Integration and Mask

[Wendilee]

These are two very different topics but want to explore each.
These past week at my last on the road show, I had a fascinating talk with a fellow artist.  She also happens to be an high school chemist teacher. Our discussion began with the state of education in this country and as conversations do we wandered in and out of topics arriving at an exploration of the beauty of integration.  For years I have integrated math and music into my art ( melody lines are a wonderful way to build  eloquent designs math, especially geometry,  is fundamental to composition. My chemist art friend then explained to me how the first periodic tables for chemistry were based on the musical scale! As scientists discovered the properties of the substances of the earth they organized their learning rooting it in their knowledge of music!
I found this to be terribly exciting. And what is more, the natural properties the actual facts of the findings fit into the 8 note scale. Is there a pattern in nature or what? I have always thought nature is the most randomly organized system or most ordered chaos and as an artist it is my constant struggle/delight/ inquiry to find ways to produce marks more organic or orderly chaotic than my hand and eye can ever produce!

That being said, I have started to really play with mask in these attempts. I have tended to avoid mask with watercolor painting because it is so stiff and hard edged. No matter how much rubbing and attempted bleeding there is always 'proof' that mask had  been used. But through play, I have found some fun ways to manipulate mask to produce some interesting effects.
Here are some things to try
#1. Mask some shapes and when dry do a wash. Before the wash is dry try lifting the mask. This will soften edges and make less of a separate carved out look.

#2. Buy some drawing gum made by pebeo. This is very liquid mask so it runs. Mask some areas then get a very fine nibbed squirt bottle. Set the nib in the puddle of wet mask and force air out. This creates a very find misted edge.

#3. Using the same Pebeo mask, put a little in fine nibbed bottle ( like the ones which come with Masquepen) blow the mask onto the paper. This produces a fine spray .

#4. Do a mask design on your paper. Once it is dry, paint a very liquid rich wash. Tip your paper this way and that letting the paint follow the outlines of the mask. ( This is not dissimilar to trying to get those little silver balls through a maze) Look at the patterns the paint makes around the mask by how it collects in certain places.

These are all just gimmicks of course. The challenge for us artists is to think about how we can use them to augment our vision in a given piece. While I have been tempted to paint a painting in celebration of the 'gimmick', I work instead to apply the right gimmick to help tell the story in  the right piece.