Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Color Recommendation Tip

MaimeriBlu's Permanent Violet Bluish is an awesome color to have in your palette. It is a color I would not do without.

It is a transparent watercolor that has a HUGE value range. Add a ton of water and it will be very pale, not so much water and it will go very dark.

It mixes well and plays nicely with other colors.

Mix a little Permanent Violet Bluish with almost any yellow, water it down and you have the perfect shade of sand.

Get ready to paint those beach scenes!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Layering the Colors in Your Palette

Layering colors is another way to create even more colors with the existing colors in your palette. You can expand the number of colors you have simply by layering them. Layering works best with transparent watercolors. You will have to really water down opaques colors for this process. To layer color, you paint over top of an already dry color. You can use the same color to deepen the color or you can use a different color to create a new color. You can't easily mix a layered color. The bottom color will glow through the top transparent color, this also creates a bit of depth to the color.

I created this chart on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper (11 x 15"). I counted the number of colors, in this palette there are 10. I drew 10 evenly spaced single lines in pencil, leaving some extra space at the bottom of the paper. Then I left a bit of space on the left and drew 10 evenly spaced vertical lines in pencil.

Using a 1/2 inch flat brush and following the pencil line with one edge of the brush, I painted a long straight horizontal line of each clean color. I allowed this to completely dry. Then I repeated the same process with each clean color painting vertical lines overlapping the already dried lines of colors. When this is dry, use an india ink pen or pencil and label each color on the ends. At the intersections of each color you will be able to see the variety of new colors you can create simply by layering the colors in your palette.

In Keeping with the Winter Weather

Winter's Day

by Rita Squier

In keeping with the winter weather, a little landscape painting of snow.  Perfect weather in the NorthEast US for snowbirds and those who enjoy a winter escape!

This darling little Winter's Day painting can be found in my Etsy Shop.  It is a 4x6" original watercolor painting on 300 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper.  It has a bright white mat and will fit a standard 5x7" frame.  Just a couple of weeks ago, this lovely little painting made it to the front page treasury of Etsy.com.

Watercolor Houses

 I have done a bunch of commissioned house portrait paintings in watercolor and the majority of the time they are to be gifts.  I love it when someone asks "Will you paint a picture of .... it will be a gift for ..." and of course I say yes.  I paint the painting and I am so happy and delighted when it is completed and I would love to show it off, but I can't.  I have to wait.  I would never want to spoil someone's surprise gift by accident.  Here is a painting I did several months ago.  It was a Christmas gift and now I can finally show it off.  

If you're interested in having a watercolor painting of your home, former home, vacation home or would like to have one painted as a gift for someone else, please contact me for more information.  I would be delighted to create a one of a kind present that would be cherished for years to come!

You can view other homes and buildings I have painted on my website: http://rasquier.com and there are also a couple of listing in my Etsy shop (http://squier.etsy.com) for commissioned house portraits.