masked that section off with some masking fluid but I didn't
think it was necessary.
Towards the end of the painting I used some
white gouache to add some length to some of the white feathers.
Gouache is an opaque watercolour paint. It comes in different colours. This colour
is Permanent white by Winsor and Newton.
I added a few more crossing over them here and there.
I didn't put a lot of the gouache on because
whenever I get a bit carried away with it I tend to overwork the painting
so I'm just lengthening some of them.
I wanted the gouache to soften this area and make the
feathers look a little less stiff.
So I was very selective where I put it. After all that I came back and I did
a bit more work on the background and then I was finished. I stood back
and had a look at it and decided to call it a day.
So masking fluid is a really handy tool to use.
I'm going to make a full length tutorial of this heron painting and I'll put it
on my Patreon site. It'll be available in a month or so when
I finish it. It takes me a while to edit the videos and
get the voiceover done. Ok I just want to quickly repeat some
of the tips that I mentioned earlier. Use old brushes to put masking fluid on
because if it dries in your brush you might as
well throw it away. Sometimes wetting your brush with some
water and then rubbing it over some soap before you use it can help to protect it.
Masking fluid gets old. Don't use it if you've had it sitting in the drawer for
years. I did once with this masking fluid and
it discoloured the paper and it ruined my painting.
Don't leave it on the paper too long or you might have difficulty
getting it off. About 24 hours is as long as I'll ever leave it. Test masking fluid
on the paper somewhere before you use it. You want to make sure that your paper's
not too delicate or you might tear it or discolour it.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.
Thanks for watching. I hope that you enjoyed the video.
Please give it a like and hit the subscribe button
and I will see you next week with some new watercolour creation that
I've whipped up. I'll see you soon.
masking fluid looking at myself
in this video i'll show you how i did that and i'll give you a few
chips
on this painting of the heron i did the opposite i painted a study of
the heron before i painted the main painting and
on the stunning it's stunning on the stunning
you might remember a few weeks ago i painted a carolina wren
and i did a study in my watercolour journal
on this study i put some masking fluid on
before i painted in the areas where i put the masking fluid on
um
that's about all i can think of at the moment so thanks for watching
i hope you enjoyed the videos the videos
you