Bold Sunflowers

September Sunflowers
Watercolor and wax on rice paper, 6x6

This painting is a bit of an abstraction using the watercolor batik technique on rice paper.  Bold and vibrant color reign in this small painting as I have mixed my paints with little water.  Experimenting to see if bold color can even be applied to such a thin, delicate paper, I have indeed found that it can.  I have left a little white - where I applied the hot wax onto the painted sunflowers and stems.  Laying in heavy, wet color for the background was fun!  I just kept dipping in more pigment with my brush, letting the water carry it over the surface.  Once dry, I cover the whole surface with hot wax (in a tiny crockpot).  Dry, and crinkle the painting into a ball, open and float another color into the cracks (brown - shown here).  Laying brown paper on top and bottom of painting, I then heat with a medium iron until no more wax comes off onto the paper.  I needed to change out papers three times to get the wax up.  Painting number 637 in as many days, and Day 27 of the 30 day Painting Challenge by Leslie Saeta.  It was her challenge in January of 2013 that started my daily painting journey!  I have learned so much in the last 637 paintings - and I have Leslie to thank for the nudge in the right direction :)