Day 3 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

A Peek at Batik

Today I thought I'd give you a peek at something different. Today I worked on a batik watercolor painting that I had started last month and hadn't finished yet.

Batik painting is a process using rice papers, watercolor and melted wax, similar to batik on fabric.

For this painting, I used a photo of a field of pansies that I took when I visited Monet's gardens in France a few years back.   I then created a drawing from that photo.

Here is my original photo and my drawing:

          

The drawing gets transferred onto rice paper and then the painting and waxing begins.

Here is the painting with the pansies completed and waxed to protect them before I started the background.  This one is 8"x14".

          

Once I put in the background, the painting part is done. Here it is with the background painted in. It is still wet and the pansies are still coated with wax.  Now it needs to dry completely.  

          

          

          

Once completely dry, the painting gets totally waxed and then the wax is ironed off between layers of newspaper until all the wax is removed. And you thought an iron was only used on clothes!  Then it's ready to be framed and prepared to sell.

But that'll have to wait till tomorrow.  Stay tuned for the final reveal!