Priscilla Hauser - DragonFly - Art Gallery

Priscilla Hauser capture this playful dragonfly making a splashy landing. See Priscilla's step-by-step project below.

It has been a long time since I've had so much fun with paint. What I'm talking about is DreamingInColor Twinkling H20s, cake watercolors that I squirt a lot of water onto about 30 minutes before I paint and then make a paste out of. Next I pick them up with my palette knife and put them on my Masterson Sat-Wet palette.

I've been absolutely charmed and delighted with the effects I've achieved with these Twinkling H20s, playing with them is so much fin! Try it out: Practice a little bit first, and you'll be fascinated at what you can do. Don't be afraid! The paint contains mica and the colors are simply Scrumptious.

Materials
Surface
For my dragonfly project, I've used a 3"x5" Ampersand Stamp Board.

Palette
DreamingInColor Twinkling H20s
China Black
Iridescent Green
Keylime
Majestic Blue
Nutmeg
Pink Grapefruit
Siam White
Summer Breeze

Brushes
Saler-Rowney Rober Simmons
Sienna Series #1 liner and #10 flat

Supplies
Acrylic finshing spray
Brush basin
Doily
Dragonfly rubber stamp (optional
Fern or leaf rubber stamp (optional
Masterson Sta-Wet palette
Old toothbrush
Palette knife ir a good straight metal blade
Plaid dauber (small)
Soft, absorbent 100% cotton rags or Viva Job Squad paper towels
Transfer paerp
White trianguar cosmetic sponge

Preparation
Place a doily on a portion of the stamp board. The position doesn't matter.

Dip the cosmetic sponge in water and squeeze it out. Pick up a little Nutmeg on the sponge. Blot your sponge on a rag, but do leave it fairly wet.

Dab on the desired amount of color here and there. No two backgrounds will turn out the same. Wet your sponge, keep it a little wet, and dab on a little Keylime. If you don't like your background, simply wipe it off with a damp rag and start over again. (Note, though, that the stamp board will be stained with a little color.) You can do this over again as many times as you like. Let dry before proceeding.

To help create additional color, brush on a little Majestic Blue, Nutmeg, or the color of your choice (Fig.1).

Let's Paint
Apply Summer Breeze with a brush to the dragonfly stamp and stamp the image on the background as much as you like. (You may wish to experiment a time to two first.) Alternately, trace the dragonfly design with a liner brush and Summer Breeze. See Figure 2.

Body
Step 1: To create the body, dab the small dauber in Keylime. Blot on a rag.

Step 2: Pick up Nutmeg on one edge, press the dauber down, turn it back and forth in your fingers and create the body.

Step 3: Highlight by placing the edge of the dauber in Siam White. Study this in Figure 3.
Clean the dauber when finished.

Eyes
Step 1: Fill the dauber with Majestic Blue and pick up a touch of China Black on the edge. Paint the eyes as shown in Figure 3. You can go back over and daub a second or third time if designed for more coverage.

Step 2: Paint the two triangular shapes on the head and the antennae in China Black with the liner brush.

Step 3: Highlight the eyes with a tiny dot of Siam White.

Wings
Dip your number 10 flat brush in water and blot on a rag. Pick up a little Keylime, a little Majestic Blue and a little Nutmeg, all on the same side of the brush.

Blend you palette and float this color around the outside edge of the wing. You can let it dry and float a second time if desired.

Shade the wings where the join the body with a float of Nutmeg. Allow to dry.

Apply a second coat to darken. Using the liner brush and a thin China Black , embellish the wings with various sizes of black dots. Let dry.

Using a toothbrush, flyspeck with thinned paint as desired. I used Pink Grapefruit and Nutmeg.

Finishing
When the entire piece is dry, spray with a clear acrylic spray, matte or gloss, and frame as desired.

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