Creative Quarantine: Salt and Scrape Painting

For this artwork I was inspired by the local Hajar mountains and their unique geology alternating layers of quartz, sediment and red clay. Whenever we drive through Oman or Fujairah I admire how the colorful stripes stand out against the bright blue skies. I wanted to recreate this striking contrast by developing two very different textures on the background and foreground.

Required Material:

• Heavy Sketch Paper or Watercolor Paper (I used 160gsm)

• Watercolor paint

• Salt ( I used a mix of coarse salt and table salt)

• Acrylic Paint

• Palette knife (or a plastic knife will work as well)

• Old credit card or stiff business card

• Masking tape

Step 1:

Sketch out a moon, sun or cloud shape for the sky background.

Step 2:

Prepare a batch fairly liquid watercolor paints in 2-3 shades for the sky. Blot the paint into an oval shape , filling in the whole oval except for the sun or moon shape. Dab in a mix of sky-like colors, letting them mix organically on the paper. You'll need to work quickly, keeping your paper wet so that is doesn't have time to dry.

Step 3:

Sprinkle on a mix of coarse and table salt. The layer of crystals will soak up the excess paint creating an uneven mineral effect. let dry.

Step 4:

Once the painting is completely dry, remove the salt. You may need to rub the paper gently with your fingers to loosen the last grains.

Step 5:

Lay the painting on a sheet of newspaper and line the edges with masking tape, painter's tape or washi tape. Sketch out the silhouette of the mountain.

Step 6:

Using a palette knife dap drops of thick acrylic paint along the right edge of the mountain. Randomly alternate shades of mineral colors.

Step 7:

Place the edge of an old key card or a stiff business card along the line of paint. Wiggle the card slightly so the the whole edge has paint on it. Holding the card at a 45 degree angle, firmly scrape the paint towards the left side of the mountain and all the way past the bottom of the page. I like to serve a bit while scraping to create uneven patterns. Continue scraping until the whole mountain is filled out. Avoid scraping more than a couple times over the same area, with each scrape the colors get a bit muddled and the characteristic colorful stripe of the mountain become less defined.

Step 8:

Once dry, gently remove the masking tape. Fill the moon, sun or cloud shape in with white acrylic paint. Touch up any stains or smudges if necessary.