Backflow in watercolor is the result of an intrusion from one area of wet paint into another.
Backflow could create an attractive marbled effect or it could spoil a painting.
Usually backflow comes as an accident – unwanted. However, if I interfere it’s not an accident any more, it is an experiment, and in today’s painting I deliberately set up the conditions for backflow to occur.
The extent of backflow is a function of how quick I am to intervene to prevent "ruin", or how long I am prepared to wait to see what develops. Today I waited. I had to let the entire backflow effect happen on its own.
Whether I accept the random results depends on how spontaneous or how controlling I want to be, with the painting or with myself.
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