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Taping for straight lines?
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Posted
Many thanks Helen. I'd never thought of using a contrasting colour, might try that and see how it works.Depends on the main picture, Sandra. Mostly a contrast colour to the painting, but sometime a continuation of the painting. I tend to paint the sides either first (if intending to be a single colour), or mid-way through the main picture. Once (bone) dry, cover with masking / frog tape, then continue with the painting.I use Frog tape also (yellow or green). I paint the sides of my stretch and box canvasses, as I hate them left white. It looks messy and unfinished to me.What colour do you paint them Helen? One of the colours in the painting? Something else?
Posted
I'll tell you what I do to get straight lines: I avoid doing them! I had a commission three years ago to paint an evening sky over ... was it Croydon? Forgotten. Anyway, what he wanted was the cats' cradle of power lines shown against that sky - I've only got a poor photograph of it, so won't waste time showing it. I puzzled over this damn' thing! And of course, the lines weren't straight, they sagged in curves.... so a ruler was out, ink pens of any description no good in this case.
What I did in the end was paint the lines in with dilute acrylic on a rigger, some of which sort of worked, others blotted and wobbled, and then reinstated the sky around them. I'd tried everything else I could think of before doing that, but it did seem to work out in the end (I'm not sure the perspective did, but that's another story).
That worked for acrylic, it should work for oils, watercolour - I have a feeling that it might have been easier in watercolour anyway because of its extreme fluidity - but I'm in no hurry to try it.
