Agree with your comments john and thank you for taking the time to post the comments. You may have read elsewhere that when at school I detested art and I think it was certainly down to the lack of encouragement of the teachers at that specific place in time that were the issue. It was a kind of culture in many subjects sadly at the school I attended, luckily the 1970s is a dim and distant memory!! For reasons only known to themselves they had this attitude that you either had talent or you didn't and you couldn't be taught. Seemed to me to completely contradict what they were supposed to be doing for a living and it did almost put me off for life. Now I like to pick and choose whom I like to adapt ideas from and try in some way to include it into my own style. Having said that enough water has passed under my life bridge to not be concerned about criticism in any part of my life. If someone takes issue then its their problem not mine.

As an ex art teacher I have never thought that getting sniffy was any way to influence anybody in a constructive way. Even well considered judgement is only useful if it is timely and in reference to the current difficulty that a person has. About projectors and tracing devices, I can usually tell when a drawing is traced from whatever the source, the line tends to be tentative and done in short, hesitant strokes, anything but smooth and flowing. I'm afraid that only long experience and constant practice in drawing can achieve this. Many of my students have been convinced that there is a way, kept secretly by professionals which once mastered makes it a lot easier to turn out excellent drawings. Sadly for them this is not so. Drawing can be likened to music, mastery of an instrument takes years of constant study and practice, you have to keep doing it, if you are lucky to have a good teacher, they will encourage and help you to overcome your difficulties and not being didactic and certainly not sniffy. John

I have never tried. It seems to get a try ones after reading all these comments.. Thanks for sharing...

If it is odourless I might well give it a try. Thank you Jenny

Paul, I haven't really been conscious of the smell when I've been using the W&N masking fluid, I certainly haven't found it strong or unpleasant. Colourwise it's a pale yellow so you can see where you've applied it and it's not as distracting as the blue masking fluids.

Hi Jenny thanks for your post. What is the winsor and newton fluid like odour wise? I also forgot to mention in the blog that I also use a ruling pen as well as the old brushes and it is very effective at applying the fluid as you have said. I will take on board what you have said about the hairdryer but thus far when I have used such its not been an issue. Its all trial and error I suppose and its good to read of others experiences. I will check out ann blockley I have heard of her

Paul, I mainly paint in watercolour and use masking fluid quite often, as do many other artists, both amateur and professional. It's not cheating - anything goes these days to achieve effects in watercolour, and salt is my current favourite. I use Winsor and Newton masking fluid and usually apply it with a ruling pen - with this you can easily adjust the pen to get fine lines if necessary - and you can water the fluid down if it becomes too thick. A word of warning, though, re using a hairdryer to dry it more quickly, this can cause the fluid to adhere too strongly to the paper and tear when you remove it. If you're not already familiar with Ann Blockley's work, she has written a book called Experimental Landscapes which demonstrates a lot of interesting techniques you can use to produce different effects with watercolours.

Hi Adele. The use of hair dryer is very useful to get it to dry more quickly especially if you just want to crack on with the painting. I'm the impatient type so this is a further aid or addition available to the modern painter. Maybe we will see the introduction of a art hairdryer lol. There are many aids that you could use I suppose the list is endless. I suppose if its marketed correctly some will buy virtually anything.

'Tis me again Paul. Very rarely do watercolour but have various masking fluids (gathering dust). You are right in that the smell leaves a lot to be desired. Obviously the basic ingredient required. Bought a pretty pink one from the SAA so that I could see where I had put it. As you have said, you have to leave it to dry first. To the question of "is this cheating"? Two points I would make is (l) if it wasn't needed why are so many sold? and (2) We have already decided that anything seems to go and there are no rules nowadays in "arting". (sorry, my new name for art). Lastly point 3 ( and I only had 2 points to make) it opens up the question that I was thinking of asking and that is: is it cheating to use a projector (sold in great quantities) or tracing paper/transfer spray if you wish to transfer a photo to your paper? After all, it is now known that some of the Great Masters used the aids available to them in their time to transfer works.