"The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web."
~Pablo Picasso
I have a new appreciation for spiders and the webs they weave, thanks to my friend Win Dinn! I spent an enjoyable morning in Wins studio this past weekend learning this fabulous new technique known as cobwebbing. (Win is a master at mixed media, and has an arsenal of techniques that she uses to create her beautiful paintings with.)
©me learning the cobweb technique, May 2013
Win started by taping a piece of 140 lb cold-pressed watercolour paper to a sheet of butcher paper sitting over top of a thick piece of cardboard. (mine is taped onto a sheet of plywood)
She then demonstrated how to carefully pull and pin the cobwebbing across your paper, pinning the threads in place at the outside edges of your taped paper. The goal is to spread and pin a variety of fine to medium fine pieces and think about creating interesting patterns while you work.
Make sure that you have the webbing across all 4 corners as this will give you a better overall design. Win also explained that the key is to ensure that the webbing touches the paper completely in all areas. Now the real fun begins......
We sprayed and then painted water onto the paper surface; again, ensure that all webbing lays flat on the paper. You can then begin spraying your colours of choice! We used thinned acrylic paints by Dylusion Inks, along with some metallic spritzers. (you can purchase these through Ranger Inks.) You could also use watercolour (as I will be).
When the paper is almost dry, remove the pins and slowly pull the webbing away, as Win is doing here. When the paper has dried completely, a richly colored, mysteriously textural pattern is revealed!
Win's finished cobweb design......
Drum roll please! My finished cobweb design.....
I can't wait to use this technique in one of my next paintings! Win cautions that if you are using this technique with watercolour be sure to spray a workable fixative onto the paper before continuing on with your painting.
Here is one of Win's finished paintings using this technique.(and one of my favorites) You can see more examples in her series of paintings titled Wingdings shown on her blog here. And more photos of our playing on Win's blog post here.
©By Win Dinn, Mixed Media Painting, 2013
Win teaches a variety of workshops or playshops, as she likes to refer to them. For more information on these, take a look at her blog page here. Many thanks Win!!
Have a wonderfully creative week,
Laura Leeder,
Watercolour Artist,
Creston, BC
