Floating in the Pigment

Stenciling with Watercolor

I love watercolors and I love stencils but using them together is challenging as the watercolor easily leaks under the stencil and mushes together.

Here is a fun experiment to find a work-around, knowing that watercolor paint can be confined by where the water is on the page.
 
I misted plain water through the stencil. I got water puddles with nice clean edges from the stencil openings. So far so good!











Then I floated some watercolor paint in from the center of each water puddle with a small brush taking care to not to disturb the edge of the puddle. In some of the puddles I floated in more than one color and watched with delight as the pigments blossomed and blended out into the puddle.














Here it is after it dried. Got nice shapes from the stencil and still got the magic of how watercolor blends and interacts with the paper. Sweet!

Stencils designed by me are available at Etsy