The veins of a leaf - an exercise in 'leaving out the white'

Not-painting when you need white in watercolour is one of the typical parts of the technique: your white is the colour of the paper... With the aquarellista starter group we worked on a very simple exercise, "leaving white" the veins of a leaf in 3 different ways: 

 The Linda method*: draw the veins lightly with pencil, paint outside the pencil lines, let dry, rub out the pencil and there are your delicate white lines...

 The Masking Method: draw the lines with masking fluid (mix with a little bit of water for more fluidity and thus thinner lines) let dry, add paint, let dry again, rub off masking...

 Lifting method:  first paint the leaf, let dry, then lift the paint by wetting your brush with clear water, draw the veins with clear water, then dry the brush and lift out the paint. The veins will never be completely white, but the effect is very poetic!

*named after Linda Nulens who came up with the idea to draw with pencil then  rub out: it makes creating fine lines so much easier!

Linda, Carol and Sylvie tried it out, and are now done with the basic exercises!

 

Carol worked on an extra one, to which she added a background using salt. Very decorative!

Also by Carol: Stonehenge. So well done, very simple and quiet. I absolutely love it. 

 Sue's Christmas wreath one step further. She used the starters exercise for the blue leaves and don't they look fab'n crispy!!

 Elia has worked on another version of her wave.The grey lines are masking fluid - they will be the lightest colour of the painting...

For some exciting Circus-paintings, go to our Hangar News blog