Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

My tip for today:

Step out of your comfort zone and paint what is right in front of you.

Try a style of painting you want to improve upon or have never tried before.  Challenge yourself.

Today's a blustery rainy day here.  I look out my window and I see maple leaves and small ornamental trees in the background.

Inside, right in front of me a still life waiting to be painted.  A simple roll of tape and a few watercolor paint brushes.  I personally do not set up a lot of still lifes.  But there it is, right in front of me.

A painting style I would like to do more of is negative shape painting.  I would normally give it a go with trees, leaves, flowers.  Today, I am attempting a negative space painting with a still life of common objects from my studio and I will do it all with one color making it an exercise in value tones.  I chose a blue with a wide range in values for the gloomy weather outside my window.

A quick shot of how my painting table looks right now at this very moment.  By now the paint and water have dried back and the painting is ready for step 2.

What's on your table?
What style or technique can you challenge yourself with?

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Wet into Water 

You may have tried wet into wet watercolor painting, how about trying wet into water?

You can get some really cool effects using this technique.

• Paint a shape with clean, clear water.
• Using rich, creamy, strong color, float the color around the edges of your shape.  
• Leave it alone.
• Let it dry without touching it.

Depending how much water and how much pigment you use, you can create some really cool effects.  If you float in pigment into a very wet puddle, you will get more interesting effects.  The pigment and water will begin to dry at different rates.  If you DO NOT touch it, it will change as it dries. Allow the water and pigment to do it's thing without fiddling with it.

If you float a more watery mix of pigment into your clear water shape, you will get more of an even tone once it is dry.  Less dramatic effects.

Notice the difference between the left and right squares.
The 4th photo in the bottom right corner is completely dry.

Give it a try and let me know how you did!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Splatter for Texture

Add some texture and fun to your watercolor paintings with a bit of splatter. I like to use an old watercolor brush and a wooden ruler.

• Load the brush with thick soupy paint.

• Tap the handle of the brush against a ruler, another paint brush handle.

• Allow the paint to splatter onto your watercolor paper.

• Hold your hands at different angles and levels to vary the pattern.

Practice on a test piece of paper or the mixing tray of your palette. When you get the hang of it add splatter to your watercolor paintings to give it some texture.

If you want to keep splatter off of certain areas of your painting, like the sky, shield it with another piece of paper. This way you can add texture to the ground without having a whole bunch of dots in the sky.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Painting Sky Around Buildings or Objects

If you are having trouble painting your sky around buildings or objects while creating your painting right side up, try turning your board upside down.

Sometimes while trying to paint the sky around a house or a barn can be difficult to paint because it's further away, the strokes feel odd, it's a drippy wet sky and you're afraid of runs.

Twist your painting board around, so the sky is now closer to you. Tilt your board, so if the sky drips, it drips off the edge of the painting on onto the tape and not onto your buildings.

If you paint on a board, your painting can be twisted and turned as needed to make the brush strokes feel more natural and make it easier to paint.

You don't need to paint an entire painting right side up.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Colors Look Paler When Dry

Watercolor paint when wet can look very dark and vibrant and when it dries back the intensity of the color can fade back up to 50%.

If you want a painting with deep, brilliant colors you may need to paint them much darker than you anticipated.

Shown here is a sample of the same swash of colors. Using the same puddle of paint colors, the painting on the left is dry and on the one on the right is wet. Notice how much more vibrant the wet colors appear.

Something to think about when wanting to paint bright, bold color.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Top Side?

I often get asked by my students, "Which side is the right side and which is the wrong side of the watercolor paper?"

If you are very particular and only want to paint on the top side of the paper, here's a tip for you. Do you purchase your paper in full sheets, then trim them down to quarter sheets to paint?

1. Look for the watermark

2. Using a pencil, lightly mark each corner with a small T.

3. Trim down your paper to quarter sheets.

4. You will now know which side is the top.

Having said all of that, if you're just starting out in watercolor buy high quality 140 lb. 100% cotton rag acid free watercolor paper and use both sides to practice on. The quality of the paper is the most important thing.

Many different brands of watercolor paper have a slightly different finish on both sides. Some manufacturers purposely make one side rougher than the other. Most of the time you can tell the difference between the top and the bottom, because the pulp is spread out onto a screen to dry. But there really isn't a right side and a wrong side to the paper.

Which side do you prefer to paint on?

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

People Silhouettes

Not ready to add people to your watercolor landscapes? Instead of going for the full details, practice making silhouette shapes of people. A tiny little silhouette of a person can add a little life to your landscapes.

Start by making a simple practice background. I chose a sunset on the beach. When the background is completely dry, add the people. Don't forget about scale and depth. People far off in the distance will be smaller than those closer to the viewer.

Create your people in a variety of stances, different poses. Make some people standing still. Some can be walking. Pair an adult with a child. Give them a simple activity. Here I had two of the people flying kites. Ladies can wear skirts.

Practice and have fun with it. When you get the hang of it, don't be afraid to add a little silhouette of a person to one of your landscapes.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Keeping Notes

On the back of your watercolor paintings, it's a good idea to write little notes. Keep track of what is important to you.

The title you gave the painting, maybe the date or at least the year you painted it.

Do you keep track of your paintings in a notebook with cataloged numbers? Add the number to the back.

Are you new to painting or have trouble remembering what colors you used? Write the names of colors on the reverse. Maybe you have a favorite color combination that shows up in a lot of your paintings. Or you look at one of your paintings and think wow those colors look great, now which ones did I use?

On the back of all my little ACEOs with an india ink pen, I write the title, the year, my name, my websites. Since they're part of my Painting A Day Challenge I add that too, plus the day I painted the little painting.

I have done all of the above from time to time. My larger paintings get pencilled in catalog numbers on the back and sometimes the title too. Before I really learned my palette, I kept track of the colors I used on the backs of paintings.

I use either 140 lb. or 300 lb. watercolor paper when I paint. I have never had any trouble keeping notes on the backs of my paintings in either pencil or india ink pen. The paper is thick enough pen and pencil lines do not show through to the top side. If you're heavy handed and are afraid, lighten up! It's good to keep little notes.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Side Loading a Brush

Here is a technique where you can create interesting effects with a single brush and multiple colors.

Using a flat brush, first wet your brush with clear water. Then pick up the main body of color, working it into the whole brush as you pick up the color. Then lay the side of the brush down into a different color well. Picking up color only one side of the brush.

In all three samples shown, I used yellow as the main body color. The first sample shown I picked up orange on the side. I then cleaned my brush and created the second and third samples where I chose to pick up a dark green.

Swash your brush across watercolor paper and watch the two colors from your brush mix with each other.

You can create beautiful flower petals. Multi-colored leaves for almost any plant, quickly and easily by side loading your brush. Give it a try and have fun painting!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Watercolor Greeting Cards

Today's tip ... okay, this is good whether you dabble in watercolors or your are proficient at it.

I highly recommend getting yourself a box of Strathmore Watercolor Cards. They come in a box of 10 or even a box of 100. They're made of 140 lb. watercolor paper and have a matching envelope with a pretty deckled edge. They do have an unusual sizing, not quite the same as painting on regular 140 lb. watercolor paper. I like to paint on the rougher side.

They are perfect for doing a quick little painting that doesn't involve using a lot of water or a complete background wash. More paint, less water and a medium sized round brush is perfect to whip up a quick card anytime you need one for any occassion.

Save a trip to the card shop and create your own. Your friends and family will love you for it!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Colorful Shadows

Shadows do not need to be a dull plain gray. Add a little bit of color to your shadows and take your watercolors a step further. It's very easy to think of shadows as a simple flat gray. Make the shadows come alive with color.

Add a bit of local color, color from the ground, color from the sky, reflected color from the object that is casting the shadow. Add a bit of warm glow from the sun. Your painting will be livelier and more interesting with colorful shadows.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Two Lamps

I have my drafting table set up with two adjustable arm task lamps. It is so important to have good lighting as you paint. It is a bonus to have two lamps that you can adjust as you need to while working. The window in the photo faces East and then there is one to the right which faces South. The natural lighting changes in my studio through out the day, it is nice to be able to adjust my lamps as I need to do so. It is good to be able to see what you are doing!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Using the Grid Method

If you have trouble transferring your drawing or sketch to your watercolor paper, whether you draw first or simply paint here's a good tip. Fold your drawing in half and then in half again, in both directions, horizontally and vertically. If your drawing does not go all the way to the edge of the page, make sure your second fold in each direction lines up with the edge of the sketch and not the edge of the paper. If you don't want to fold up your sketch, make a photocopy of the sketch and fold that. When you unfold it, you now have a grid.

Tape your watercolor paper to a board. Now make tic marks on the tape. Use a ruler if you need to. First make a mark at the half way point on each side. I made the half way mark tics longer than the other tics. Then on the tape only, mark your corners and then make a tic half the distance from the corner to the half way mark. Don't draw a grid on your paper, instead visualize it using the tic marks on the tape.

Now sketch out your drawing lightly in pencil using the the folded grid and the tic mark grid as a guide. Or paint without drawing first, yet still using the grid method as a guide.

Good luck, have fun and enjoy painting!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Popped a Dried Color?

I squeeze tube watercolor paint into my palette and allow them to dry completely before I use them. After a while, some colors tend to dry harder than other colors. The plastic palettes flex a bit, with traveling or even just moving them around the studio, it's rare but sometimes a hardened color will pop out of its well.

There's a simple solution to replacing a popped color:

1. Don't discard the popped color.

2. Clean the empty well with a wet brush and then wipe it out with a tissue or damp sea sponge.

3. Using clean water, brush across the bottom and sides of the hard paint.

4. Press firmly back into place.

Allow it to dry and you're back in business. Wetting the bottom of the dried paint will cause it to get sticky enough to stick back in place.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Payne's Gray or Payne's Grey

Not only does the color of this particular watercolor pigment vary from brand to brand but so does the spelling of the name. Some would even say it's not even a gray at all. MaimeriBlu's Payne's Grey leans more to the blue side, it's a very deep dark blue. Winsor & Newton's Payne's Gray also leans to the blue side but with a slight almost teal undertone in the right light making it a bit warmer. M. Graham's Payne's Gray is the most neutral gray of the three.

Although the hue changes, the spelling changes, Payne's Grey is definitely a color with a huge value range. It can go very dark to very light with a wide range in between.

With watercolor, it is easy to swap brands, your palette does not need to be entirely one brand. If you prefer the shade of Payne's Grey in one brand it will mix well with other brands. Just always make sure you're painting with artist quality paints.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Wax Resist

A fun technique to incorporate into a painting is the wax resist method. It can be used to create texture in any kind of painting. In this abstract painting I used it to create texture and additional interest.

Use either a piece of a white candle or even a white crayon. On a clean dry piece of watercolor paper, rub the side of the candle to create wide gritty areas to represent the texture of rock or sand on cold pressed or rough watercolor paper. The wax will sit at the top of the texture in the cold pressed and rough paper. Hot pressed paper is smooth, so the wax will cover the paper more smoothly in the rubbed areas. Use the end to create swirly marks, hash marks or any kind of line. Where ever you place the candle marks, those areas will remain white after painting over the top in watercolor. The wax cannot be removed once you have applied it to the paper. After you have made your marks, then paint your painting and you will notice how the water and paint resist the wax covered areas and remain white.

Do a little exploring, have fun using the wax resist method in an abstract watercolor painting.

Sampler by Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Mixed Media Painting

Size: 11 x 15 inches

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Mixing Neutral Colors

Grays, browns and blacks can be created by mixing complimentary colors which are opposite colors on the color wheel. You can create more interesting neutrals by mixing them yourself.

Here I've mixed ultramarine blue with burnt sienna. Burnt sienna leans a bit towards the orange side which is opposite blue on the color wheel. This combination mixes to create a fantastic range of pale gray to a deep black.

Purple mixed with it's opposite on the color wheel yellow blends to create a neutral tone perfect for painting sand. In this sample I used permanent violet bluish mixed with indian yellow.

Various greens mixed with various shades of red can create brilliant browns and blacks. The third column has a sap green mixed with primary red magenta to create a great shade of brown perfect for a tree. In the last column I combined crimson lake with cupric green creating a deep dark grey.

The colors shown in the top and bottom rows are the pure unmixed colors. The center row combines the color above and below to create the neutrals shown here. I mixed the center squares directly on the paper. These colors can be mixed on your palette. Need a darker shade use more pigment, need the tone to be lighter add more water.

Sure it's easy to purchase specific colors of watercolor paint, but it's more creative and fun to mix your own colors. Do a test swatch of mixing the colors from your own palette that are opposite each other on the color wheel. You will be able to create more colorful and pleasant neutrals, browns, blacks and grays.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Ox Gall Liquid

There is a watercolor medium called Ox Gall Liquid. Made from ... well never mind that part. Ox Gall improves the flow and acceptance of watercolor on the paper by decreasing the surface tension. When working wet into wet with two or more colors adding a few drops of Ox Gall to your water will allow the colors to blend and bleed smoothly into one another. It's great for doing really large washes, less chance for back runs.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Granulation Medium

There are several different mediums available for watercolor painting. One of the mediums made by Winsor & Newton is called Granulation Medium. It gives a granulated or mottled appearance to colors that tend to dry in a smooth even wash.

For my sample, I used MaimeriBlu's Cupric Green. First I wet my brush with plain water, dabbed it into my color and created a square swash of the cupric green. Then I cleaned my brush in clear water and blotted it dry on a towel.

I poured a small amount of the Granulation Medium into a tiny little cup. I wet my brush with the medium, then picked up some of the cupric green from my palette and created the larger swash of color.

As the colors dried, the larger swash with the medium did not dry as a flat smooth color. It has slight changes in tone and a slight granulated textured appearance. It does have a splotchy, mottled, grainy look.

This can be useful in creating interesting backgrounds, stormy skies. Be creative and give watercolor mediums a try.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Sedimentary Colors

Some watercolor paints are sedimentary, which means there are particles within the paint's pigments when used in a wet wash they will sink to the bottom of the pool of water even on your paper. This may cause a granulating textured effect when dry.

In the example shown here, I am using MaimeriBlu watercolor paints, Burnt Sienna (puddle on the top left) and Ultramarine Deep (puddle on the top right). The center puddle is a mixture of the Burnt Sienna and the Ultramarine Deep. This creates a nice gray color when mixed evenly. If you want it to lean a bit more to the blue side, add more Ultramarine Deep. If you want it to lean more to the brown side, add more Burnt Sienna. This mixture also has the ability to go very dark and create a nice rich black.

Sample 1: A mixture of the two colors mixed completely on the palette and applied to dry paper.

Sample 2: I applied a juicy wet Burnt Sienna to the paper and then added wet Ultramarine Deep and mixed it directly on the paper. Allowed to dry naturally.

Notice how even the color is when first mixed on the palette and then notice how you can obtain a more varied watercolor effect by mixing the colors right on the paper.

Sample 3: I applied a small square of water to wet the paper first, then I painted on the premixed color.

Sample 4: Again, I applied a square of clean water to wet the paper first. I added in the Burnt Sienna and then added the Ultramarine Deep and mixed them together on the wet paper.

Having wet the paper first, you will be giving the sedimentary colors more water to float around in. The different particles will sink to the bottom at different rates.

Allow your sedimentary and granulating colors to dry naturally on their own. Do not speed up the drying process with a hair dryer. If you allow these colors to dry on their own, they will work their own magic and create a fabulous texture.

These two colors are both sedimentary and create a beautiful granulating effect. Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Deep are great color combination for creating rocks, trees, stormy skies.