Watercolor Tutorial | Let there be Light – Using Masking Fluid

2018 Greetings Beloved Illustrated Faith Family!

God has been speaking about darkness and Light.    As an artist and photographer, if Light is missing, you have nothing to see, no contrast, nothing to highlight, and no colors.  As a Christian, if there is no Light, it can seem as if there is no hope, confusion, no path, and no life.   Darkness can seem like deep abyss; but God’s Word says, even the darkness is not dark to Him (Psalm 139:12).

Have you ever thought about the fact that the stars shine brightest when you are away from the lights of the city, when the sky is its deepest black.  Perhaps, God uses darkness to contrast the Light, to lead His people toward Himself.  Before GPS, people used the brightness of stars to find their way.  The wise men found Jesus by following the holy Light of a star streaming in the darkness of the night.

To kick off 2018, I am starting my fourth Bible Journal.

I use my Journaling Bibles to help me process, to sit in God’s presence creatively, and let Him help me sort out what He is teaching me.   I thought it appropriate to begin 2018 at the beginning when God spoke Light into our world so long ago.

Genesis 1:1-3 English Standard Version

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

 

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:1-3 The Message

Out of nowhere, time, space, and all the living whirl forth as God speaks the universe into existence. With the utterance of His voice, creation takes form, chaos yields to order, light eclipses darkness, and emptiness fills with life.

I love to think about the Spirit of the Living God hovering over the darkness, the power of God’s voice to bring Light — Light that eclipses darkness and fills emptiness with life.  I love to imagine the Lord’s Spirit hovering over all the places of darkness here on this earth and in the matter of one breath, He can speak Light into every empty, dark place.

Do I understand the mystery of darkness and light?  Nope.  I have found in my 20 plus years of walking with Christ, some mysteries are never completely unraveled here on earth.   However, as I move into 2018, I am setting my intention to move closer and closer to the Light.  To let Jesus wash the darkness away and bless me that I might not only follow the Light completely but that I might become as bright as one of those stars that lead people closer to Jesus.

Who wants to play with something new?

Let’s journal truth and experiment with masking fluid!

Gathering supplies –

NEW Journaling Bible for 2018, brushes, watercolors, clean water, masking fluid.

I like this fluid because it has a needle that keeps the top from plugging up.  I have purchased lots of masking fluid that is great at first but if you don’t use it regularly, it gets all gunked up and it’s useless.

Squeeze the bottle gently and use the tip like a pen to draw out star shapes.

LOL after my praise of the tip, the bottle clogged up and look what I pulled out so I could keep going!  It was like a big eraser of rubbery gunk.  Yikes.   But… because the tip wasn’t ruined, I was able to pull out the blockage with tweezers.  Just keeping it REAL peeps.  An alternative to using masking fluid is the awesome wax crayons used here and here.

I finished the stars.

After taking out the blockage, the fluid came out really FAST.  I just used a paper towel to soak up the excess.

I used my craft heat tool to dry the masking fluid.

I slid the Illustrated Faith Big Bible Mat behind my page and I loaded up my 1″ flat brush with clean water.   I swept the clean water liberally over the page.  I left the bottom portion of the page somewhat dry so I could have more control painting the mountains in.

I started with blues.  Dropping in color.  More on that here.  https://www.illustratedfaith.com/watercolor-tutorial-leaning-no-beginning-no-end/

then added oranges and pinks

purples and strokes of green over the dryer areas for the mountains

Looks like a wet mess but I love it.  I grabbed my heating tool again and dried the page.

Once the page is dry, you can see how the areas with masking fluid resisted the watercolors.

Time to rub off the masked areas.  Work slowly.  Holding the page taunt with one hand and rubbing the masking fluid off with the other.

This takes patience!

Ready for words!  I think I pulled out every Illustrated Faith and Bella Blvd alpha I own and few enamel hearts.    I wanted a rainbow collage.

I used the Homespun alphas to add 2018, marking the beginning of the New Year and a new Journaling Bible.

LOVE.  Mixed up alphas is my favorite.  And look at those wonky stars and saturated watercolors!

I wanted to use black and white details for the remainder of the page so I dumped out my black and white cup of tabs and die cuts.

It’s like sorting through treasure.  And a big pink enamel heart for the top!

Believe Tab.

Oh so good.

Date stamp and a sticker for the day.

Yep.  Love.  First entry for 2018.

Lord, let this be a year of dreams and new beginnings.  And let it be a year of your Light in and through me.  Tag me if you try this technique on Instagram @designsbyamybruce.  LOVE to see your pages.

In His Light and with lots of love and hugs,

amy bruce

additional supplies: Daniel Smith Watercolors – various used in mixing