Brushes

No. 1 Sable

Sable brushes will serve for most of your work.

No. 2 Flat

The 1-inch flat brush is useful for large areas and

backgrounds.

It will quickly moisten your paper if you prefer a

preliminary wash of clear water preparatory to

painting.

No. 3 Rigger

The rigger, with its chiseled edge, can depict the

finest lines and sharp details.

No. 4 Round

The round bristle brush, while designed primarily

for working in oil, is useful for removing unwanted

areas of water color.

Watercolor paint

Watercolor paper: Commonly there are three surface (types) of paper available:

Rough - A rough paper has a heavy tooth which can

be used to get a more textured or dramatic effect.

Cold Pressed (CP) or (NOT) -- A paper 'not' hot

pressed with a slightly rougher surface.

CP is the easiest to use and is best for the beginner. It

has a texture that allows it the

stay wet longer and makes it a favorite to work with

when learning to paint watercolors.

Hot Pressed (HP) -- A smooth paper which is

manufactured by a method where heat

and pressure are used as suggested in its name. Great

for details and sharp edges.

New watercolor papers are being introduced that have

two surfaces. One side is hot pressed (smooth) and the

other cold pressed (semi-rough). I have not had the

pleasure of trying these yet.

Paper Weights The most common weights for watercolor papers are:

90 lb light weight - student grade this paper is easily

damaged when scrubbed and buckles easily when wet

(requires stretching).

140 lb medium weight - good quality - artist grade durable,

holds up to vigorous scrubbing, will buckle when wet if

constrained without being stretched.

300 lb heavy weight - good quality - artist grade durable,

thick, doesn't require stretching

Watercolor Methods:

A) Methods:

I. Wet-on- Dry method

1.Laying a flat wash (even tone):

Building up tones by overlaying washes (same colors)

Overlap washes, of different colors - glazing

2.Laying a graded wash on dry paper:

Creating tone by diluting paint

II. Wet-in- Wet method:

1.Laying a graded wash into a wet area:

Watercolor paper sizes :

Single Sheets (22 x 30) that can be cut

into various sizes.

Spiral Bound

Tablets/ Pads

Watercolor

Pads

Watercolor

Blocks

I. Wet-on- Dry method

1.Laying a flat wash (even tone)

4. Now, working in the opposite

direction, lay a second band of

color making sure that you pick

up the fluid paint along the

base of the previous stroke.

Here the artist lays a third band

of color - the tilted board has

caused the stream of color to

gather along the bottom.

1. You will need paints, tube or pan, a palette, stretched paper, a brush, lots

of water and a board of some sort.

2. Mix the paint and water in a dish. Use plenty of water and make sure that

you have enough wash to cover the area.

3. Fix the paper to a board the wet paint can then be controlled by tilting the

board. Start by loading the brush with the dilute color and lay a band of color

across the top of the tilted board.

Laying

a

flat

wash

5. The secret of a good wash is to mix plenty of color. Work quickly, tilt the board and keep the front edge wet. Keep the brush loaded with color to avoid running out of color in the middle of a stroke. Reload when necessary at the end of a stroke .

6. When you have finished, use a dry brush to pick up the stream of fluid paint which has gathered along the bottom of the wash.

7. When the wash is dry the color should be even in tone though it will be lighter than when wet. If your wash is uneven practice until you can get it right. You may never want to lay a completely flat wash but you will need this degree of control over the medium.

Overlap washes, of different colors - Glazing

Glazing is a technique where you paint washes of color over already dried washes to change the overall color of the wash. This is primarily used to slowly build up form, one layer at a time.

In this sample, a blue wash was painted and allowd to dry completely. It is very important that it be dried completely, otherwise when you paint the second layer, this first wash will lift creating unwanted splotches.

On top of that, brilliant purple has been painted the blue and the pink combine visually to make a violet. A green gold (yellowish) has been glazed below that. It shows as a dull green.

Building up tones by overlaying washes

(same colors)

II. Wet-in- Wet Method:

Wet in wet washes: Mix small puddles of three or four colors which would look harmonious together. Dont add too much of water, they should be of thicker consistency than that of those colors you had used in the basic washes. Wet the area of paper you want to paint on with a flat brush. Use clean water and see that it is evenly wet with no pools or dry areas. Wait for a second or two as the water gets absorbed into the paper. Quickly start dropping in the colors. Do not stroke too much, let the water on the paper pull the paint from the brush. Quickly rinse and blot brush in between colors or use separate brushes for different colors. If the paper starts to lose its shine, stop adding any more colors. Tilt the paper in different directions to allow the paints to mix.

Compare:

The different types of edges softly blurred edges using wet-in-

wet techniques and crisp edges using wet-on-dry.

Wet-on-dry

1. Try this experiment. Lay a wash of the first color, than allow it to dry completely - it must be absolutely dry. Now, using the second color, lay two brush strokes on to the dry wash.

2. The colors does not spread and the integrity of the mark is maintained with crisp, clearly defined edges.

Wet-in-wet

1. Lay a flat wash of color. Then while the wash is still wet brush in two strokes of another color.

2. The second color spreads into the wash, the two colors blending to create orange. The mark of the brush enlarges, the edges blurring, but the broad form of the original mark is still discernible.

Laying a graded wash into a wet area:

3- Wet in wet washes:

Wet in wet washes:backruns You have less control over the final look than the wet on

dry method but it is more spontaneous and fun and it is always a surprise to see how it will turn out.

This technique is generally used for background washes since the soft, out-of-focus effect gives the illusion of receding into the background, pushing the foreground subject to the front.

In the left hand side of the sample below, the back run (orange) is caused by uneven wetting of the paper.

On the right hand side, the paper had begun to lose its sheen (sheen is the reflection of light caused by water on the paper surface when it is wetted) before the colors were dropped, leading to the colors staying put and not getting blended.

Wet in wet washes: backruns

Lifting WET paint/color

(techniques)

With cotton wool buds

Tissue paper

With dry brush

With a small sponge

Scraping the handle of

the brush

Sprinkling salt on the

damp color

Lifting with damp or dry tissue:

Paint a blue wash of sky of medium intensity. Before this has a chance to dry, lift patches of the blue with a damp or dry soft tissue to resemble clouds.

Lifting with a dry tissue gives hard edges. Combining both methods gives a realistic look. Keep rotating the tissue so that the blue which you had lifted does not get pressed back to the paper.

If you find that the paper is drying too fast before you have had a chance to do the lifting, wet the paper first evenly. Just as the sheen is starting to go, brush in the blue color. Wait for a second or two for the moisture to be absorbed. Now start lifting the clouds.

Salt technique

Paint a small swatch of a basic wash. The timing for this has to be just right. Take some table salt and sprinkle randomly on the wash, just as the sheen is going away. Do not disturb it, till it is completely dry.

After it has dried, brush away the salt gently. This reveals a nice random pattern which can be used as textures for stones and rocks or for snow flakes.

You will not get this effect if you sprinkle on a wet wash or wait too long before sprinkling. Experiment with larger salt crystals and see what textures they show.

Lifting DRY paint/color

(techniques)

With sand paper

With a sharp bland

With backwash-drop

of water on almost dry surfaces

Open up a white

space in a dry painted

brush

Lifting with damp brush

Some pigments are more staining than others, meaning that they are more difficult to remove once they have been painted.

Paint a swatch of color and let it dry completely. Now take an old stiff brush which is slightly damp. Drag a line on the paint swatch. Blot on a tissue to remove the color which has deposited on the brush and repeat this again and again till you have lifted the color. Lifting is useful for correcting mistakes, painting vei