Texture of the Week: Mark Marking with Water

Normally, when I use water to create texture on a gel plate, I'm using a small spray bottle and lightly spritzing a layer of it on paint already loaded on my plate. The water ends up pulling the paint up in random patterns, creating a unique, distressed look. Once everything dries, I roll on another layer of paint to pull the print. This process usually creates a wonderfully grungy piece of collage paper. 

But, this time around, I wanted to see what would happen if I used water with a few mark-making tools.

I decided to keep it simple and started making lines with an old gift card. After loading my gel plate with a layer of Liquitex Brilliant Blue, I dipped the card into a cup of water before pressing and sliding the card across the plate.

I found that I needed to go over each line a few times, dipping the card in the cup to add a bit more water every time. 

Eventually, after I felt like I had enough lines, I grabbed a plastic tape ring and dipped it into the water, then pressed it into the paint as well.

And then I waited, and waited, and waited for it all to dry. Truthfully, the paint not touched by water dried within 10-15 minutes, but the blobs of blue water sitting along the lines took a very long time to dry. I didn't actually keep track and just left it sitting on my work table till the following morning.

The next day, I used Liquitex Florescent Pink to pull the print off the plate. Those pink lines certainly create a vibrant contrast. 

What struck me most about the final print was how straight and clean-looking the lines and tape circle rings turned out. The water just cut through, but didn't really move outside the lines. I also like how the blobs of blue water dried with so much color variation. This creates a wonderful organic effect breaking up the clean pink lines. 

Have you ever tried drawing or mark-making with water on your gel plate? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading.