Got Stains?

Please forgive the cliche title but it seemed to work!

I live in a very hot climate and during the summer months, I paint wearing a tank top and shorts. Sure, these are cheap cloth items but the thrifty, recycling, nature-lover in me does not like to waste anything. So when I get a few bleach stains or paint stains on my clothes, I usually draw something over the stains and keep on wearing the shirt till it's worn away or too difficult to clean. I've created a lot of interesting designs this way. 

All you need to do is stretch the shirt over a piece of cardboard and draw out the design with a soft grade pencil or stick of graphite. You can see the actual circle behind the sun image above. I used this for my grid and placement. I use a medium point permanent marker to draw the finished image. The cardboard stops it from bleeding to the other side. 

If you use permanent color markers and want to add shades of value, just take some rubbing alcohol with a cotton ball to smear the line work and create a watercolor effect. Be open to experimentation - after all - you were going to throw the shirt away - why not experiment?

By the way, this is one reason artists wear black. With a black shirt, all you need to do is color over the stain. It's much harder to match other colors.

Here is the final outcome...