crayon and watercolor tutorial

crayon
white crayon

Have you ever done a painting that didn't work out? I painted several sumi ink line drawings a few months ago. I didn't like how they came out, so I set them aside in the supply drawer.

Today I picked up some crayons and a plastic stencil from the second-hand shop. I wanted to mess around with a crayon-resist technique I heard of and dragged out those failed ink paintings.

I cut them out into aceo sized cards. The sumi ink was completely set so layering it with watercolors would be fine.
circles aceo duo
two aceos, crayon, sumi ink, and watercolor


You can see the circled lines that I drew with the white crayon on the art card on the left. The right card has some white squares that are subtle but visible in the lower left corner. I used the plastic stencil for filling in the circles. Before the watercolor had dried, I lifted the color with a paper towel. If I wanted the color darker, I'd go over the circle again with another wash of color.

Techniques that are used in monoprinting can also be used with crayon and watercolors. Instead of using a paper towel to remove the paint, I could use another sheet of paper to take off the paint. You'll then have a ghost monoprint.  If my paper is thin, I can place it over a bumpy surface and run the crayon over the paper.  The crayon will only pick up the protrusions.

Using a white crayon makes it difficult to see where the lines are unless you tilt the card at a angle. Of course, any color is up for grabs, and I've got a whole set to toy with still! I also noticed that if the crayon's layer is too thin, it will not stand out against the watercolor.

Tascha has a fun video on youtube showing this technique. I got a kick out of seeing her two kitties pop in to view throughout her demo. A search for crayon and watercolor art will bring up more videos and websites offering more examples.

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