Fracturing the Floribundas and Great Tip

Fracturing the Floribubundas.

The beautiful roses are starting to wilt so now is a good time to try
to learn more about fracturing them. So many small petals are impossible to do.
Capturing the colors and overall shape is more what I am after.

Artist Note.

Yesterday, in my blog's comments, Lisa asked how I prevented getting MUD.
It is a common problem all oil painters have to solve so I told her how I worked.
See my reply...also on yesterdays comments.
Below illustrates what helps me the most.

This Great Tip is about a little gadget I make for everyone I teach.
It is really cheap and works better than
the more expensive art shaper.
The purpose is to be able to lift off the paint cleanly.
It is also much more flexible than the one you buy.

Here is a step by step.

I get a razor blade scraper/holder
from Harbor Freight or hardware store
They are $1.99
Make sure they have the
screw at the top as shown.
Next to it is a piece of squeegee
rubber.

I cut the rubber
to the size of the blade.

Unscrew and trim rubber if needed.
The piece of rubber I used had a
ridge which I removed

Here is the completed, small squeegee.

How to use it?

Say your paint is too heavy
or you want a lighter
transparent shade

Just glide your shaper
as you would a squeegee
and lift cleanly off.
If you wish to return to the
white of the canvas then use
Gamsol or your preferred turps.




I use a 6inch squeegee for my large paintings, but this is marvelous for small ones.
On tomorrow's blog I will show some neat techniques you can do with it in
either oil or acrylic.

Hope you found this helpful, Lisa!