Project #4 Bamboo Leaf Resist

Artist Mary Beggs Bosley posted this wonderful painting on newspaper on her instagram account @marymakingart.  

If you have access to some bamboo leaves or would like to create paper bamboo stencils this easy painting can be used as an art piece itself or as a background or element in a painting.

We have bamboo in our yard so I use real bamboo but I also made paper stencils that I keep in my portfolio of stencils just in case I might need them.  I traced the bamboo leaves onto a heavy paper and cut them out.  

For the painting below, I used an old encyclopedia page to create something similar with watercolor painting the negative space between the leaves. 

We also used the bamboo leaf resist to create backgrounds for the Project # Native Bird Paintings and Project #  Tiger Paintings. 

Experiment with different papers, colors and layering. You can use any kind of paint for this technique.  The leaves below were painting wet on wet watercolor to create a diffuse effect.