A successful watercolor looks surprisingly spontaneous, which is one reason so many people are attracted to the medium. Behind the scenes of this apparent spontaneity, however, the artist has usually done a fair amount of careful planning. Luckily, I have done the planning for you for the projects in this book, and over the following pages you will learn how and why I use certain techniques.
For many artists, a blank page can be a very frightening thing. Any drawing of a composition need not be detailed—in fact, a simple outline is best. If you want to work from a physical subject or photograph, or want to work on a larger scale, as I sometimes do, drawing an outline will help you to hone your composition and give a guide as to where to place your first wash.
Keep it simple
A guiding sketch for your watercolor paintings should be a simple outline. Avoid shading, since pencil can show through lighter watercolors.
Mixing in the palette is a straightforward method of mixing color: just add one color to another to produce a third. The color mixes used for the projects in this book are clearly detailed; however, it is worth remembering that when you are mixing colors in this way, it is usually best to limit yourself to just two or three, to avoid your wash turning muddy. It is also wise to start with the color that is less likely to dominate. For example, if you want to mix a light green from a blue and a yellow, have a dilution of yellow prepared and then gradually add the blue in small increments. You will need only a small amount of blue to make a light green, so doing it this way avoids wasting paint. Conversely, if you want to make a darker green, begin with a solution of blue and then add small amounts of yellow.
1/ Dip the brush into the first, mixing well to pick up a small amount of pigment.
2/ Dip the brush onto the second well in the palette and mix thoroughly.
3/ Pick up some more of the first color and add it to the mix to make a deeper color. You can continue the process by adding small amounts of blue to the yellow and recording on scrap paper how the shades change from light green to dark green. You can also experiment with adding more or less water and recording how this changes the shade of color produced.
Knowing which brush to choose for the task at hand, and how to handle it, can make the watercolorist’s job that much easier—and ensure greater success in the finished work.
There’s a common belief that brushwork is important only in oil painting. Watercolors are painted in gentle, flat washes with no obvious brushmarks, aren’t they? Well, yes and no. You can paint entirely in washes, as with wet on wet, where you certainly can’t see any marks. But the marks a brush makes can be quite expressive, so it seems a pity not to make use of this resource. Some watercolorists build entire paintings by drawing with their brushes, using few, if any, flat washes, as in classical Chinese painting with its almost calligraphic brushstrokes.
Watercolor brushes come in many sizes, and it is worth exploring what kinds of marks individual brushes can make.
Use a small No. 00 brush to create flicking, vertical brushstrokes, to re-create the spikes at the top of a cactus.
Use a larger No. 10 brush, working wet on wet, to drop spots of pigment that diffuse and bleed with the existing paint, but maintain a specific shape.
A No. 00 brush can also be used to create tiny, repetitive linear marks, such as those on a snake plant.
Working wet on wet is a very expressive way of mixing colors together, because you can change colors on the page. It is a very useful technique to use when creating the different shades of green found on a leaf. If you look closely at a single leaf on a banana plant, for example, the greens are variable, changing from almost yellow to a dark, shady green and then back again. Mixing colors in the palette will produce a flat, overall color, but by mixing yellow and blue on the paper you can create a variety of greens, ranging from dark to light, as your brush travels across the page.
Mixing colors on the paper is the ideal method for any area where a gradual change from one color to another is required.
1/ You should be able to see a shiny wet layer on the page.
2/ While the paper is still wet, pick up the lightest shade from the palette and apply it over the whole leaf. You can see it creates a soft-edged area of color.
3/ Add the next, darker color to the top edges and center of the leaf. You will see a third color being made where the two pigments meet, creating a soft bleed effect.
The wet-on-dry technique allows you to make crisp, accurate marks and lines with the brush, because the previous layer of pigment has been allowed to dry first. Usually, artists layer washes one on top of another, allowing each layer to dry in between. The method allows you greater control than wet on wet, when you need it, because the layer beneath will not move and the colors won’t bleed.
1/ Apply the first color to all the sections of the leaf. Let dry.
2/ When the first layer is dry, paint alternating sections of the leaf with the second color. Notice how these sections are darker and the color is consistent and nicely even. Let dry.
3/ Add more of the second color to the edges of the layered sections to begin to shade them. Notice how you are able to retain control of where the pigment goes, while adding darker tones. Because the colors don’t bleed, you can use this method to paint details that you want to keep neat and definite.
Another method of creating new colors on the page is by glazing—laying a wash of transparent watercolor over another that has been allowed to dry completely. Glazing is a type of wet-on-dry work (see this page) that relies on the brilliance of the white paper and the transparency of the colors used. For example, if you lay a wash of yellow onto white paper and wait for it to dry, applying a second wash of transparent blue will create a green where the two colors overlap.
1/ Let dry.
2/ Once the first layer has dried fully, apply a wash of the second color. Where the two colors overlap a second color is made. Unlike working wet on wet, the colors do not mix and bleed together.
3/ You can add more of the second color to the edges of the shape to make its form look three-dimensional. These areas will make a third, darker color.
Masking is a useful technique for reserving areas of a painting, especially where those areas are particularly fine in shape. If over-used, masking can detract from the spontaneity that we associate with watercolor, but it is a method that can be used creatively, giving exciting effects that cannot be obtained by using the more classic watercolor techniques.
I use masking fluid in a few of the projects because it allows the negative space of the paper to come to life, giving a brilliant, pure white color to the design that can’t really be achieved with watercolor pans or inks. Using a blue fluid is helpful when painting because I can see where it is in contrast to the white of the page.
1/ Keep a dedicated old brush for use with masking fluid, because it can damage the bristles. Put the brush in some soapy water before dipping it in the fluid to help stop the fluid clinging to the bristles.
2/ Once the fluid is completely dry, paint the plant as normal.
3/ When the paint is dry, remove the mask by gently rubbing with a finger or an eraser. The beauty of liquid masking is that it is a form of painting in negative—the brushstrokes you use can be as varied in shape as you like, and you can create lovely effects by using thick and thin lines, splodges, and little dots.