Frisket: The Maskerade!

In May, my art Discord decided to join together in a nebulous event that we dubbed the Maskerade. This is the month, we all decided, where we will finally learn to use masking fluid, also known as liquid frisket.

I’ve mentioned on the blog before that I hate using masking fluid. Initially I simply ruled it out because it smells like cat pee and gives me a headache. But in 2023, Schmincke came out with ammonia-free masking fluid. Great! It has no scent and I can use it! (Ed. note 1 year later: Unlike other masking fluids, it’s also latex-free!)

But… I still didn’t enjoy using the stuff. It’s awkward to paint out and tears paper in removal. At best, it leave behind a stark white shape that looks like somebody took the Photoshop Eraser tool to your finished painting. And it’s hard to clean up. It can’t be washed down the sink because it clogs when it dries, so you have to wait for it to dry and peel it off like dried glue: very difficult on brushes, even cheap nylon ones specially reserved for masking fluid. I ruined a few brushes and a few paintings and kinda gave up on it.

Still, other artists seem to rely on it, and it would be nice to mask stuff more reliably. I feel like I often run into situations where I wonder how an artist created such an intricate, light-colored shape with a complex, dark-colored background, and the answer is always masking fluid. So, it was time to force myself to learn how stop worrying and love masking fluid.

Subject Ideas for Masking Fluid

When I’m avoiding masking fluid, I feel like I often run into situations where I need it, and I usually just decide to paint something else. Yet, when I was trying to use masking fluid, I struggled to find a subject where I felt it was truly necessary and superior to a different method of preserving whites – such as negative painting, lifting, or using white gouache at the end. So, I made a list of subject ideas. (Members of my Discord submitted the more cheeky entries.)

• masts and riggings
• laundry on a line
• mandala and henna patterns
• wave highlights/water glitter
• seafoam
• gulls (or other light-colored animals – bunny, Dalmatian, whale shark, etc.)
• flowers in a meadow
• botanical parts (e.g. petal highlights)
• fall leaves (mask, then paint color later)
• snow highlights
• city lights (e.g. streetlights, car headlights, tiny bright windows within a night cityscape)
• fireflies
• lightning
• stars
• the moon
• the sun
• planets
• active galactic nucleus
• neutron star
• accreting white dwarf
• raindrops on roses
• whiskers on kittens
• brown paper packages, mask out the string
• a figure in shadow with crazy glowy eyes
• potato with eyes
• cake with white piping
• hand with masked French tip manicure
• Mr Clean the cleaning product mascot
• Pittsburgh (mask out the yellow bridges)
• strawberry seeds

See, plenty to try! (Thanks to the mysterious figures V, C, and S.)

My Maskerade Projects

Gull

Here, I used a small synthetic brush for the masking fluid, filling in the gull shape I had sketched. I then painted the background. Once that was dry, I pulled up the masking fluid and painted the details on the gull.

I wish I had made the background darker so the gull would pop more. The background is even darker in the reference photo.

I’ve negative-painted gulls before, but it was difficult and relied somewhat on random chance. Masking was definitely easier and more reliable.

This is also a subject where I might in the past have tried to use masking tape to mask out a large shape, but it was easier to paint the shape (even with masking fluid) than to try to cut it out of tape. Plus, paint often gets in under the edges of tape, but it never gets in under masking fluid. So I would say masking fluid is definitely superior to masking tape for actual masking.

Queen Anne’s Lace

I masked the sun and the flower blobs rather inexactly using a soft-tipped silicone applicator. This allowed me to paint the background really dark, and to include detail in the background that would have been difficult to concentrate on if I was also negative-painting the flowers. In this case, I negative-painted lines for the stems. After removing the masking fluid, I added the shadows to the centers of the flowers and also added dark detail to the outside of the blobs.

This is based on one of my own photos!

I am not sold on the way I masked the sun; although the sun needs to be the whitest, brightest element on the page, it doesn’t actually have harsh edges.

But I think masking fluid was the right tool for the flowers because they do have sharp edges, something masking fluid excels at. It would have been better if I had masked the edges of the flowers as a series of dots, rather than just masking blobs and putting in the edge detail later with dark paint, since it is hard to conceal the original edges of the blobs.

The biggest plus I found for masking fluid is that the white sections are easy to paint later. This makes masking fluid a good choice for when you plan to paint detail or light wash color on the elements that you mask. If I had put down the white flowers with gouache, it would have been difficult to paint detail on top of them because of the way white gouache reactivates and muddies colors painted on top.

For a contrasting example, consider this moon that I painted on with white gouache and later tried to paint shadows on.

For the moon, some soft, inexact shapes aren’t the worst, but if I had wanted a high-detail moon, it would have been very difficult to paint over gouache.

Power Lines

This was my test in doing thin lines using the embossing tool. I used a nail art stylus for the white power lines, and a soft silicone applicator for the light poles and the paint line on the road. I then painted the dark part of the light pole and the yellow of the road after removing the masking fluid.

I am not convinced that masking was better than gouache. For example, here’s an occasion where I did road paint using negative painting (and stars using white gouache).

And, here’s an occasion where I did white power lines at night using white gouache.

There are some clumsy things about the power lines here, but I think that’s more user error than anything else. I don’t think the white power lines inherently look better in masking fluid; if anything I think it’s easier to get them nice and thin with gouache. However, I will say that a possible process advantage to using masking fluid is that you put the power lines down first rather than last. That way, you can see how they turned out before you invest time in the rest of the painting. Since painting thin lines can be tricky, this could be an advantage. I tossed out a previous version of the masking fluid version where the masking fluid power lines were too thick and chunky. But even though I made some errors on the gouache power lines in the Suburban Aurora painting, I let it be because I had already painted and liked the sky.

Heron & Water Glitter

This attempt at sparkling water shows one of my least favorite things about masking fluid: when you pull it off, the remaining white spots can look splotchy, like white-out or the aforementioned Photoshop Eraser tool.

My idea here was to mask out more white than I needed using the silicone applicator, then apply more paint to soften the edges after removal, sort of an “inner glow” effect. But I struggled to actually do it because, well, watercolor is transparent, so if you apply paint to the interior of the white shape, it also builds up the darkness outside the white shape. For that reason, it’s very difficult to actually disguise or soften those edges. The power of masking fluid is that it does create those stark white shapes, and if that’s not what you actually want, masking fluid is not the ideal tool.

Morning light, after Gordon MacKenzie

When I think about great masked water sparkle, I think of Gordon MacKenzie, author of The Watercolorists’ Essential Notebook. He uses masking a lot, and his book showcases a bunch of masking techniques I didn’t try this month (e.g. masking on top of something you’ve already painted!), but one I really love and wanted to backwards-engineer was his water sparkle. I decided to paint a direct copy of his painting “When the Land Speaks,” the second one in this Doodlewash interview post. Here’s my copy.

Reversing the previous sparkle technique, I now tried “outer glow,” masking on white dots with my nail art stylus, and using a thirsty brush to lift outer glow around them after each dark layer. I only use masking for the water sparkle; the sun is pure negative painting and the mist is a combination of negative painting and paper towel lifting.

I think this technique is more successful than the inner glow sparkle! I like the effect.

I also think I could achieve something similar with white gouache: in fact, I have, in starry skies.

The “outer glow” technique I use for star glow in night skies, which I learned from Kolbie Blume, is to drop a little white gouache spatter while the dark background is damp, and then add a little dot of pure white to center of each “glow” when it’s fully dry.

The nice thing about this technique is that it minimizes the amount you have to catch the painting at the right stage of drying: you can actually let the background fully dry, then rewet the page. With the masking technique, if you forget to lift the glow while the background is still damp, you’re SOL.

On the other hand, a potential plus for masking in this scenario is that putting down the sparkle first allows you to more easily can see what the painting will look like at the end. The sparkle can really transform the painting and in the gouache method, it only goes on as the last step. The masking fluid acts as a resist while you are painting which allows you to see it right away.

Masking Supplies

Part of my goal in the Maskerade was determining the supplies I need for effective masking. Here’s the supplies I started with, and the supplies I ended with.

In this section, I’ve included affiliate links to products I like; you can support the blog by shopping from my links.

Here are the supplies I ended up loving:

• Schmincke ammonia-free masking fluid, neutral/clear color. They also make blue, which is easier to see against white paper, but I find that the white it easy to see once you paint over it, since it resists, like a white crayon. With the blue, is actually harder to tell how the painting will turn out once you start painting, and it can leave behind faint blue residue.
  
• Rosemary masking fluid applicator, soft. Rosemary Brushes offer two masking fluid applicators: a larger, firmer, pink ones, and a smaller, softer, green one. I found the soft green one more useful, especially the pointed round tip which allows a reasonable amount of control in application, similar to a brush. And it’s so easy to clean: just wait for the masking fluid to harden and peel it off, which I find actually pretty satisfying. (Although most brands don’t offer a dedicated “masking fluid applicator,” I’ve found similar tools with other names such as: silicone brushes, color shapers, color blenders, or clay sculpting tools. For example, Amazon offers these silicone paint brushes. Usually they come in a set, but I don’t find this necessary; I think the pointed round is probably the most useful shape.)
  
• Cheap plastic mixing cups. I initially got these with the idea I would be diluting the masking fluid, but the Schmincke fluid doesn’t need that. However, I did find them useful for setting my wet tools in because it’s easy to peel dried masking fluid off them later. A plastic palette would also work, as long as you’re not also using it for paint. I will add that if I did want to dilute, these cups would actually be too wide and shallow. Peggy Bishop uses the dosing cups from medicine bottles, which is equivalent to a shot glass.

Here’s what I ended up adding:

• Rubber cement pickup. I initially used a vinyl eraser, but found this tended to smudge my paint, tear my paper, and create lots of crumbs. I switched to the Grafix rubber cement pickup/liquid frisket remover, which I liked even though I hate this brand’s masking fluid. This is definitely the right tool for the job and makes it much easier to remove the dried masking fluid without damaging the paper. I don’t know how, but it doesn’t scratch the paint! (Ed. note 1 year later: I can no longer use this due latex allergy!)
  
• Embossing tools. I got this idea from Michele Webber’s video comparing different masking fluid application tools. They go by other names such as: nail art stylus, dotting tool, clay sculpting tool. It is essentially just a little stick with a ball at the end. As long as you don’t press too hard (you don’t want to actually emboss the paper), you can use it like a dip pen to draw lines with masking fluid. They aren’t perfect (the tip doesn’t hold much fluid so you have to dip frequently), but it’s the best tool I’ve found so far for the difficult task of making thin lines, and is very easy to clean, just like the applicator. You can also get a version of “nail art tools” or “clay sculpting tools” with the silicone shaper on one side, and the stylus on the other.

Here’s what I had initially, but ended up not liking as much:

• Brushes. I got some cheap nylon brushes for this because I didn’t want to ruin my good ones. And I’ll be honest, the brushes do a better job of painting the shapes, lines, and details you want than the applicators and styluses. But they are a pain in the butt to clean. You should not wash them the way you normally wash brushes, e.g. by rinsing wet fluid down the sink, because masking fluid causes clogs when it hardens. So, the best way to clean masking fluid off stuff is to wait for it to harden and peel it off. This is a lot easier on smooth metal or silicone applicators than brushes with individual bristles. To keep the masking fluid from getting stuck in bristles, a good trick is to continually wipe the brush on a bar of soap before dipping it in masking fluid. Peggy L Bishop demonstrates this in this sparkling water tutorial. This is effective, but I find it annoying, and my goal is to minimize friction so I actually use the stuff.

Masking: The Verdict

So, do I like masking now? Was the Maskerade worth it?

I think the Maskerade was definitely worth it because I feel a lot more comfortable using masking now. It is a tool in my toolbox rather than something I am kind of afraid of and would avoid at all costs. If I see a subject where I think masking is the right method, I feel that I have the technique understanding and the right supplies to tackle it.

Do I like masking? Well, it depends on the situation. I have clarified for myself situations where I think masking is and isn’t the most useful tool, and it’s not quite what I thought!

I had assumed that masking was best used for situations where you want to preserve bright-white detail. But I think that that if what I want is literal white – such as for white pinpoints and lines like stars, sparkles, power lines, and riggings – I would still probably use white gouache. Masking and gouache look indistinguishable at the end, so it’s dealer’s choice here. Masking might appeal to you more if you want to get the details down early rather than late in the process, but I think gouache is easier to use for small details because it has a less thick consistency. It also appeals more to a “seat of the pants” painter like me who resists planning ahead.

On the other hand, if you want to paint detail on your light-colored shapes later, you should use masking. When you remove masking fluid, you are left with pristine paper underneath, perfect to keep painting. White gouache, by contrast, is a pain in the ass to paint over, and can end up looking chalky and smeary.

Finally, if your light-colored shape is soft-edged in any way (such as all those suns I kept trying to paint), you should negative paint it. It is extraordinarily difficult to soften the edges of a masked shape. The superpower of masking is that it can create sharp edges between light and dark; use it when you want that!