Beginners’ Guide To Watercolour Painting
What's not to love about watercolour? These paints are known to create stunning, creative pieces of artwork. But if your never used it before and want an informative introduction to the medium as well as some tips on painting with watercolour, this guide will help get started with one of the most popular mediums in art history!
What is watercolour painting?
Watercolour paints are typically made out of pigment, gum arabic, distilled water, and various other additive which are used to preserve the paint and increase its longevity. Pigment is a substance that adds colour to paint. Meanwhile, gum arabic is a natural material made from the hardened sap of acacia trees that acts as a binder to hold the pigments together. You’ll also find this material present in everyday items such as chewing gum, soft drinks, icings and more.
A Brief History of Watercolour
It’s always great to learn about the beginnings and evolution of the materials you use to create your art because it can establish a deeper passion and appreciation for your tools and your work. The root of understanding is starting at the place of conception. That’s why we’re going to briefly explore the history of watercolour. As aforementioned, watercolour is one of the most popular mediums in art history. According to Andrew Wilton, author and first Curator of the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection at Tate Britain in London, “the medium of watercolour has been particularly associated with England for several hundred years. However, its origins lie further back in the history of European painting. Pigments consisting of earths or vegetable fibres ground to powder and bound with gum or egg were in use in the Middle Ages” as well as during the Stone Age when early Paleolithic mankind created cave paintings depicting the flora and fauna at he time. It was during the Egyptian Era following the discovery of papyrus (paper) when the medium grew in prominence. Then, in 4,000 BCE, watercolour was used in Chinese Traditional Art for decorative purposes. This medium was also popular during the Renaissance period in which artist were enamoured by watercolour for portrait miniatures and landscapes. Evidently, watercolour has stood the test of time and during this extensive time spans, many renowned artists such as Paul Klee, Vincent Van Gogh, William Blake, Edward Hopper, James Whistler have worked with it.
Techniques
Undoubtedly, watercolour is a versatile and engaging medium with a range of applicable techniques which are just as diverse. The tools that you will need to are brushes (preferably a pointed round brush and a short flat brush). Round brushes are ideal for details and general painting and the short flat brush is great for washes. You’ll also need paper. We recommend cold press paper or medium tooth paper adds wonderful textures to your watercolour paintings. Also in your tool kit will be watercolour paints and a container or jar to hold the water.
TIP: Use two containers - one for clean water and the other for dirty water.
Wet-on-wet technique
First we have the wet on wet technique which, simply put, involves wet paint being applied to wet paper. For this technique, you start by wetting your brush. Next, you wet the paper till it has a glistening effect after which you saturate the wet brush in paint. You will be able to see the paint flowing on the wet surface.
TIP: Cold pressed paper works best with the wet-on-wet technique because it doesn’t dry as quickly as hot pressed paper so that you have more time to work with the paint.
TIP: You don’t want your paint to be very diluted so to avoid this continue adding paint with a wet brush onto your palette to increase the intensity.
The gradient effect works wonders with the wet-on-wet technique. All you have to do is apply the deeper pigment to the top of your piece and work your way down from side to side so that the paint seamlessly gets pulled downwards. To achieve the softer effect without harsh lines and decrease the intensity of the pigment, clean your brush and dry it just a little then replicate the side to side motion moving down your paper.
2. Wet-on-dry technique
Within the wet on dry technique, there are numerous different methods that you can have a blast experimenting with, The first one that we’re going to look at is a flat wash. A flat wash refers to “any area of painting where a wash of single colour and value is painted in a series of multiple, overlapping stokes following the flow of the paint. A slightly tilted surface aids the flow of your washes”. It can range from being opaque to being transparent.
To create an opaque flat wash, you want to dip your brush in water till it is only a little damp and then saturate it with paint. Next, apply it to dry paper in a side to side strokes. If you need to, reapply paint and a little water to the brush to create another layer. Make sure to work your way down till all the paint is evenly distributed and a solid colour on the paper.
A transparent flat wash is similar to an opaque one in terms of technique. The main difference is that you dilute the paint by adding more water to your brush to produce a water effect with a tinge of colour. You should note that it’s easier to see distinct lines, brushstrokes and impressions with a transparent wash and that for this technique, you still want to achieve uniformity and ensure that the paint is evenly distributed.
Dry brushing is the process of applying paint from a semi-wet or semi-dry brush onto the paper. If you want beautiful textures, this is the technique for you. You can either use a flat brush or a round brush. First, you’re going to wet the brush and dry it using tissue paper. Next, load your brush with paint. Emerging Australian artist, Hieu Nguyen, more commonly known by his alias Kelogsloops uses the side of his flat brush to create grass-like thin strokes with a scratchy texture. He also uses the entire flat surface of the brush to create effects derived from nature such as rust and gravel. It’s important to know beforehand that this technique won’t produce a solid, even block of colour due to the texture of the paper and the dryness of the brush. He also has a variation where he uses the flat side of the brush but only dips the tip of his paintbrush in the paint to emphasize the individual hairs of the brush when he applies it in strokes.
TIP: To create thicker lines with more evident streaks and texture when dry brushing, apply a little bit of water to your brush.
You can also use your round brush for dry brushing using the same technique as with your short flat brush. There are fun application techniques that you can experiment with such as dabbing, tapping, swooping and using the side of the round brush.
Conclusion
You have now been introduced to the basics of watercolours. It's time for you to explore the joys of this medium for yourself, so get out there and create! Remember to tag us in all of your wonderful watercolour creations on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so we can see them too.