anika mari

Yesterday I decided to experiment some more with frisket, the masking liquid I used to block out the flowers and leaves in this painting, so I could get a consistent background texture.

I started out making a sampler of patterns with the frisket. Then I painted over the whole composition with long strokes.

You can see that the paint pools over the frisket, where it is not able to reach the paper.

When the paint was dry, I had fun peeling off the frisket to reveal the crisp white areas underneath.

(The colors appear different because the first one was a photograph, and the second a scan; the true color is closer to that of the scan.)

While I was making the sampler, I had the idea for another painting.

I first painted a dot pattern with the frisket and let it dry. I thought it would look neat to have a crisp white circle in the center of a more amorphous red shape. After the dots were dry, I started painting the red shapes around the frisket circles. I had to do them in batches, making sure that wet circles didn’t intersect. It was a test of patience to wait for them to dry. I mostly succeeded in waiting long enough.

When the painting was done and dry, I peeled away the frisket circles.

I think the dots look a bit like red blood cells. I plan to add some ink drawing to the painting which might change that impression.