Day 58.5: A New Mermaid

I did this mermaid to make up for that old terrible one I did. This is what I meant to do before, but it just didn't work out. Now I have my good mermaid so I'm happy.

I've mentioned before that I'm not that experienced with watercolour. Maybe it's more that I'm experienced with it, just that I've not come anywhere near mastering it. I have, however, learned a lot about masking fluid.

There are a few things that all artists should know about masking fluid. 

1 If you don't let your coloured masking fluid dry, then it will lightly stain your watercolour if you try to wipe it away. This can be very annoying if you are working with a lot of light colours. I prefer the coloured  fluid, because you can see where you put it.

2. Liquid frisquet can and will dry too quickly. it can sometimes gum up while you are drawing with it. Be sure to clean your pen often when using it. (If you mess up, no worries, just wait until it dries to erase!

* Never ever apply masking fluid with a brush. It never ends well. I mean even the cheap brushes... it's not worth the pain you will go through. Frisket with a nib is better, but you are paying for the nib. It's best to buy pens you'd use for pen and ink. Avoid getting pen nibs that look like this: 

From my experience the little flap can get caught on paper easily and can be broken off to easily. 

It's much better to get pens nibs that look like these:  

You can't see it from the picture, but these guys have a hairline split that runs from the tip to the little hole. That hole, when filled with ink will hold your ink a lot better than the the the kind with the flap. These nibs are a lot easier for beginners to use for either ink or liquid frisquet.

You can generally use water to clean your pens after using liquid frisquet. It's important that you keep the pens nibs dry. I think many have a coating for protection of rust, but better to be safe than sorry. If by chance you are using ink as well buy yourself some denatured alcohol to clean off the ink - it works wonders on brushes or pens. If you can't find these nibs at your local art store you can find people who sell vintage and new nibs online. I used pebeo drawing gum for both of these paintings. It was about the only choice at the time at my art store, and I really love it.  

I'm not sure if I will have time to post much tomorrow. Have to go to the in-laws to see the Canadians play for the gold. Middle of the day plans always throw me off!