I wanted to paint some more black and white canvases, but to take them in a different direction than the recent diptyches I just finished. I was reminded of a taping method I'd used a number of years ago when my friend Deb Ammerman tried taping on some of her paintings recently. I first painted the canvas white or gray, then stretched masking tape across sections, and then painted over the whole canvas with black.
After the paint dries and you take the masking tape away, you have a nice patterned effect that makes a great painting background. Here are a couple of paintings I've used this method with:
To begin my new painting, I first gave it a thorough coat of white, let it dry, then taped it with painter's tape (this is a masking tape that is guaranteed to come off easily, thus house painters use it). After painting over everything with mars black, I let it dry and then pulled off the tape.