I love, love, love painting with acrylic paint and inks as a water medium. Acrylic paint is a versatile medium that can be applied opaque like gouache or in translucent washes like watercolor. But one tool in my kit that I’ve avoided is liquid frisket. It’s a stinky, gooey gum media that you paint onto watercolor paper to temporarily mask the white color so you can paint in continuous strokes over that area. But thanks to Ohn Mar Win’s class, I learned how to master the techniques and avoid the problems this medium creates, such as glued-up brushes, lumpy linework, and tools that don’t work for an application.

Now that I have the right strategy, it’s fun! And I will use it again.

This masking technique brings back memories of my early years when my mom used to make batik paintings on fabric. The batik technique involves melting beeswax on a hotplate and using a special tool to draw and drip hot wax onto the surface of the fabric. After the wax cools, the fabric is dyed with color.

Thankfully, she closely guarded her workspace so none of us toddlers got scalded. But I loved the soothing smell of hot beeswax and how the brilliant hues bleed into one another.