From colour to white

Ive been thinking about ways in which I can make the outcome of a process less predictable. I was reminded of an activity where a coloured background is created using wax crayons, and this would then be painted over to cover the entire background. Marks would then be applied to the surface by using a implement such as the end of a paintbrush, a toothbrush or a blunt knife. These marks would reveal the surface underneath.

The first step was to create the background. I wanted the design to have lots of different colours with no one colour occupying large amounts of the paper. If the background was one colour only, there would be no surprise as to what the marks reveal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

I then began to paint a layer of white to cover the wax crayon, and then used various implements/ tools to make a range of marks on the surface to reveal the pattern beneath. An overview of my process is in the images below.

I was very unhappy with the results of this experiment, but unexpectedly found something of interest in the way the layers of paint had been built up.

I don't like the unveiling of the pattern beneath the paint because I think that the colours are too bright and the image is too childlike. I therefore painted white over the entire image.