Swiping with No Black or White

So I was playing around with some paints and things, as I usually do, when I wondered why we would need a specific color to swipe with. Why do we swipe with white, swipe with black, or swipe with, for example, gold?

Here are some previous examples of just that, in this slideshow.

What if I just painted lines of colors and swiped? What would happen? I just had to give it a try. And as with many of my painting experiments, I just did it and didn’t even think to make a recording. So when it came out absolutely fabulous I was kicking myself that I didn’t have something to show you how I did it.

Here’s what I created, just swiping with colors, no black, no white or anything else. Glorious! So vibrant.  I love how the swipes of color look like rain running down a window.

So in this video, I am trying to recreate that same effect on a canvas panel. I’m using the same paints, same order, same swipe. And yay! It comes out the same, just as beautiful as the first one on the tile. So now I can say you certainly don’t need a separate color to swipe with, just layer them up and go for it!

But just one word of caution. Take care with which colors are transparent and which are opaque. I had orange and then yellow at the top of my swipe and these were transparent and it did create a somewhat visible line where these colors then crossed the blue underneath. I’d recommend making sure you had opaque colors at the top to avoid this possible line. Or at least carry out a little experiment and allow it to dry to see what happens.

What do you think of the painting now it’s dry? Should I varnish it and keep it, or reuse the panel and try again. I’m loving the colors so much I am just torn!

Happy swiping. Check out the slideshow below for lots of pictures, and close-ups of the details. I’m loving this one!