Just Play!

I tried to capture some snowflakes on a piece of glass...with my camera underneath.  It was a total bust because the flakes immediately melted when they hit the glass.  

But when I brought the glass inside I thought the water drops were pretty....so I held it up looking for a place to photograph it. When I held it in front of one of my paintings....I thought the effect was quite lovely.  

You just never know where you're going to end up when you just play!

Roseanne and I have been sharing supplies....and she recently gifted me some artist tape.  I've had trouble with paper ripping when I use tape....so I played around with the new tape out on hot press watercolor paper with has a smoother texture than cold press.

The tape is 1 inch wide...and that's perfect for taping off the edges to frame a painting...but it's too wide for taping lines for writing or other more intricate details.  But I knew I could cut it.

I taped a couple pieces of tape onto the paper a piece of release paper...which is left over from fusible webbing.  Wax or parchment paper would work too.

I sliced it using my ruler and rotary cutter....some 1/4 inch wide...some 1/8 inch.  I didn't cut all the way to the end end of the release paper so the strips would stay contained on the sheet...making it easier to handle...and peel off.

I attached some strips to a piece of hot press watercolor paper....and painted. 

The tape peeled off pretty easily without tearing the paper. Phew! I did pull slowly....at a bit of an angle based on some tips online.  

And I loved the tape so much I retaped it onto another piece of paper.

This is the actual tape....and this piece will come in handy for some of my hand lettering lessons. 

I especially like the strips that have some variation in color....I'm going to have to play around with this a lot more. And next time I would just eyeball the cutting....I would rather have it a bit imperfect.

Here is the actual hot press watercolor paper I taped it onto.

Not bad....my colors are a little flat....and in some places I may not have pressed the tape down well enough. But all in all.....Roseanne's artist tape on hot press watercolor paper gets a thumbs up. 

One more little experiment....

I tried doing a little faux weave with torn pieces of tape....again on some release paper....then watercoloring it. I was thinking I could pick it up as a whole unit but that wasn't the case. But I was able to reposition the pieces on another piece of paper after it fell apart.  

 

And I will say...I quite love the texture. I think I'm going to have fun playing with this tape....and I'll never know where I'll end up until I get there.  Thanks Roseanne!