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fetchboy84 In reply to Yukiko-berrie [2010-11-09 05:55:54 +0000 UTC]

Hello! Sorry for the delay in response. This technique is actually very simple. I applied a watercolor wash to a sheet of watercolor paper, shading from dark blue at the bottom to a lighter yellow-blue at the top. This is a very wet wash. Lots of water, lots of color. Use a side-to-side wash motion to get the horizontal streak effect. Then, when it is still wet, take a piece of seran wrap (sp?) and crinkle it up (again I kinda squished it horizontally for the horizontal effect), and then apply to the part of the paper in which you want the wavy effect. In this case, the top of the paper. Then let it dry THOUROUGHLY. If you remove the plastic wrap too soon, you risk damaging the effect. So let it sit for at least an hour (Oh the boredom @_@. It's so tempting just to peek, but you must resist!). Once you are sure the wash is dry underneath the wrap, remove the plastic. Finally, I very lightly dry brushed some extra yellow where the sun would be and then used a wet brush to add in the "sun shafts" you see. Just use the wet brush very lightly and then dab away the moisture very gently with a paper towel. Hope this explanation helped. If you have any questions, let me know! Oh, and send me a link to your picture when you're done! I'd love to see it.

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Yukiko-berrie In reply to fetchboy84 [2010-11-09 21:55:19 +0000 UTC]

Hi, no worries about the late reply. so that's how you make the sun streaks! I'm going to try this technique on another jellyfish picture, ugh it's so tempting to just remove the plastic wrap. but for the sake of not wanting to re do the paint over again i will wait.

Do you use certain brushes/and sizes? i have these medium cheap $2 brushes from Michaels. they work, but it seems everyone else uses those costly squirrel/horse/natural fiber brushes.

here's a link to a jellyfish i did without your technique: [link]

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fetchboy84 In reply to Yukiko-berrie [2010-11-10 03:00:50 +0000 UTC]

Haha, yes, it is quite tempting to remove the plastic wrap. I ruined several paintings by being impatient and removing the wrap too soon before I learned my lesson.

As for brushes, I bought a reasonably priced watercolor brush set from Hobby Lobby (about $13 dollars for 7 brushes). They look kind of like this: [link] My brushes have a synthetic white hair as opposed to the camel hair or whatever, but basically the same. The fan-like brush it what I use to make the wash look smooth, and I used one of the thinner brushes for the sun rays. It is important to keep in mind that, while the correct materials help, it is the artist who makes a painting good and not the tools.

And I love this jellyfish! It's a very beautiful painting!

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