I was playing around with watercolor the other day… just laying down a simple brown wash, nothing fancy…
...and it got me thinking about salt.
Stay with me here 😄
Because salt is one of those things we completely take for granted… it’s just there… sitting on the table, minding its business…
…but it actually has a pretty wild résumé.
At one point in history, people were literally paid in salt. 🧂 Like…that was their paycheck! Cities have been built, fought over and destroyed because of the value of salt production and its food-preserving qualities.
And even now? There’s so much salt in the world that, in theory, we could all be outrageously rich…if supply and demand didn’t come along and absolutely kill the fantasy!
And yet— despite all that salt power— most of us are just over here being told by the doc to eat less of it!
Poor salt. Can’t win.
BUT…grind some rock salt on wet watercolor? Game 👏 Changer 👏!
It pushes the pigment away as it dries, leaving behind these soft, unpredictable textures—little impressions that feel almost like something’s trying to emerge.
And if you give it a second… you’ll start to see it. Some image of something will reveal itself to you... you read and interpret the salt impressions!
For me? I saw a horizon line, a tree, and even a little farmhouse sitting off in the distance, its shadow reflected in its front-yard pond.
You should totally try this! Especially when you're not exactly sure what to paint in your journal...and you want a little element of discovery in your life!
Enjoy!
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