In this day's work we'll extend experience on layers, see the effects of pointillism and do some mixed media with wax resist and ink in a wet-in-wet quick painting.

Again, the 12"X18" format is divided into 3 areas, with the smaller section halved. We continue to work in different areas following the order given.

  We begin with a few swipes of white crayon in the middle of the strawberry at the left. Then comes very light flat washes leaving some paper exposed, then adding darker values (center) and finishes off with dry brush indentations on the right. The wax resist adds sparkle to the berry, and not covering up the entire 2nd layer accentuates the transparency of wonderful mixes.

  I found that the most important thing for students to learn here was patience---not being in a hurry to put all the values down at once, but to see how individual layers help one to develop the idea with each layer contributing something that might not have been foreseen.

  Moving to the left area, we did a wet-in-wet painting with loose washes and stroke applications at one time. First, the background and the bottle was sketched with crayon in 2 or 3 small areas. A 3 color limit with 2 values of each was allowed. The background and foreground were painted at the same time with broad, loose washes. While still wet, a straight pen with ink outlined some areas of the bottle and of course, it flowed into the back ground areas, creating gray mixes with the washes already there. This was demonstrated first, so the "runny" attributes of both washes and ink would not be a total shock.

  The pointillism apples were a breeze to complete without drying in-between. Some dotted areas did combine with others and some didn't. Light to dark values were painted in that order. The darkest values were added when the shapes were dry. Small brushes made the pointillist effect more apparent.

  This time the ink was introduced after the first layer had dried. Once the "layering" idea is understood, students learn that multiple color applications can be placed in diffent areas of their shapes instead of waiting for each color to dry. There was a 2 color limit, wax was applied to the background, washes were applied and allowed to dry. This time, ink was sketched where it was desired, and clean water was used to pull it where it was wanted--sometimes within the shape and mostly outside of it. The background was then completed with washes of one hue.