“A really good picture looks as if it’s happened at once. It’s an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked… I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute.”
-Helen Frankenthaler
This week in For the Painter #36...
Using a ruling pen for thin lines in watercolor and masking fluid
In this video, I show how to use a ruling pen to apply masking fluid in thin lines. You can also use watercolor paint in the ruling pen.
A ruling pen (also called a ‘steel pen’) is a drawing instrument for drawing with ink or with other fluid media. The paint, ink or other wet medium is inserted into the space between two flexible metal arms of the ruling pen, which are tapered to a point.
There are affordable ruling pens available on Amazon (but I haven't tested them out). From what I've read, vintage ruling pens or pens that come in a name-brand drafting set are the best quality.
This week, I'll be working on a painting that has beach grass. I'll be putting my ruling pen to work!
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