Flowers and Man Ways.

Yesterday I tried this little watercolor painting so that I could teach specific techniques to the Ladies. First I wanted to do more "looking for the lost line" and painting negatively. Second, I wanted to use masking fluid on a larger scale than we usually use. Third, I wanted to do a fun glazing technique.

So I had the ladies draw the white flowers. Then we used masking to totally paint the petals. After the masking dried, we dropped in color and sprayed the painting with water. This caused the crazy colors to run around the paper - except for the petals covered in masking. Once we got the glaze (background color) like we wanted, we let it dry. Next we drew in the stems and a few leaves. Painting negatively - painting the dark around the stems and leaves and petals - we used various colors to form the leaves and stems. Sometimes this causes new lines to appear, so we use those lines to form new leaves and such. It gives a great layering look. After pealing the masking off, we painted the inside of the flowers. I didn't add much detail, although I could have. Anyway, I thought it turned okay for a demo.

When the ladies tried it (and I did a second painting with them) things did not go so well. The ladies did great on their glaze. They even got the hang of painting negatively and creating leaves and such in layers. But when we went to pull the masking off, it pealed our paper too. I don't know why. Maybe it was that we used the heat gun to dry the masking and glaze quicker. It made a mess. Still, it was a lesson learned. The ladies really liked the glazing part and the lost line. They wanted to try again. So, I guess it was not a total disaster.

After the ladies left and Toby got home, he wanted to move the horses to greener grass. He wanted to move the hot wire. The day was really pretty nice. I didn't mind helping him. But you would think after 40 years of marriage I could read his mind better. I did several things that he seemed to frown upon. He was good not to get upset and short with me, but I thought, "Why doesn't he just tell me what he wants me to do?" Such a man thang! About the time we got the fence strung up, he sent me to put in another post. Then while I was adjusting the do-hickie that holds the wire, he connected the wire to the charger. And ZAP! My body and heart were dithibulated (sp?) And I was mad.


A woman would have said, "Honey, are you ready for me to turn it on?" But a man just turns on the charger. Damn the consequences.  I screamed (like a girl). Toby said, "Did it get you?" That seemed to make me more mad. I did get over it. And he did apologize. He did not laugh, and for that, he is still alive.