A Surprising Watercolor Underpainting

'Welcome to the South'           8x10        pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $150

It was a surprise for a couple of reasons. I had completely forgotten that I had done a watercolor underpainting for a Spring landscape. I just never got around to finishing the painting and it got buried in the pile of unfinished objects. (the UFO pile) When I found it today I was surprised for another reason. The underpainting had some cool crystal- like marks. How did I do that?

The watercolor underpainting

It took me a few minutes but then I remembered that I had experimented with watercolor and salt. The result were these pretty flower-like crystals in the dried paint. If you are familiar with watercolor then you already know about this technique. But have you thought about applying it to a watercolor underpainting for pastel?

the magic of salt and watercolor

 How about giving it a try? The results are unpredictable so I suggest lots of experimenting. Here are some tips:

• Start the watercolor underpainting as usual. While the paint is still wet sprinkle the salt where you want the special effect.
• Try different size salt....Kosher salt makes different marks than table salt.
• Apply the salt with the paper flat.
• Try tipping the paper and letting the salt slide.
• Wait until the paint is dry before brushing off the salt.
• Try different paper to see the results. Todays painting is on Uart sanded paper.

I tried to keep my crystals showing in my painting but ended up covering more than I wanted. That's OK> I am excited to experiment more!