Now you want to know what it is and, most importantly, how to do it!

A dry brush painting method in watercolor produces fantastic textures and is valuable for certain types of painting effects.

But this technique can be tricky to master!

In this article, I’ll explain exactly what watercolor dry brushing is and give tips on how to apply this method successfully.

Get your brushes ready

What is the dry brush watercolor technique? (A quick definition)

Dry brushing is a dry surface technique using a damp, well-blotted brush to paint broken streaky watercolor textures. The dry brush is dragged across the rough paper surface, depositing pigment on the raised bumps but leaving the valleys untouched. 

The result is a broken dappled-looking brush mark – with specks of color and white paper showing through here and there.

This technique is also sometimes referred to as “dry-on-dry.” And a few artists condense the two words and call it “drybrushing.”

The results of dry brushing are always slightly random. Even with good technique, the outcome is somewhat haphazard and irregular. 

But that’s one of the beauties of watercolor painting! The happy mistakes produced by a dry brush method add depth of texture and interest to your work

But of course, the more you consciously apply this technique, the better you’ll get at it.

How do you paint a dry brush watercolor effect?

Each artist has a slightly different approach to painting a dry brush technique, but the general principle is the same. To successfully paint with this method, you must control the moisture level on your brush. Applying the correct amount of pressure to the surface is also key.

This can take a bit of practice. Don’t worry if you get it wrong the first time!

It helps to do a few painting drills to get a feel for how this technique works. Later I’ll show you a quick exercise you can use to get to grips with dry brushing.

How to do dry brush watercolor step by step:

1. Load your brush with watercolor paint. 
2. Blot away most of the moisture using a paper towel, or squeeze the bristles with your fingers to leave a small amount of paint.
3. Skim the brush across the paper without pressing it down hard. The brush should partially touch the paper. Quicker, more confident brush strokes tend to work best.

Squeezing the belly of the brush also splays the hairs. This can be an excellent way to improve the broken streaks produced by dry brushing.

Getting the best results is a matter of judgment. The wetness of the brush needs to be not too wet or too dry! And the pressure applied by your hand should be careful. 

Tips & mistakes to avoid: 

The speed of your brush strokes should be pretty rapid. Resting the brush head on the surface will give the paint time to sink into the “valleys” of the paper, spoiling the effect.

Confident gestures with your brush will yield better results. Try to avoid repeatedly scrubbing the paper surface.

Also, make sure no damp areas remain on the paper. Any dampness will soak up the paint and create a diffused blotch of color.

You need to work on a dry flat surface to avoid mistakes. This can be problematic since watercolor paper tends to buckle when wet! The raised undulating paper surface makes it very difficult to apply dry brushing. You can’t keep your brush head at the correct distance from the paper surface (unless you’re a genius!).

Thicker paint mixed with less water makes the process easier – but it depends on the tonal value you’re seeking. Thicker paint will be darker and more intense in color.

Drybrush Materials:

You’ll find you get a better outcome using the appropriate watercolor supplies for dry brushing. Here’s an overview of what works and what doesn’t.

What paper is best for dry brushing?

As you’ve probably guessed, the texture of the watercolor paper plays an essential role in this painting method. A rough, pitted surface is necessary, so the paint adheres to the protruding bumps.

Smooth hot-pressed paper will not do!

The grain of watercolor paper varies from one manufacturer to another. This grain will be apparent when using a dry brush technique (personally, I like Arches).

Choose paper with a good textured grain for dry brushing: 

• Hot press paper: not good
• Cold press watercolor paper: good
• Rough watercolor paper: best

What is the best brush to dry brush in watercolor?

There are no fixed rules about which brushes work best for this method, but generally speaking, they should be fairly big and have a flat edge. 

Flat brushes are preferred by most artists. However, fan brushes can also produce interesting dry brush effects. Large round brushes can also be used, but you need to paint with the side of the brush (using the belly and not the tip).

Natural hair brushes like sable or squirrel can release the paint more consistently and longer. They don’t quickly release their load upon touching the paper and allow longer flowing brush strokes.

You could also try stiffer brushes (such as hogs hair bristles, customarily used for oil painting). The more rigid hairs naturally produce an uneven application of paint.

Dry Brush Exercise

To get accustomed to dry brushing, try this simple painting drill. 

• Pick a small sheet of rough paper (8 x 8 inches, for example)
• Prepare your brush by loading the paint and blotting off some moisture. 
• Paint down the page using repeated horizontal brush strokes – from left to right. Don’t pick up any new paint – let the brush run dry.

Pay attention to the moment when the brush starts producing uneven white paper freckles. Play around with the pressure you apply to see how this affects the appearance.

Painting examples (What to use drybrush for?)

You will often see dry brush effects used for things like water reflections on a seascape. This technique is perfect for imitating the sparkle of light on a rippled surface.

But in truth, the only limit is your imagination

There are lots of situations that benefit from dry brushing. 

For example, I’m a big fan of the work by the contemporary watercolor artist Chien Chung Wei (see an example below). 

He uses dry brush to leave speckles of light and detail. He seems to paint shapes with broken edges effortlessly, making your imagination complete the picture. 

Beautiful!

Read this next for complete overview of all the watercolor techniques…

The post Dry Brush Watercolor (Secrets to This Technique!) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

It can be very frustrating to endlessly struggle with your brushwork this way! Especially because blending is an often repeated gesture whenever you paint something. 

In short… You really need this technique in your skillset to feel comfortable with watercolors. 

But there is hope on the horizon

Because blending can easily be mastered with a few tried and trusted methods. 

In this article, I’ll reveal everything you need to know.

Blending watercolor 

Before I show you how to blend with watercolor paint, it’s a good idea to clarify what this painting technique actually is. Because different artists seem to have their own interpretations. And to be honest, they’re not always giving you the best information. 

It can be very confusing :-/

So here’s a straightforward definition of what blending is (and isn’t!)

What is blending in watercolor?

Blending is a brush technique to create a transition in color or tonal value. Blending is used to fade out or remove hard edges. The aim is a smooth shift from dark to light or from one color to another.

For example, you can see the difference between blended vs. unblended watercolor below.

The first demonstration shows a brush stroke left to dry, creating a hard edge. The second brush mark has been blended to fade out one of the edges. 

The other example shows two colors applied to the paper with and without blending. The shape was left to dry in the first case before applying the second brush stroke. The following image shows the two colors blended together.

So blending is about making smooth transitions and soft edges. This technique creates fuzzy, indistinct edges rather than crisp hard shapes.

What blending is not!

Beware of similar terms and methods that are commonly confused with blending. For example:

• Blending is not mixing
• Shading is not blending

Blending is different from mixing. It’s true… blending colors sometimes results in a mixture or fusion of colors. But not always. Blending can be done with a single color, with no mixing involved. Remember, to blend a brush mark means smoothing it out and making it blurry. 

The term “shading” is also sometimes used interchangeably with blending. In the real world, shade and shadow allow us to perceive three-dimensional volumes. In watercolor painting, shading is used to represent this depth of space. 

How to Blend Watercolor

There are various methods to achieve soft blends in watercolor. Some approaches use wet watercolor techniques. Others are for blending dry brush strokes. But the key to successful blending is controlling moisture levels.

1. Wet-on-dry blending 

Painting wet on dry in watercolor is just a fancy term for applying wet paint onto dry paper. For example, suppose you paint a shape and want to make one of the edges soft. A common method for softening edges in this situation involves a blotting technique called “pulling out.”

Let me explain… To practice this technique:

1. Lay down a brush mark. 
2. While the paint mark is still wet, rinse your brush to remove some of the color, then blot it on a cloth to remove about half of the moisture.
3. Run the blotted brush along the edge that you want to fade. Your brush only needs to touch the edge of the existing shape.
4. Repeat the process if necessary to continue fading out the color.

What’s happening? The colored pigments are being “pulled” into the area of clear water created by the blending stroke. Hence the term “pulling out.”

The result is a shape that fades out from dark to light. 

Mistakes to avoid:

Make sure your brush is sufficiently blotted. If your new brush stroke is overcharged with water, it will flood back into the previous brush mark. This causes a textured effect called a “back-run.”

2. Wet on wet blending

So how do you blend watercolor wet on wet? 

Wet on wet refers to when you paint into a wet surface. This can be a surface moistened with clear water or a damp shape of colored paint. 

This is a less-used method of blending but can be effective if you plan ahead. It’s like the reverse method to wet-on-dry. Instead of applying clear water to an existing brush mark, you wet the paper first, then add colored pigment to the water.

• Begin by defining the shape you want using only clear water.
• Pick up paint with your brush, then blot it on a cloth to remove some moisture. A heavily loaded brush might flood the clear wash.
• You can control the flow of pigments with a rinsed and blotted brush.

Sometimes this can be tricky to control, so blotting up some of the pigment and pushing the paint around with the tip of your brush can help restrain the movement of color and the degree of blending.

3. Graded wash

Another common approach to blending in watercolor is the graded wash. Often used for painting large surfaces, a graded wash is when you paint a shape that changes tonality from dark to light (or vice versa). 

This can be done using either a wet-on-dry or wet-on-wet technique. Many artists prefer the wet-on-wet approach because the results are smoother.

This technique is particularly effective for painting graduated skies, for example.

• To make a graded wash, begin with a big puddle of mixed paint.
• Lay down the first brush marks, then dilute the paint mixture in your palette.
• Continue painting the shape with this weaker mix of color.
• Repeat the process until the shape is faded the way you want.

Sometimes, a smooth transition is easier if you tilt the board and use gravity to help push the pigment down the shape. Also, Working quickly helps reduce the possibility of streaky brush marks. 

4. Blending colors in watercolor

It’s often more interesting to vary the color of a shape  

(Painting this way is also known as a variegated wash technique). 

To achieve a transition of color, you can use a wet-on-wet or a dry technique.

Blending colors with a wet method is also known as “charging-in.”

• Begin by painting a form with the first color.
• Pick up a second color with your brush, and dab the tip into the first shape.

The color will diffuse into the underlying watercolor. When it dries, the two colors are blended with a soft transition from one color to the next.

As with other blending techniques, be careful with the amount of moisture added to the second pass of paint. Use a damp but not overly-wet brush.

Color blending can also be accomplished using wet-on-dry. The two colors to be blended are painted adjacent to each other, then brushed and manipulated to create a blend of colors.

• Paint each colored shape side by side.
• Rinse and blot your brush to remove some of the moisture, then pass it from left to right.
• Rinse and blot again, then repeat the brush stroke, passing from right to left.

Keeping your brush clean between passes will help reduce color contamination. 

5. Blending by lifting

A lifting technique is where you remove pigments from the paper’s surface. When this is done during the damp painting stage, the result creates a lighter-toned shape with a smooth blended edge.

This technique can be done with any absorbent tool, like a sponge or paper towel. But a blotted brush works very well. And it’s the most practical way of lifting quickly before the paint dries!

6. Watercolor edge control

Edge control in watercolor painting is all about blending techniques. Edges are either soft or hard (or somewhere in between). Various methods, such as pulling out, charging-in, and lifting, allow the artist to control edge definition while they paint.

The more you practice blending techniques, the more control you will gain over your edges. 

Remember that edges form at the boundary of wet shapes. So blending is mainly about controlling the amount of pigment in any particular place. You can push, pull, blot up, or charge in extra pigment during the painting process.

You just need to do this while the paint is still damp

FAQ – Tips for blending watercolors 

Are watercolors easy to blend?

Watercolors have a reputation for being tricky to blend. Soft blended edges require some skill to produce. Blending mistakes are usually the result of too much or too little water. Too much moisture can cause unwanted textures like “cauliflowers” or back runs. Too little moisture can cause a streaky-looking wash where the brush marks are visible.

How to keep watercolor paint from blending 

Wet-on-dry watercolor painting is the only way to produce hard crisp edges with this medium. Avoid wet-on-wet painting and painting on damp paper if you want hard edges that don’t blend.

Glazing is another perfect watercolor technique that can be used without blended edges. With this method, you wait for each layer of paint to dry before continuing. This avoids the diffusion of pigment across the paper.

The post How to Blend Watercolors (Here’s What you NEED to Know!) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

Other types of paint (think gouache or oils) have a thicker consistency. But watercolor paint is diluted with water, and the colored pigments will flow in the same way water does.

So a big wet brush stroke can be encouraged to trickle and drip, creating a lively graphic effect to a painting.

Now… this technique can be applied in a very random way. However, there are also ways to handle the drip marks for a more controlled result.

Below, I’ll explain everything you need to know and show you an example of how to implement this effect.

What is the Watercolor Drip Technique

Watercolor dripping is when you apply paint with a high proportion of water and tilt the paper so that the paint runs, producing a colored drip that flows down the sheet.

A dripping effect with watercolors is an exciting way to add abstract texture to your paintings! 

The amount of water used in the paint mixture is the key to success with this method.

You need a very fluid, runny puddle of watercolor to paint this way.

And you’ll also need to control the water-to-paint ratio to achieve the desired color intensity.

The water-to-paint ratio is the quantity of pigment for a given amount of water. For example, the less paint you mix into the water, the higher the water-to-paint percentage. 

• More water : less paint = low water-to-paint ratio
• Less water : more paint = high water-to-paint ratio

This is a fancy way of expressing the lightness or darkness of a color. For example, a very weak diluted mixture of watercolor produces a light-toned appearance. At the other end of the spectrum, you can also make very thick “pasty” watercolor mixes that have an intense, dark-toned appearance.

The trick is, to make your watercolor fluid enough to flow down the page but with the correct color intensity. 

How Do You Make Watercolor Paint Drip?

To do this, you simply start with a big puddle of water!

I find mixing this way is the best method to get watery paint of the correct intensity and consistency. 

• Start with a reasonably big puddle of water, then pick up some pigment from your watercolor palette, and mix it into the puddle. 
• Keep adding paint until you’re happy with the color strength. 
• Use a scrap of paper to test the intensity of the paint mix. Remember, watercolors dry lighter in appearance than during the painting process.

For this technique to work, I recommend you have all your colors mixed and ready to go before you start the painting. 

You need to work the paint in the wet stage of the painting before the color dries. Otherwise, you can end up with patchy-looking shapes of color because back runs start to form. 

Dripping is a wet-on-dry technique.

Drips of paint will only occur on a dry paper surface. The paint is very liquid, but the surface must be dry. Damp paper won’t produce this result because the pigments will disperse and spread into a wet wash.

Watercolor drip art example

I wanted to convey the colorfulness and watery nature of my favorite watercolor paints in this painting! I could have simply painted the tubes of paint more realistically. But instead, I decided to color the shadows of the tubes with the same hue as the watercolors. Making them drip and leak down the page emphasizes the liquid quality of the paints – better than a realistic rendition…

Art is always a question of interpretation

Plan ahead, and think about ways to incorporate this technique to create colorful and expressive paintings!

Watercolor Dripping Effect – Step-by-Step Demonstration

In this example, I painted bands of color and then applied a dripping technique to create the effect of colors flowing down the sheet. 

The paint colors I chose were as follows:

• Hansa Yellow Deep – Pigment number: PY65
• Phthalo Green BS – Pigment number: PG7
• Phthalo blue GS – Pigment number: PB15:3
• French ultramarine – Pigment number: PB29
• Quinacridone rose – Pigment number: PV19
• Pyrrol scarlet – Pigment number: PR255

As the colors streak into each other, the pigments mingle and produce soft, diffused results. I suggest you try to choose the order of the colors deliberately so that the mixing results created by the drips will be more enjoyable.

Mix up some reasonably big puddles of color and adjust the strength. I was going for more substantial, deeper tones, so I added a good quantity of paint.

I started by painting the first three stripes of color using a large flat brush. The brush is well-loaded with paint, so I get a nice wet brush stroke.

Then using a small, round brush, I painted vertical lines down through the wet bands of paint. These lines will create a path and encourage the damp paint to flow. Use a brush loaded with clear water and rinse the tip as often as you want to prevent color contamination from the previous brush stroke.

Now tilt the paper up and let gravity do its work!

Pigments will begin to flow down the lines if your colors are wet enough, producing drips at the end of each vertical pathway. 

If this doesn’t seem to work, use a round brush loaded with water to add more wetness to the drip lines and incite the colors to dribble downwards

Lay the paper flat again and leave it to dry.

Can you think of other ways to use watercolor dripping in your artwork?

What to read next? Take a look at this complete guide to watercolor techniques…

The post Watercolor Dripping (Learn This Easy Technique!) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

But let’s face it… sometimes there’s just too much paint on the paper! 

For example, you lay down a strong-colored watercolor wash but want certain areas to be lighter. Maybe you need to reveal highlights. And sometimes, there’s no practical way to paint around big light-toned shapes.

So what should you do?

Lifting, blotting, and erasing watercolor are essential to an artist’s “toolkit.” 

These watercolor techniques help artists lighten the values in a painting or even remove the paint when necessary. 

However, there are a few limitations and essential things to understand for these methods to work well.

What is The “Lifting Off” Watercolor Technique

Lifting is a technique for removing the color from the surface of watercolor paper. This is done to correct mistakes, lighten parts of a wash, create highlights, soften an edge, or lighten tonal values in a painting.

Watercolors aren’t like other paint mediums where you can add white to light a painting. Often you have to plan ahead and leave the lighter parts of the subject untouched. Like this, the white paper shows through, providing light-toned areas. 

Lifting is part of the painting process with watercolors. You’re constantly adjusting the lightness and darkness of the painted shapes. A lifting technique allows you to control the amount of colored pigment on the sheet.

Also, watercolors are notoriously tricky to control. Sometimes the pigments wander off in a direction you didn’t intend.

Blotting or lifting corrects the occasional error

How to lift watercolor (lifting can be done wet, dry, or by re-wetting)

Watercolor artists use several methods and tools to lift or remove color. And lifting can be done at different stages of the painting process – during or afterward.

This technique can be executed in the following ways:

• While the paint is still wet
• By re-wetting the watercolors on the painting.
• When the surface is dry

Let’s have a look at each of these situations in turn…

Blotting watercolor – lifting while wet

You’ll see me do this often if you observe some of my painting demos. First, I lay down a colored shape, then blot up some of the pigments to lift out a highlight or brighten the values of part of the shape. 

This watercolor blotting technique can be done with any absorbent tools. But the most practical is the brush you have in your hand!

After painting a shape, I simply rinse and blot the brush on a soft cloth, then use the brush head to absorb wet paint from the surface of the paper. Rinse and repeat until you’ve removed enough color.

Lifting by re-wetting

There are occasions when you decide to lighten the values of a painting after the paint has dried. This can be done by dampening the surface of the painting. 

This works by reactivating the paint (similar to when you re-wet your dry pans of watercolor in a palette). You then use a brush to lightly scrub the painted surface. This gets the pigments loose. 

Sometimes I use a stiff bristle brush because it’s more abrasive and can help loosen the pigments.

You then use something absorbent, like a kitchen towel, to “lift off” the pigments. 

Can you lift dried watercolor?

Dried watercolor paint is more difficult to lift. However, it can be removed using several different tools and methods. Most of these techniques use an abrasive tool to scrape or scrub the surface and literally erase the pigments from the dried painting.

I sometimes do this to scratch out paint and create highlights or bright details. 

But this approach should be used with care. You can damage the paper surface easily. Abrasive techniques not only remove the paint but can also remove the paper sizing (all watercolor papers use sizing to control the absorbent properties of the sheet). 

Too much scraping or rubbing can alter the handling properties of the paper, making it challenging to re-paint over the top.

Important things you need to know about lifting

The characteristics of your painting materials can also influence the effectiveness of watercolor lifting techniques. For example, certain types of paper or paint make removing the color from the surface easier (or more complicated).

Watercolor paper quality

The type and quality of paper you use affect the ability to lift paint from the surface.

This is because of two things:

• The way the paper is sized
• The texture of the paper 
• The material that was used to make the paper.

For example, all watercolor paper uses sizing to control how wet paint is absorbed (sheets without sizing are like blotting paper and would soak up all the paint deep into the fibers). Poor quality sizing can lead to handling problems. 

Some of the student-quality papers I use permit the colors to lift very easily. This is not necessarily a good thing! If every new brush stroke you make lifts off the previous brush marks, you end up with streaky results.

I prefer artist-quality papers like Arches. The sizing is well-balanced. The surface can be tougher to lift and remove paint, but this is a good thing. I try to control the highlights and values during the wet stage. And you can still lift pigments to a certain extent if needed.

The texture of the paper surface also affects its lifting properties to some extent. As a general rule of thumb, hot press (smooth) paper makes lifting easy. On the other hand, cold press (textured) paper is more difficult to remove and make corrections.

The material used by the paper manufacturer is another consideration. For example, artist-quality watercolor paper is made from cotton. Cotton fibers are stronger than wood cellulose, making cotton more resistant to lifting techniques that use scrubbing and scraping.

Some paints resist lifting.

Watercolor paints have a characteristic called “staining” .Each paint color is classified anywhere from non-staining to highly staining. A staining watercolor is challenging to remove, whereas a non-staining color is easily lifted. 

Staining is a property of the pigments used in the paint formula. Some families of pigments stain more than others. For example, phthalo paint colors are highly staining. As are the quinacridones and cadmium-based colors. 

How do you know if watercolor is staining? – The best way is to test your colors by making swatches. You’ll find a complete tutorial about how to make swatches here…

How to choose staining or lifting watercolors 

It sounds complicated choosing the staining characteristics of your paints. The problem is, sometimes you want one quality or the other.

Non-staining (liftable) paints are helpful in removing pigments to create highlights.

Staining paints are excellent if you use a glazing technique (layering). This is because the underlying colors will adhere to the paper with each new layer of paint.

I would suggest you need both types of watercolors in your palette. I don’t use this as an indicator for choosing paint. 

Suppose lifting is an important consideration in your painting technique. In that case, there is one thing you can try without having to worry about the staining characteristics of your palette!

Lifting mediums – a watercolor additive that aids lifting

A watercolor lifting medium enhances the lifting capabilities of the paper surface. So regardless of the type of paint you’re using, you can still easily lift pigments from the surface.

You just coat the surface of the paper beforehand and leave it to dry. The coating alters the absorbent properties of the paper and makes it simpler to lift off color. Note however that this alters the handling properties of the paper slightly. Paint will dry less quickly and remain fluid on the surface for longer.

However with a lifting preparation like this one you can lift all types of paint including staining watercolors.

Watercolor tools for lifting

Depending on the stage of the painting, there are different tools that artists typically use for removing paint. Here are a few suggestions

• Brushes. A good quality sable brush will absorb moisture well. It is my first choice of tool for lifting during the damp stages of a watercolor painting. A stiff bristle brush is better suited to lifting after the paint has dried.
• Paper towels and sponges. These are great for blotting up more extensive areas of pigment during the wet stage. For example, artists often use these for making cloud shapes. Remember, they have a unique texture that often gets imprinted into the colored wash.
• Knife or scalpel. A sharp instrument like a knife is suitable for scraping. You can correct errors by carefully scratching the surface. A pointed scalpel is excellent for adding bright line details, such as highlights in hair or grass.
• Sandpaper. Using abrasive paper like this produces a subtle effect with soft edges. Only the upper layers of pigment get rubbed off on textured watercolor paper.

If you make a mistake with watercolor, can you erase it?

Yes, watercolor paint can be erased using various lifting techniques.

Watercolor is known for being tricky. Because of the paint’s transparency, you cannot mask the underlying brush marks. But if you make an error, you can remove mistakes to a certain extent. 

This has limitations because the more you wear down the surface, the more you damage the paper.

How to erase watercolor 

Use a lifting technique such as re-wetting and scrubbing the pigments, then blotting paint from the surface. Abrasive techniques such as scraping with a knife or sandpaper are also effective.

Some people use a special sponge like this, known as a “magic eraser.” (Amazon)

how to stop watercolors from lifting 

The best way to prevent watercolors from lifting is to choose paper and paints that resist lifting. Some brands and qualities of paper are better at resisting lifting techniques. For example, staining paints will be harder to remove.
Arches watercolor paper is a strong cotton-based paper and has sizing which reduces lifting, making your brush marks more permanent

The post Lifting Blotting and Erasing Watercolor Paint (Pro Tips!) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

But don’t worry… It’s not as complicated as it sounds.

In fact, chances are you’re already using a glazing technique without even thinking about it

A bit of knowledge about this painting method will help you better understand how watercolors really work and how to plan your paintings to avoid mistakes.

What is glazing in watercolor?

The term glazing in watercolor is another word for applying multiple layers of paint.

A ​glazing technique​ is when you paint a shape, let it dry completely, then paint a new shape over the top of the previous color. 

Because watercolor paint is transparent, any new brush marks let the underlying colors that were previously painted show through. 

The combination of two layers of paint produces a new appearance with a modified color and a darker tone.

In other words, with each new layer, you increase the tonal value a bit at a time and create a new color. It’s a bit like mixing colors directly on the paper. This effect is caused by the layers of pigment building up, one on top of the other.

The ability to glaze with watercolors is one of the qualities which give watercolor paintings a unique and appealing appearance. Beautiful clean, transparent glazes of color give depth and interest to your paintings. It’s probably one of the reasons why you’re so attracted to this medium! 

Admit it! You are… aren’t you?

How does this layering technique work?

Glazing is a “transparent” technique. In fact, glazing or layering paint is almost unavoidable when you paint in watercolors. 

Glazes create an optical effect – Like mixing on the paper, one color at a time.

After all, watercolor paint is transparent! So the very nature of the paint is what creates this effect. Watercolor artists learn to embrace this characteristic through glazing.

When you lay down a wash of transparent color and let it dry, you are making a backdrop of color. Then you paint more transparent glazes over the top. All subsequent colors modify the final appearance of the painting.

The effects of glazing can be beautiful. But sometimes, they can be unexpected. 

The type of paint matters

The best type of watercolors to use for glazing are transparent.

Confused?

I know I said that watercolors are transparent. But the transparency of different pigments varies from one tube of color to another.

Some watercolors are MORE transparent than others.

If you look carefully at the labels of your paint, you’ll see this characteristic is mentioned. 

Most paints are classified according to transparency, like this:

• Transparent
• Semi-transparent
• Opaque

Single-pigment paints are also better for glazing. They allow you to layer colors and darken values without creating muddy-looking mixtures.

Some paints are already a mixture of two or three pigments, blended to create a new color appearance (these are known as convenience colors). However, using these in glazing can produce dull results. 

Some colors reactivate when glazing in watercolor. 

Occasionally you might come across problems while trying to glaze your paints. The underlying color lifts off and mixes with the new brush strokes you just laid down. 

What’s happening is the first layer is reactivating with the wet brush stroke and mixing with the new color. This can happen for a couple of reasons:

• Bad paper sizing
• Non-staining paints

Watercolor paper differs in quality. Sizing is a substance that alters the absorbent properties of the paper. And on some types of paper, the sizing can be poorly applied or of poor quality. As a result, the paint lifts off the surface more easily.

So poor quality paper sizing can be one reason you’re having difficulty glazing.

Secondly, watercolor paints can be “staining” or “non-staining.” This refers to how much the colored pigments are absorbed into the paper fibers. Staining colors can be difficult to remove (they sink deep into the paper). Non-staining colors tend to settle on the surface and are easier to remove.

So if your first glaze uses paints that are very “non-staining,” the following glaze of color could disturb the underlying pigments and cause them to lift off.

How to glaze watercolors 

Lay down your first watercolor wash, leave it to dry completely, then apply the next wash. Let this dry, then continue building up subsequent layers.

That’s it!

Most watercolor artists build up the tonal values of their paintings in this way, allowing them to progress from light tones to darks. Remember that your first “glaze” of paint doesn’t have to be monochrome. You can paint a whole background using a variegated wash or create a shape that transitions from an intense color to a light-toned one. 

Glazing and layering paint is pretty simple. If you get the ground rules right… 

The rules of glazing:

• The underlying layer must be dry. This is the first basic rule. If the watercolor hasn’t dried, the pigments won’t fix to the fibers of the paper, and they will lift off when you apply the ensuing glaze.
• Think about the color mixing effect of the combined colors. It helps to understand the mixing results when you combine two paint colors. 
• Transparent single-pigment paints work best. Paint colors with these properties are said to be ideal for glazing.
• Paint quickly to avoid reactivating underlying layers. Regardless of the type of paint or paper you use, quick and confident brush strokes can help. The more you “scrub” the paper with multiple passes of your brush, the more likely you will lift some of the underlying pigments.

And here’s a quick video I made to summarize glazing:

And you’ll find a description of all the important watercolor techniques on this page…

Here’s a suggested list of paints ideal for glazing:

I select my paints according to their characteristics. These are the basic paints I recommend to artists to get started. They are designed to provide an extensive range of mixing properties. They are all single-pigment paints and mostly transparent. 

• Hansa Yellow Deep – Pigment number: PY65
• Lemon yellow – Pigment number: PY175
• Phthalo blue GS – Pigment number: PB15:3
• French ultramarine – Pigment number: PB29
• Quinacridone rose – Pigment number: PV19
• Pyrrol scarlet – Pigment number: PR255

Watercolor glazing exercises

Painting drills that include glazing are a great way to learn the handling properties of your materials (paint and paper) and improve your technique. 

To begin with, I suggest you test your paints by creating glazing charts.

A glazing chart allows you to quickly test your paint’s characteristics and how they mix on the paper to create new color appearances. 

You’ll find a complete tutorial about how to make gazing charts here…

Here’s another fun painting exercise you can try out to exploit the transparency of your watercolors and practice your glazing technique.

These easy-to-paint abstract “roses” are created by layering shapes on top of each other in a series of glazes. 

You’ll find a more complete description of this painting on this page…

The post What is Watercolor Glazing (And How to Master it!) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

I recently took a trip to an iconic art store in Paris – The Sennelier Art Store.

The watercolor and pen sketch you see here is a result of me playing with the art supplies I picked up ! Below I’ll give you some tips on using watercolor with ink pens for creating line and wash artwork.

Some of you may know I’m lucky enough to live near Paris in France. The Sennelier art Shop can be found at “Quai Voltaire” on the “Rive Gauche” in the heart of Paris, not far from l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts and just opposite the Louvre art museum.

It’s not a huge store. A lot of people visit simply for the pleasure of browsing all the amazing, colorful art equipment. Imagine being surrounded by an abundance of wonderful colored pastels, paints, crayons, and pigments, and every type of brush and paper imaginable!

How can you resist ? I was like a kid in a candy store

This is the original Sennelier shop which was opened by Gustave Sennelier in 1887. This was during the 19th century impressionist art movement. At first Gustave sold paints by other manufacturers, but then he started producing his own artisanal paints at the back of the store. It’s said that artists like Cézanne and Gauguin would go hunting for paints in the neighbourhood, and if an artist couldn’t find a particular color, Gustave would create it for them.

The interior of the shop is decorated all in wood and organized like an antique drugstore with oak counters, secret drawers and tall display cases offering a huge choice of art products.

Through the magic of the internet you can take a virtual tour of the inside of this amazing shop here…

Watercolor with Pen Sketching Tips

The colors used to mix that Green/blue “teal” color on the facade were Phthalo blue G.S + Phathlo green B.S. Some of the paints used in this project include:

• Phthalo Green BS – Pigment number: PG7
• Phthalo blue GS – Pigment number: PB15:3
• Pyrrol scarlet – Pigment number: PR255
• Hansa Yellow Deep – Pigment number: PY65
• Burnt umber – Pigment number: PBr7
• Paynes gray – Pigment number: Pb29/PBk9

Watercolor and pen is a popular mixed media combination, especially for sketching and drawing on the go. This technique is also often referred to as line and wash.

Line and wash lets you combine the precision of detailed lines with the fluid and spontaneous effects of watercolors.

Below I’d like to share a few tips and common questions about working with watercolors and pens…

Can you use watercolor over a pen drawing?

Watercolors are a perfect way to add color to line drawings. A common approach is to create a simple outline of the subject in ink, without overworking the drawing or adding excessive shading or hatching.

Using the pen outline as a guide, color can be added in a loose way with watercolors. The layer of paint helps add depth and shading to the subject.

And the loose brush marks of colored paint provide a counterbalance to the hard pen lines creating a lively, illustrative look to this type of artwork.

What pens to use with watercolor

One thing you need to check is that the ink or pens you use for this technique are actually waterproof. Look at the label on your pen to see if it says something “permanent” or “indelible ink”. I usually carry around a few Pigma Micron pens which use indelible ink and are available in various widths. They’re very handy for this kind of application.

If you’re not sure whether your ink is waterproof you can test your pen on a scrap of paper then brush over the top with a quick wash of watercolor. Indelible pens dry really quickly, so you shouldn’t see any smudging when you add wet brush strokes.

Do you ink before or after watercolor ?

Many beginners ask themselves which to use first – watercolor or pen?

The truth is there’s no right or wrong way to create line and wash artwork. Although the order in which you choose to work can have an effect on the finished piece.

For example if you use a pen first you tend to end up with a more meticulous, controlled result. The pen lines are usually more dominant when you work this way round.

On the other hand if you apply ink over the top of watercolor, the result can be more energetic. You’ll be less inclined to draw the entire contour of the subject and you can just use your pens to add some texture and sharpen up a few details.

How do you paint with watercolor and pen

I did this sketch of the Sennelier shop front from a photo using pen and watercolor.

I started with a light pencil sketch of the facade. This doesn’t have to be detailed and will serve as a guide for your pen marks. You can always erase the pencil when you’ve completed the ink version.

Whether you choose to add lines before or after, keep in mind that less pen work often produces a better result. You’ll probably be tempted to put in more detail than necessary, but remember that you’ll also be adding a layer of paint which itself increases the sense of three-dimensions.

Try not to let your pen lines become too rigid. A lively freehand pen sketch often works better. The danger is that your finished work will look too much like a “painting by numbers”.

When the pen work is finished add some light washes of color over the top of the drawing. You don’t have to follow the pen outline accurately because the ink outline already defines the edges. Use quick loose brush marks. Let the paint dry and glaze over some more layers to deepen the values where needed or add some shadows.

Finish up by suggesting a few quick details.

Best paper for ink and watercolor

Whilst shopping at the Sennelier store I picked up this spiral bound sketchbook.

If truth be told the paper in this sketchbook isn’t best suited to watercolor painting. The weight of the paper is only 140 g/m2 or 65 lbs. Even though the watercolor washes went on quite smoothly, I was trying not to drown the surface with too much water.

You should probably look for thicker paper at about 300 g/m2 or 140 lbs.

I recommend you go for a smooth paper for line and wash creations. Look for something which says “hot press” or “smooth” on the description. This kind of surface makes it much easier for drawing with a pen. Some cold-press watercolor paper has a texture which will make pen work difficult. 

I do like the spiral bound format. It lets you open up the sketchbook completely and lay it flat without the opposite page folding back and getting in the way.

The Stillman & Birn Beta series of sketchbooks uses heavy-weight paper and is ideal for this kind of thing (The Zeta series is also great for mixed media – it has slightly smoother paper than the Beta series).

Line and wash watercolor applications

This kind of pen and watercolor mixed media application is very popular for journaling and sketchbook work. There are a lot of urban sketchers who work almost exclusively like this.

Pen and ink can add a dynamic and illustrative style to watercolor paintings. Try experimenting with different amounts of pen work ranging from a few lines to suggest details up to predominantly ink artwork with a lot of contrasting black shapes and just a few splashes of color !

Have fun !

Or… Read this next: “guide to watercolor techniques”

The post Watercolor with Pen (Tips and Tricks for Beginners) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

Get it ?

OK… Lame joke.

Actually, I painted this watercolor composition of a plate of cookies to demonstrate one of the most frequently used methods of painting with this medium.

In watercolors, painting light to dark is the most commonly accepted way to build up a painting.

In other words, you start by applying layers of light toned, diluted paint, and gradually darken the painting with subsequent layers of color.

That’s not to say “light to dark” is a hard and fast rule. Sometimes you can have good reason to begin with darker values. But it’s generally easier to start light, and it’s also a good way to exploit the transparent characteristics of watercolors.

Watercolor Painting Light to Dark

So why do watercolor artists usually paint using a light to dark progression ?

As you’ve probably figured out by now, watercolor is a transparent medium. This transparency itself suggests a light to dark sequence of painting. Dark colored brush marks cover light toned colors much more easily than the reverse.

For the sake of argument, below you can see what happens when I paint a dark wash of color first, then try to overlay lighter colored brush marks on top of the first layers of paint. As you can see, it just produces a darker and darker color.

In other words, if your paint strokes are too dark and you want to go back to a lighter color, in watercolors this isn’t easy to do !

The common way of lightening a dark wash is to use a lifting technique. For example by using a blotted brush to mop up some of the previously laid color. (This works fine while the wash is still damp).

But if the paint has already dried, lifting can be tricky! You can blot up some the colored pigments, but you can’t get back to the pure white of the paper.

So lifting has its limitations and is usually only used for small areas of a painting.

So darker colors tend to be more opaque, and let less of the underlying brushes strokes show through.

Watercolor Lifting & Staining Characteristics

But one of the other dangers if you paint strong dark shapes first is you run the risk that the dark color will bleed when you overlay a lighter wash on top of them. You might be able to see when I painted a lighter wash onto this brown color, the first layer of paint starts to reactivate and mixes with the new damp brush strokes. You can see some of the brown color bleeding into the overlapping brush marks.

Keep in mind that the “lifting properties” of each paint depends on its staining characteristics. Staining paints use pigments which are difficult to remove after they dry.

In this example I’m using Burnt umber to produce a dark brown which is a low staining paint, and is easier to remove with lifting.

Watercolor Cookies Demo from Light to Dark

The paints I used for this project were as follows (Amazon links)

• Burnt umber – Pigment number: PBr7
• Pyrrol scarlet – Pigment number: PR255
• Hansa Yellow Deep – Pigment number: PY65
• Payne’s Gray – Pigment number: PB29 / PBk9 

Before painting I start by observing the subject to identify the big shapes of light, medium, and dark values. I’m trying to plan the painting in terms of light and dark areas.

(Remember the term “value” just refers to the lightness or darkness of a color)

I drew a fairly detailed sketch of the subject onto watercolor paper. The intention is to draw shapes with significant differences in value to use as a guide during the painting.

Tape down the paper onto a board, then use masking fluid to protect any small white highlights.

It’ll be quite easy to paint around the white plate, but there are a few dots of white highlights which will be difficult to paint around. And because in watercolors white comes from the paper, masking fluid is the ideal solution for “reserving” small white areas like this.

Once the masking fluid is completely dry I can start painting the first wash of color using a light toned, highly diluted paint mixture.

Notice that this first layer of paint covers the whole of the cookie shapes (except for a couple of larger white highlights on the left which I chose to leave untouched).

I painted like this because I know I’ll be using a glazing technique. (this is where you paint subsequent layers on top of each other, leaving each successive layer to dry).

Because watercolors are transparent, the underlying color shows through, and each new layer builds up the tonal value of the painting. Like this, successive layers of color increase in value from light to dark.

When the surface is dry I start painting a new “glaze” using a mixture which is very slightly stronger than the previous color. Often, you only need to add a small amount of paint to your mixing puddle when using glazing because the resulting layers produce a stronger appearance when they combine on the paper.

And you can see that this time the shapes I’m painting don’t cover the whole of the cookies. The idea is to leave the lighter parts untouched and paint only the shapes which have a visible increase in value.

Once again leave this layer to dry completely, make a very slightly stronger mixture of paint in your mixing palette, then start glazing a new layer of color. Again, notice this third layer doesn’t cover the whole of the surface, leaving parts of the previous washes exposed.

As you can see the painting is moving slowly from the lightest colors to the darker hues. But note also that the painting develops from larger shapes to smaller shapes, or from the general to the more specific. For me this is also a typical method of painting in watercolors – big forms first and details last.

After leaving the paint to dry one more time I made a fairly big shift in color and value. The reference photo I’m using shows a plate of chocolate chip cookies on a dark background. So now that I have the underlying light and middle values painted, I start to block in the darker values including the chocolate chips and the dark background.

And because the shadow shapes are also significantly darker I started painting the first layer of dark brown shadows. There’s also a moment where you can see me use a lifting technique to mop up some of the shadow shape that I just painted, because there’s actually some reflected light on the underside of the cookie.

Now I can complete the dark background underneath the plate and wait for the painting to dry before moving on to the next stage. For this I need to mix an even darker brown hue for yet another glaze of over the shadows. Even if the first layer of brown shadows might have appeared quite dark, the thing with watercolors is they always dry lighter than how they appear when wet.

So here you can see me applying a final layer of really dark paint to the shadows and the background. Doing this produces a full range of values from dark to light and increases the contrast of the finished painting.

Watercolors that have a full range of tones and high contrast like this tend to produce more satisfying results.

In the final steps you can see me remove the masking fluid to reveal the white highlights beneath. Then as a last touch I added a few brush strokes of an orange-yellow mixture to “warm up” the color appearance of the cookies…

How to paint from light to dark in Watercolors

Painting light to dark takes practice. The strength of the colors you choose in the early stages of a painting can have consequences later on. And as we’ve seen with watercolors it’s tricky to back to lighter tones once you’ve committed to a dark color.

When you start a new watercolor painting, take a moment to observe the subject and try to imagine it in terms of layers. Try to visualize what would be the first light wash of color, keeping in mind that the white paper will be the brightest part of the painting. Then imagine the next layers, then the next, up to the final darker shapes.

The post Watercolor Painting Light to Dark (Watercolor Cookies) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

This is where you nod your head and say… hmmm… yep… sure thing !

Actually, I was pretty confused about this topic. I’d heard about negative painting several times but I wasn’t really sure what was involved. I was curious to learn more, so I delved into a stack of watercolor books, websites, and art references to get a better understanding of this rather puzzling topic. And below, I’ll tell you everything I found out, and how you can use negative painting for yourself in your watercolor compositions.

Negative painting sounds like a complicated concept but once you understand the basics it’s actually quite straightforward.

What is negative painting?

Every scene that you paint is made up of both negative and positive space. Positive space is the subject itself. Negative space is the area around and in between your subject. In general, positive space is the thing you want to draw attention to, and the negative space can be used to enhance the subject. You can make positive and negative space work together to create interesting compositions.

So you’ve probably been doing negative paintings for a long time, you just didn’t know it ! Ok… Great. So how does this interest watercolor artists?

Well, as I see things, using negative painting effectively is an incredibly useful compositional device. Understanding how to use positive and negative space is something that will enrich your watercolor technique.

Want to know more about negative painting ? Keep reading…

Using Negative Painting Effectively

I think composition is something we often overlook when painting. Composition is the arrangement and organization of visual elements in an image, and there are a few things we can do to make better compositions. Exploiting negative painting is one of those things. You can think of negative painting as a means to designing better compositions.

There are various ways to use negative painting to improve composition. Let’s take a look at how this works.

Balance between Positive and Negative Space

Finding a balance between positive and negative is one way to get a good composition. This is a fairly classic way of organizing the different parts of a painting. If the subject and the space around it are represented in fairly equal shares, then the resulting composition is relatively pleasing to the eye.

If you do a painting of an apple, you tend to focus on the apple (the subject of your artwork), and not so much on the area surrounding it (the negative space). But when you come to frame your watercolor, you try to get the apple to sit nicely within the boundaries of the frame.

By balancing the amount of negative space around the object you can produce an attractive composition, and the negative space becomes just as important as the positive subject.

Restricting Negative Space

Limiting the negative space on the page is another way to design an interesting composition. Reducing the amount of negative space in relation to the positive space helps to create focus for your subject. This is the kind of artwork where you get in close to an object and maybe cut the edges with the boundaries of your paper. It’s kind of like zooming in to draw attention to the subject.

I think this method can work particularly well with macro painting, where you paint a small object up close. Floral watercolors are often portrayed this way.

Emphasizing Negative Space

Another trick you can try is exaggerating the negative space. By increasing the amount of negative space surrounding a subject you can also create a successful composition. In this example, the negative space dominates and has a higher impact in the artwork. This kind of composition makes me think of landscape paintings where the sky is the predominant feature of the scene.

This method requires a certain amount of planning and design, but it’s a good way of using the concept of negative painting to your advantage.

Using Value and Negative Painting.

This part gets a little tricky to explain, so grab yourself a coffee and bear with me !

​A good use of values is very important in any piece of artwork. Values help to describe three dimensional form by painting shade, shadow and highlights. But value is also a useful compositional device when applied in conjunction with negative painting.

Here are some comparisons so you can see better how this works:

In example 1 a white apple (the lightest value) is placed against a black background (the darkest value), and vice versa in example 4. These two situations represent the highest contrast and have the highest visual impact.

On the other hand, examples 2 and 3 are painted with a mid tone of gray and have lower contrast, and less visual impact.

The higher the contrast the greater the visual presence of the subject of your painting.

But take another look at examples 1 and 3 where the negative space is painted with a darker value. Notice that the white apple appears larger against the black and grey backgrounds compared to the examples against a white background.

This is a useful optical effect. It works because of the magnifying effect of a dark surrounding space and the compressive influence of a white environment. In example 1, White against black has the highest level of contrast and has the most forceful weight.

Using darker values for the background of a painting is what most watercolor artists think of as negative painting. What’s interesting about this technique is the way it can enhance the composition of any watercolor.

Negative Watercolor Painting Techniques

When you apply a negative painting technique you will need to control the relative values of the negative space (the background) and the positive space (the subject).

This means isolating in some way these two components during the painting process.

If we simplify the concept of negative painting, you basically have two options. Paint a dark valued negativespace or use a light valued negative space. With a dark valued background the subject tends to be brought forward in the composition. On the other hand, a light valued background can help to create a focal point because of the high level of contrast between the negative and positive space in the composition. Both options are good, and both use negative space as a compositional device.

Ok… so what are the watercolor techniques used for negative painting? Well… to be honest any traditional watercolor technique is valid with negative painting. I think it depends on your own personal preferences. The only exception is perhaps when you choose to paint a dark toned background surrounding your subject. In this case you may want to alter the order of working when you begin a painting.

If that’s the case, then you should probably consider the following techniques:

Working from Dark to Light

There are no rigid rules when it comes to watercolor painting, but generally in watercolor you work from light to dark. Because of the transparent characteristics of watercolors this is the most prudent way to paint. Basically, if you paint a dark valued shape, it’s difficult to make it lighter at a later stage.

But this rule may not be appropriate if your subject is enclosed by a dark backdrop.

Instead of painting the subject first (the positive space) you flip the process and begin by painting a strong background color around the object. The volume of the subject becomes defined by the background. Instead of filling in the silhouette of the shape first, you concentrate on the darker area around the subject.

You start your watercolor painting with a mix of darker paint, and paint a wash of color into the negative space. This technique requires good brush control, but because your mix of paint is darker, you don’t need to worry too much about the smoothness of the wash. If you get dry edges or backruns this adds some texture to your artwork, and you can always glaze a second layer of paint on top to help cover up.

Preserving Whites and Masking

If you want the subject of your painting to have crisp hard edges then you can always opt for a masking technique to protect the light valued shapes while you paint the dark valued surroundings.

This is particularly useful for complicated shapes with irregular edges. Using masking fluid or masking film is a useful technique which results in a well defined edge when you remove the masking. The advantage of this method is that you can paint the dark negative space around your subject with a free flowing wash,  without having to worry about the lighter shapes you’re trying to preserve.

Wet on Wet Negative Painting Technique

You’re probably familiar with wet on wet watercolor painting. Wet on wet simply means we paint onto an already wet surface. This technique can be useful when creating a negative painting with a dark negative space, especially if you want a smooth colored wash for the background.

Wetness is a very important aspect of watercolor painting. When you apply a brush load of color to paper, the colored pigment will only flow where the paper is wet. You can spread the paint around on the surface of the paper, but the pigments will always remain within the confines of the wetted surface.

With wet on wet painting we prewet the paper with clear water to allow the colored pigment to flow more freely across the damp surface. This can be used to your advantage to control the edges between positive and negative shapes.

By pre wetting the negative space and leaving a dry space around the positive shape, you can paint with a wet on wet technique around your subject and let the paint spread out to fill the negative space.

Just make sure you cover the whole of the negative area so that you don’t get any hard edges in the negative backdrop as the paint dries.

Negative Space Watercolor Painting Example

In this example of a leaf composition I used negative painting by increasing the value of the negative space around leaves, which has the visual effect of bringing them forward in the painting.

​​Notice how the dark negative space around the leaves defines their shape and seems to project them forward. Depth is also an important feature of this composition. The leaves and negative spaces have been painted with both dark and medium valued hues to express depth and distance and enhance sense of three dimensional space.

This contrast between the light and dark shapes in a painting can help create a focal point because the eye is attracted to the point of greatest contrast.  

I used a glazing technique for this painting. By building up successive layers of paint the colors become gradually deeper.  

If you’d like to have a go at this painting then you can download my template here so you can draw the same sketch outline as me.

Step 1 – Begin by tracing a sketch onto watercolor paper. I used a light table for this but you can also put your paper up against a window if the conditions are bright. I Tried to be particularly attentive to the shapes and spaces between the leaves. Once your pencil outline is ready, tape the paper down onto a board for painting.

Step 2 – My aim here was to preserve the white of the four leaves which I intend to show as the brightest leaves in the composition. I applied a wash into the negative space around the preserved leaves using a medium strength green mixed from Phthalo Green and Raw Sienna. This was painted using a variegated wash to add some interest.

Step 3 – Once the first wash is completely dry I painted a second glaze of blue-green mixed from Phthalo Blue and Raw Sienna. Because I’m glazing, this new layer of paint darkens the values even further. I used this to my advantage to darken the shadows and at the same time preserving the second layer of leaves. This increases the sense of depth.

Step 4 – After leaving the paint to dry again, I keep glazing, this time with a wash of Sap Green and a little Phthalo Blue. I’m deepening the furthest shadows and suggesting a third layer of leaves further back in the composition.

Step 5 – When you’re happy with the background start painting the leaves. Using Sap Green paint each of the leaves but leave a highlight along one edge. The aim is to conserve some of the white paper. Paint with a wet on dry technique and paint hard edged shapes on the leaf fronds.

Step 6 – As a final touch i added a graded wash of Sap green over the leaves. To do this I pre wetted the leaves and then charged color into the wet areas of the paper, applying more pigment to the center of the leaves than the edges. Be careful to still preserve some of the white at the tips of the fronds.

Conclusion

Any scene is simply a series of interlocking silhouettes or shapes. Try to think about the shapes around an object (the negative space), just as much as you consider the objects you want to paint (the positive space). I think it’s useful to keep in mind that negative space can be a supporting feature of your work and it’s just as important as the positive objects you want to express. Try to plan the relationships between each.

Used well, negative painting can be a valuable method to bring out the positive shapes in your watercolor paintings.

Next time you pick up a brush, maybe start by painting the negative parts before you get to the subject !

Have fun !

The post Negative Painting in Watercolor Explained first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

There are many occasions when you want to preserve the white paper and conserve key features in a composition. This watercolor technique is usually referred to as “reserving whites”. Of course, you can paint around shapes with some intricate brushwork, but often I find that the best solution is to protect parts of the paper by masking them. There are a few different methods you can use for masking, but for complicated forms most artists use masking fluid(also known as liquid frisket).

So how do you use watercolor masking fluid?

Before you start, stir the masking fluid thoroughly. Don’t shake the bottle or you will get bubbles in the mixture. Use a masking fluid applicator to paint the shapes you want to mask. Various techniques can be used. Only apply masking fluid to dry paper, and make sure the fluid is dry before you apply a wash of watercolor. Once the fluid is completely dry washes can be applied quickly and freely. Clean any brushes or applicators immediately after use. When you’ve finished painting, wait for the paint to dry entirely before removing the masking fluid.

The are a lot of great techniques that can be used to apply masking fluid, and you can produce some really impressive effects. I use a variety of tools with this method and I’ll go over them in detail below. I’ll also explain all the tips and tricks that I’ve learned about using watercolor masking!

What is Watercolor Masking Fluid?

Masking fluid creates a protective barrier on your watercolor paper to prevent the paper from being colored by paint. The main ingredient in masking fluid is liquid latex. Most products you can find are tinted with coloring to provide a better contrast on white paper, making it easier to see where you are painting the mask.

This liquid is applied to paper using various application techniques where it dries to form a watertight coating.

The conventional way to achieve white with watercolor is to use the white of the paper, and not by painting with white paint as you do with other media such as oil or acrylics. Some artists do use white gouache for example, but to get the purest whites and highest contrast you need to preserve the white of the paper.

When you want a large number of complicated white shapes with a darker background the easiest way to accomplish this is by masking your paper.

This is where masking fluid comes in very handy. It can be used to shield any white or light toned shapes beforehand. You can then paint a continuous background wash as if the white shapes were not there, making brush strokes free and easy.

The advantage of masking fluid is that you can preserve numerous complicated shapes without having to paint around them. You can use any other watercolor techniques in conjunction with masking. The downside is that masking fluid produces hard edged shapes, so if you want soft blended edges to any white shapes this may not be the best solution.

Watercolor masking fluid is especially good for negative painting techniques where you establish a subject by painting around it rather than painting just the subject itself.

How to use Watercolor Masking Fluid

The first step is to plan your artwork. Most of the time I begin a new painting with a pencil sketch. I then think about any zones which need to remain white and whether masking fluid is the appropriate way to conserve them. I can then use my pencil outline as a guide for locating highlights and applying the frisket (Try to think of it as painting the whites rather than masking shapes).

There are a few important tips to keep in mind before using masking fluid on your watercolor project.

Masking Fluid Tips

• ​Don’t use the masking fluid on damp paper. There’s a risk that the masking fluid will seep into the paper and you can damage the paper when you remove it.
• ​Don’t leave the masking fluid on the surface of your paper for a long period before removal. Over time it becomes harder to remove, and because masks usually contain a pigment to color them, you run the risk of staining the white paper, which kind of defeats the purpose ! I tend to remove the masking three or four hours after the painting is finished. If you leave the masking a day or two, removal becomes more tricky !
• ​Similarly you should be sure that your watercolor paint is thoroughly dry before attempting to remove the mask. If you paint is still moist during removal then it’s easy to smear the paint and contaminate the white paper.
• ​Keep in mind that you can also use masking fluid on a previously painted area. If you have some light toned shapes you want to preserve then you can mask them with fluid. However this will almost always lift off a small amount of paint when you remove the masking fluid. The amount of lifting off generally depends on the staining properties of your watercolors. I don’t advise using student grade watercolors for this kind of thing because they seem to lift off too easily.
• ​Don’t try to speed up the drying process for masking fluid. Because it’s composed mostly of latex rubber, any heat can cook the rubber and make it very difficult to lift off the paper afterwards. So don’t use a hair dryer and no direct sunlight.
• ​Good quality watercolor paper seems to work better in conjunction with masking fluid. This is probably because watercolor paper has a coating of protective sizing which prevents too much moisture from being absorbed by the paper. If you use soft velvety paper you will probably rip it when the masking fluid is removed.
• ​Almost all masking fluids containammonia so they smell quite strongly, and if you’re sensitive to this kind of thing then try to use it in a ventilated space (if you’re susceptible to odors the only product I know of without ammonia is made by Schmincke). Personally I’ve never found the smell overwhelming.

How to Thin Watercolor Masking Fluid

Masking liquid is soluble with water. This is useful to know because it dries quickly and can become lumpy over time. If your masking liquid is too thick to flow properly you can thin it with a couple of drops of water. I find the thinner consistency really helps for masking fine details.

To prevent the contents of the bottle from drying I usually pour a small amount of masking fluid into a ceramic dish and cap the bottle immediately.

How to Remove Masking Fluid

There are a few good methods for removing dried liquid mask and I’ll go over them in more detail here. Masking fluid can be removed as soon as your painting is sufficiently dry. Don’t attempt to remove it when your artwork is still damp or you could spoil the painting with smudges. Don’t forget to remove the masking quickly after your artwork is finished or it will become more and more difficult to remove as time goes on.

How do you Remove Masking Fluid from Paper?

To make sure your painting is completely dry, touch the painting gently with the back of your fingers, and if the paper feels cool then it probably needs more drying time.

Dried masking usually peels off quite easily, but whichever method you choose for removing the mask, do this slowly and gently so you don’t damage the paper.

You can of course use your fingers, but I would keep this to a minimum. You run the risk of leaving traces of oil from your fingertips which can stain the paper and effect the way watercolors are absorbed by the paper when you come back to paint.

The best method I have found for removing masking fluid is with a kneadable eraser(also called a putty rubber). These things are great because you can mold them to the shape you want for more precise erasing and they don’t leave any residue on the paper. Rub the edges of the dried masking with the eraser to start lifting off the mask then peel off with your fingers.

To finish off you can try using low tack masking tape wrapped around your finger which you can dab on the surface to pick off any remaining mask.

You can also get a specialized remover known as a rubber cement pickup. This is also a reliable way to remove dried masking and is used just like an eraser.

How do you Remove Masking Fluid from a Brush?

Brushes can simply be cleaned using water because masking fluid mixes with water. Be sure to clean your brush immediately after use, otherwise you have to pick the dried latex off the brush.

A bit of advice – don’t use your best brushes for applying masking liquid. This stuff can ruin them. The best brushes I’ve found for this purpose are synthetic brushes. They have the advantage of keeping a nice pointed head and they clean up more easily than other types of hair (some artists recommend using old brushes, but if they can’t form a good point then they’re no good for precision work).

As mentioned previously, to make cleaning easier, I recommend you dip the brush head in washing up liquid or rub it on a bar of soap to protect the brush hairs before dipping in your masking fluid every few brush strokes.

If you do find yourself with a gummed up brush that you have difficulty cleaning, I’ve heard that some artists use lighter fluid to help soften the latex for cleaning.

Watercolor Masking Fluid Techniques

Masking fluid techniques mostly depend on the type of tool you use to apply the liquid mask to paper. You’re only limited by your imagination !

To work with masking fluid I use the following setup:

• Masking fluid.
• A small ceramic dish into which you pour some masking fluid.
• A small bowl with some soapy water(this is if you’re using a brush to apply the masking).
• A masking fluid applicator, brush, or whatever you want to try.
• A kneadable eraser for removing the mask.

You can use just about anything you like to apply masking fluid to paper, and each tool will help to create different effects. Apart from brushes, I use things like a ruling pen, toothbrushes for splatter effects, sponges, bamboo quills, and “color shapers” which are silicone tools traditionally used for painting, blending and sculpting.

Masking Fluid with a Brush

The most obvious and direct technique for using masking fluid is with a brush. Masking fluid flows off a brush well and you can get a long flowing brush stroke. I have a set of synthetic brushes in different sizes by Frisk which I’m really happy with. They clean up fine so long as you do this quickly after use.

To use brushes I dip them first into soapy water which to a certain extent will protect the fibers of the brush. A good technique is to fill up a small container with water mixed with a small amount of washing up liquid. After every few applications of mask, dip the brush head in the soapy water again. This helps prevent the latex drying out on the brush which can become gummy after a while. When the brush gums up you also lose precision because the tip will no longer have a sharp point.

Masking Fluid with a Ruling Pen

A ruling pen is a drawing instrument which can be filled with fluid for drawing lines. Most of the time you dip the tip into some ink, but you can also use this tool with masking fluid.

The advantage with a ruling pen is that you can drag out precise thin lines so it’s an excellent way to mask grass, hair, whiskers, wires or anything that needs representing with fine lines.

Masking fluid Silicone Applicator

These things are usually called color shapers – not sure why, but they do make a handy instrument for laying down masking frisket. You can get a variety of shapes and sizes of heads. The silicone rubber head is quite elastic and pleasant to use and you can create a variety of marks including quite fine detail. 

They need to be dipped often in the masking fluid​. The advantage of these things is that cleaning is obviously simple because there are no fibres to get gummed up with dry frisket. But personally i prefer using a brush because the flow of the marks is easier. ​

Masking Fluid with a Bamboo Quill

These are the kind of things used for calligraphy and they’re pretty inexpensive. I find these work quite well and have a good level of precision. Really simple to use and easy to clean because you just pull the latex off when dry.

I have a set with a variety of nibs which lets me apply broad strokes or very small detail. So they’re good for drawing a variety of marks on the paper.

The only downside is that they don’t hold a lot of liquid so you have to repeatedly dip the nib in the masking fluid.

Masking Fluid with a Sponge

This is a fun way to apply masking fluid and creates some interesting texture effects. I use natural sponges since they have a good variety of surface texture. This is a great technique for creating beautiful sporadic patterns.

To use this method your sponge needs to be damp before dipping it in masking fluid.

Clean the sponge directly after use to remove the masking fluid. I keep a couple of sponges specifically for using frisket because over time you can get a build up of latex which is difficult to clean, but it doesn’t much effect their usability.

Masking with Toothbrush Splatters

You’re probably familiar with this technique for applying colored splatters to your paintings. But a toothbrush is just as effective for creating speckled white dots for adding texture to watercolor paintings. Again, you might want to keep a toothbrush specifically for use with masking fluid.

Masking Fluid Pen

This is any kind of bottle with a nozzle at the tip for squeezing out the frisket. It sounds like a good idea for applying the liquid with precision but I have not had great experience with this method. I much prefer having one of the above tools which I feel gives me much more control.

Above all these pens are an expensive way to buy masking fluid ! The “pens” are small – about half the size of a standard bottle for the same price ! So basically twice as expensive…

Watercolor Masking Fluid Alternatives

There are a few other ways to reserve the white paper or to create white with watercolor painting.

• White gouache is a handy way to paint in some highlights when needed, but even though this kind of paint is fairly opaque, it does not have the same brightness and contrast as preserving the white paper. It’s good for small specks of white but not very effective over large areas.
• Wax resist is a technique you may remember from your childhood ? Wax repels water so you can use it in a similar way to masking fluid to protect parts of the paper. You can find white wax crayons specifically for applying wax resist. This technique produces some interesting textures, but the downside is that it is not very good for precise details or sharp edges. Also, the wax normally remains in place on the paper, because removal is difficult.
• Lifting Off & Scraping are well known techniques for recovering highlights and small zones of white paper, or for creating marks of a lighter tone. Scraping is achieved with a razor or a similar sharp tool. It’s a good technique for making small linear marks of white by removing the surface layers of paint, but it does damage the surface of the paper, and is really only good for small areas. Lifting off involves brushing the paint with a damp brush (or a a damp clean cloth, sponge, tissue, etc.). This technique has its limits because it depends mostly on the staining properties of your watercolor paints
• Frisket film is a low tack transparent film mostly used by airbrush artists. I have found this tricky to use on watercolor paper because of the textured surface, but it is a handy solution for large areas that need masking. ​Just be sure to press the film down firmly to get a good seal. Masking tape is also a good solution to have to hand for masking larger surfaces and prevent you from wasting large amounts of frisket. Make sure it’s a low tack version of masking tape ! I use Frog tape which in my experience leaves crisp edges and doesn’t ruin the paper or paint when you remove it.

Best Watercolor Masking Fluid

My favorite masking fluid is a product by Pebeo known as “drawing gum”. This is a liquid latex frisket like many other brands but it has the advantage of being tinted with a blue color which I find makes it easier to apply precisely. On top of that it’s one of the few brands that come in a big 250 ml bottle which makes it great value. Also it doesn’t smell as bad as some of the other products I’ve tried !

Phew !

Liquid masking is only a small part of all the watercolor supplies you’ll need – click the link for an on-depth overview of ​other painting materials…

The post How to use Masking Fluid for Watercolor Painting first appeared on Watercolor Affair.

To be honest, when I read what other websites are writing about this topic, half of them don’t seem to understand what they’re talking about!

I don’t mean to be fussy or seem arrogant, but some of them are incomplete. 

Others get the terms wrong

A few are only half-correct!

So this is my stab at putting things right. 

The painting methods described here are complete and accurate. And to explore them in more detail, I’ll link to other lessons specifically dedicated to each one.

A valid, authentic, authoritative guide to watercolor techniques

Happy?

Okay… Let’s dive in!

What are the Different Watercolor Techniques?

Watercolor techniques refer to how you apply (or sometimes remove) paint to create a specific artistic effect. Watercolors can be used in an amazing variety of ways. There are a handful of classic and widely-known painting techniques and also some less familiar methods.

Each technique requires a certain level of skill to pull it off successfully! Some are trickier than others… Some are very simple.

This incredible variety of ways to paint gives watercolor artists a huge creative vocabulary

Below I’ll introduce you to the best-known watercolor painting techniques and some more fun and inventive ways to use your watercolors.

1. Wet-on-Wet Watercolor

Wet on wet is a beautiful technique for producing amorphous shapes and soft edges. The term “wet on wet” means exactly what its name implies, you apply wet paint onto a wet surface. You begin by dampening the paper’s surface with clear water and then charge the water with pigment from a loaded brush. The resulting washes have soft, blended edges. Colors run into each other to create beautiful textures.If you drop a new color into a previously laid wet watercolor wash, the fresh paint tends to push the existing pigment around. As the paint dries, the colors bleed together. Adding paint in this way is a specific technique known as charging. I’ll cover this in more detail below…

The downside of this wet-on-wet is the lack of control. Pigments spread according to the wetness of the paper and not just in the areas where you apply your brush. 

• If your paper is very wet, the spread of the paint will be significant. 
• If the surface is slightly damp, the color will spread over a very short distance. 

With a bit of experience, you can use the different stages of paper wetness to produce the desired effects.

The large amount of water used for this method of painting can cause watercolor paper to buckle and wrinkle, sometimes making it difficult to paint properly. Unless you use heavy watercolor paper, I suggest you stretch your paper to avoid this.

This technique is only helpful for soft blurry forms, and you won’t be able to paint well-defined shapes. For example, it’s ideal for painting clouds!

2. Wet-on-Dry Watercolor

The term wet on dry means precisely what it says. With this technique, you apply wet paint onto a dry surface. The surface must be dry, whether you’re painting onto clean white paper or a previously laid wash of color. 

Wet-on-dry is a fundamental watercolor technique, and probably the method of painting artists use the most often.

For this reason, it’s a method that demands some patience. You must wait between brush strokes, so your next mark doesn’t bleed color into the underlying layers of damp paint.

Watercolor paint always dries lighter in tone than when it’s wet. As a result, the first washes you lay on paper often appear light and flat. Watercolor artists usually build up depth and intensity of color by applying successive layers (this technique is termed glazing – see below). In this way, you can add darker values and richer colors with texture and interest.

One of the tricky things with this dry surface technique is when you want to paint large areas of colored wash. If the paint dries too quickly while you’re working, you can end up with unwanted streaks in the wash area. You need a good grasp of flat and graded wash techniques to overcome this problem (see further down).

The use of wet on dry doesn’t exclude the use of other painting techniques. For example, you will often see artists combine an underlying wash of wet on wet with wet on dry details, which gives sharper edges.

You can use wet on dry to produce crisp, sharp edges. In fact, it’s probably the only way you can add detail to your work. Moreover, it’s a technique favored by artists who enjoy precision.

Because of the liquid nature of watercolors, the paint will flow to wherever there’s moisture. If the surface is completely dry, there is no flow, and the brush marks remain where they are placed. The paint will stay within the boundaries of the wet brush mark.

But this doesn’t mean wet on dry is only used for sharp-edged shapes. You can also produce smooth edges to shapes when painting wet on dry. For this, you must learn how to blend watercolor paint with a wet-on-dry method.

For a deep dive into wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry painting techniques, read this article here…

3. Dry on Wet Technique

The technique of “dry on wet” is hardly ever mentioned! 

This technique isn’t often talked about, but it can be used to create beautiful subtle shapes. 

The term “dry on wet” is perhaps slightly misleading. It implies a dry brush on wet paper. But of course, your brush is bound to have some wetness if you have paint on it. However, to apply this technique, your paper should be wetter than your brush. 

To do this effectively, you should use paint that is only very slightly diluted with water. I’ve even seen some artists apply paint directly from the tube into a wet wash.

The advantage is that you can create subtle details and depth in a painting. And because your paint is almost non-diluted, the color appearance of the shapes will be more vibrant.

Give this technique a try. Of course, you have to keep a close eye on the wetness of both paper and brush, but it will also help you become more familiar with your paints.

4. Dry on Dry Technique

Dry on dry is when you paint with a very dry brush onto dry paper. (It’s very similar to Dry brushing – more details further down)

Dry on dry is excellent for adding textured brushstrokes to your artwork. When you drag a dry brush across the surface of watercolor paper, the paint will drop onto the raised bumps of the paper, but the lower indents of the textured paper remain white. For this reason, I find that the technique works best on rough watercolor paper.

Artists often use a flat brush for this method. Test your brush on a spare piece of paper to ensure you have the correct moisture level on the brush. If you’re using a round brush, you’ll get better results by painting with the side of the brush rather than the tip. Hold the brush almost horizontal and skim the brush head over the paper.

You also need to move the brush over the surface quickly.

This technique is great for adding texture and can be used to imply movement to a subject.

5. Charging-in (Feathering)

Charging is a technique of dropping watercolor into a damp surface. Also sometimes called the feathering technique (I suppose because of the feathery textures produced as the paint disperses).

This is a widespread painting method. I always use this to add smooth variations of color in a shape. You can start with a form damped with clear water or drop paint into a moist, colored shape. 
This is essentially a wet-on-wet technique. The wetness of both paper and paintbrush changes the resulting effects.

6. Glazing

Glazing sounds like a complicated technique, but it’s actually quite simple. Glazing is another word for “layering.” The notion of layering in watercolors is essential, as you’ll probably discover the more you paint. Unlike a lot of other art mediums, watercolors are transparent. This means that each brushstroke you lay down on paper is visible underneath every subsequent layer of paint. This transparency is what gives rise to the technique of glazing.

There are a few important things to keep in mind about glazing:

• Each layer must be left to dry before applying a new wash of paint. For this reason, glazing is essentially a wet on dry painting technique. (Wet on dry basically means applying wet paint to a dry surface). Painting on a damp surface produces different results and would be considered a wet in wet technique.
• When you glaze, the natural transparency of watercolors affects the color appearance of a painting. Each new layer alters the color of the layer underneath. If you glaze with different colors, you are basically mixing colors on the paper.

As a beginner, I think the best way to approach glazing is to build your paintings gradually by working from light to dark. Applying several layers of watercolors develops the depth and intensity of the painting. Always paint your very lightest tones at the beginning of a new painting using thin, diluted washes rather than strong, thick paint. Each new layer of paint progressively increases tonal values and modifies colors. Applying multiple glazes helps control shifts in hue and tone.

It’s often a good idea to test the color palette you intend to use to see the effects of color mixing. I recommend you do some color preparation on a separate sheet of watercolor paper before starting a new project. This helps you judge the transparency of your chosen colors and how the colors will mix when layered.

You can do this by creating a quick glazing chart at the beginning of each project, or if you want to get to know your paints better, make a big reference chart for all your colors!

Like this one:

Read this article for a more detailed discussion of watercolor glazing.

7. Watercolor Blending Methods

Blending (going from dark to light) is one of the most challenging techniques in watercolor. It requires a certain amount of brush control and a well-practiced technique. But blending is essential for gradually transitioning from one tone or color to another and giving your artwork a sense of three-dimensional form.

Any shape you paint with watercolor tends to form a hard edge when it dries. Lines and edges will appear unless you smooth out and blend the border before the paint dries.

What makes blending with watercolors more complex than other mediums is that watercolors dry more quickly. 

Blending with watercolors can be achieved using either wet-on-dry or wet-on-wet techniques.

The advantage of wet-on-wet blending is that the paint stays wet for longer, giving you more time to play with the paint and blend colors together. However, wet-on-wet blending can be unpredictable. You have less control over the movement of pigments, and paint can spread slightly haphazardly. With experience, you can gain a certain amount of control over wet-on-wet blending if you learn to use different degrees of surface wetness to increase or limit the paint flow on the paper.

Wet-on-dry blending can be achieved by pulling out a color with a clean blotted brush.

Let’s say you paint a flat shape onto dry paper, and you want to blend one edge. Paint will only flow where there is moisture. So you need to encourage movement by expanding the shape with your brush. If you continue to paint with a brush loaded with paint, you’ll just increase the size of your wash area.

Rinse your brush, then blot it on a paper towel to remove most of the moisture (If you use a brush loaded with clear water, you will get a backrun that produces a feathery pattern in your damp wash). Next, brush the edge you want to blend and pull the paint outwards with the moist brush. The pigment will disperse into the dampness and will be diluted in strength. Continue to clean and blot your brush repeatedly and brush the edge until it blends completely.

All of this needs to be done relatively quickly before the paint has time to dry.

I have an article dedicated to how to blend with watercolors here…

8. The Flat Wash

When artists talk about a flat wash, they mean an area of paint with uniform color and tone and no visible brush marks. This is a very satisfying technique to apply, and once you grasp the basics, it’s not too difficult. It just needs a little practice.

To perform a successful flat wash, there are two different methods that most watercolor artists use. Perhaps the most frequent is to use a wet on dry approach. But it’s also possible to make a great flat wash using a wet on wet technique.

You can make a quick comparison of the two techniques for yourself. Before painting ​a flat wash, you should mix a good quantity of paint ​, so you don’t run out while laying the wash.To paint the wet on dry flat wash, you paint with alternating horizontal brushstrokes, starting at the top of the paper and gradually working your way down. Then, move the brush from left to right and tilt the paper at a slight angle so that the wet paint flows downwards. This action creates an excess of wetness at the bottom of the brush stroke, known as a bead. Keep loading your brush with fresh paint, so you always have a bead of moisture, and carry this bead to the bottom of the page.

With the wet on wet technique, there’s no need to tilt the paper. Instead, you begin by dampening the whole of the paper, which encourages the paint to flow across the surface and blend smoothly. There is no particular style of brush stroke needed. Just paint the wash area all over before the wet paper has time to dry. If the wash seems uneven, you can incline the paper in whatever direction is needed to spread the pigment around more uniformly.

Always blot up any leftover bead or wetness with both techniques to prevent a backrun from forming. The wet on wet technique gives you more time to play with the paint since the paper takes more time to dry. But the heavily soaked paper will tend to buckle, so you may need to stretch the paper before laying this wet wash.

9. The Graded Wash

A graded wash is the next level up in difficulty compared to a flat wash technique. A graded wash changes gradually in tone from darker to lighter. The transition should be smooth, and as with a flat wash, individual brush marks are not apparent.

Graded washes can be painted wet on dry or wet on wet. The method is practically the same as for a flat wash, but instead of applying the same strength of paint over the entire wash area, we gradually add clear water to the paint mix so that it becomes more and more diluted.

Try both methods to see what you think. It’s sometimes easier as a beginner to use a wet-on-wet technique because of the extended drying time, but I encourage you to practice both. After all, practice makes perfect!

Begin your washes in the same way as described above. When you want to start the transition, add a couple of big brush loads of clear water to your paint mix. Use this new diluted mix to continue the painting underneath your full-strength wash. Keep diluting and moving down the page until you reach the bottom. You can even use clear water for the final brush strokes if you like.

Don’t forget to mop up any remaining moisture (even if it’s clear water) to avoid a backrun from forming at the base of the wash.

10. The Variegated Wash

A variegated wash is an area of color that changes in color and value across its surface. You can mix as many colors as you want with this technique. Watercolor artists use this method often for creating attractive shifts in tone and blended colors.

The technique used is very much the same as for painting a flat or graded wash, and you can apply either a wet on dry or wet on wet method. The colors bleed together in a slightly unpredictable way producing very appealing results.

If you want a complete and detailed explanation of watercolor washes, I’ve written a full-length tutorial here…

11. Watercolor Masking Techniques 

With watercolor painting, the purest form of creating white is by reserving whites so that the white of the paper is free of paint. It’s the white paper that generates the light tones in a painting. The most effective way to achieve sparkling highlights or bright white shapes is to reserve them by painting around them or by using masking techniques.

There are a few different ways of reserving white. The first is simply to paint around any white shapes. Painting around a form with a wash of color will leave a hard edge. 

However, painting around complex objects is more tricky. So, in this case, you may need to use masking fluid (also known as frisket). Masking fluid is basically liquid latex that is painted over the area you want to protect. 

Here’s my favorite brand

Once the masking liquid is dry, washes can be painted over the top. After letting the paint dry completely, you can remove the masking without damaging the paper. The masking frisket can be painted in any shape you like.

You can read more about how to use masking fluid in this article…

12. Lifting Off Watercolor

Another alternative for achieving white in watercolor painting is to remove paint from the paper surface after painting. This can be done by lifting off.

For example, you can lift pigment off the paper using a clean damp brush. You can do this while the paint is still wet or to a certain degree after the color has dried. Your brush should be damp but not soaking because you want the brush to wick paint from the surface. 

13. Blotting Watercolor

Watercolor blotting is an extension of the lifting technique. Blotting uses various tools to remove paint from the surface while it’s still damp. Anything absorbent can be used to soak up paint, but artists commonly use kitchen towels, kleenex, or sponges.

Lifting is commonly done with a brush, which allows a lot of precision and detail. But blotting allows the artists to remove broader areas of paint more quickly.

For example, this is a common technique for creating cloud shapes in a big blue watercolor sky wash

14. Scratching Watercolor Technique (Sgraffito)

Scraping the paint off the surface after the color has dried is a technique also known as “sgraffito.” 

Scraping is done with sharp or abrasive objects, but artists usually use a razor or scalpel. However, be careful with this technique since it tends to damage the paper.

This is useful for adding linear highlights of color to a previously painted shape. A good example would be adding lighter strands to a painted grassy area. 

Lifting, blotting, and scraping techniques are discussed in more depth in the following article:

“Lifting blotting & erasing watercolor.”

15. Watercolor Resist Techniques 

Artists occasionally also use wax resist. With this method, you draw over the area which needs to stay white using clear candle wax. 

I’m sure a lot of us did this kind of artwork when we were kids  

The effect was almost like magic. After crayoning on the paper surface, any paint is repelled by the waterproof wax lines…

This is a quick and fairly accurate way of reserving white, but the downside is that the wax remains on the paper!

You can buy wax resist crayons in bulk here (Amazon)

16. Watercolor Dry Brush

Dry brushing literally means painting with a dry brush so that color only partially covers the paper. This brushing technique produces broken lines of color and is very effective for adding texture to a painting.

I would recommend you use this technique in combination with others. As an example, the artist Chien Chung Wei uses this technique beautifully. Try looking him up!

To get the hang of this brush method, it’s well worth grabbing a few spare sheets of paper and experimenting. Generally, it works best on paper with some texture, so rough or cold-pressed watercolor paper is ideal. 

It can be quite punishing for your brushes, so don’t use your best ones! Also, it tends to work better with stiff brushes. Goat hair is a good option, or some sort of bristle brush.

As you might have guessed, the wetness of the brush needs to be controlled for this technique to be successful. Also, you need to move your brush with relatively rapid linear movements. As your brush skims across the paper, the dry paint adheres to the raised textured paper surface but doesn’t sink into the crevices.

I have a full article on the dry brush watercolor technique here…

17. The Light-to-Dark Approach

Painting light-to-dark is a watercolor method that most watercolorists employ to gradually build up a subject.

As mentioned in the section about glazing above, working from light to dark is a very effective way to use this medium, in particular, because of the transparency of watercolors and the layering effect of successive washes of watercolor.

The more layers you add, the darker the tonal value becomes. This lets you add depth gradually to any subject. It can take a bit of getting used to. Still, after a while, you find yourself breaking down a subject in your mind into shapes of lighter and darker values so you can apply this technique.

I have a complete article dedicated to this approach here…

18. Underpainting Watercolor

Underpainting is about laying down a foundation of color at the beginning of the painting process. Because watercolor is transparent, the chosen colors for underpainting affect the color appearance of the final work. 

This is similar to the concept of glazing, where the final color appearance depends on the combined layers of pigments. 

This technique can be used in all kinds of subjects, but it’s a popular method in landscape painting. For example, a cool blue-gray underpainting creates a cool mood in a scene. Whereas a warm underpainted wash conveys a warmer atmosphere to the finished work.

You can see an example of using underpainting in this tutorial.

19. Negative Painting Techniques 

Negative painting in watercolor is where you focus on the shapes around an object rather than the object itself. Subjects are made up of both positive and negative forms. Generally, the subject is the positive shape, and the surrounding space is the negative shape.

So painting into the shapes surrounding the object means you are painting the negative space. This is “negative” painting. 

This is often used when the focal point of a painting is light-valued, and the background is a darker tone. By painting the darker “negative” background shapes, you reveal the shape and form of the lighter “positive” forms.

You can find an in-depth lesson about negative painting here…

20. Watercolor Salt Effects

Using salt on watercolor is a method of adding texture to a painting. Salt has absorbent qualities. To use this technique, salt is sprinkled onto a wet wash of color, and the salt absorbs the paint in the surrounding area.

In this way, adding salt to a damp wash of watercolor creates bursts of feathery textures around the grains of salt. 

Keep in mind that a variety of factors affect the outcome of this technique, including:

• The size of the grains and 
• The type of paint you use 
• The wetness of the paper
• The water-to-paint ratio of your mixed paint

For example, granulating watercolors produce a less-apparent effect since granulating paints are already “textured” in nature. On the other hand, non-granulating colors deliver a more pronounced effect when using salt.

21. Watercolor Spray Bottle Technique 

I always have a spray bottle with clear water nearby when painting. It’s a quick and easy method for adding speckled texture to watercolor paintings. You can produce a splatter texture by vaporizing droplets of water into a damp area of watercolor.

When the water drops hit the wet surface, the water spreads outward. It pushes the pigment away, leaving behind a lighter-toned speckle on the surface. (This is the same phenomenon as “watercolor blooms”). 

I like to use this effect on backgrounds…

22. Rubbing Alcohol Watercolor Technique 

This effect works very similarly to adding salt or using a spray bottle. The alcohol repels the pigments on the surface of a colored wash, leaving a transparent spot of clear paper. However, the appearance is slightly different from using water splatters or salt. The resulting spots look more like bubbles or blisters on the colored surface.

Good tools to apply this technique are a dropper or a cotton swab (don’t use your best brushes applying the alcohol!) You can also get rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and use it like a vaporizer.

23. Plastic Wrap Watercolor Effect

Everyday kitchen plastic wrap can make some fascinating textures. First, the plastic film is pressed into a wet shape of watercolor. Next, the film scrunches up and causes the underlying wet paint to follow the wrinkles of the film. Then you leave the paint to dry and remove the film. 

The results are very abstract and random. It leaves patches of lighter and darker-toned shapes in the underlying layer of paint. 

This texture technique can be used effectively to convey organic-looking forms. I’ve seen it used with great success on landscapes, for example.

24. Watercolor Dripping

Dripping is a fun watercolor technique to add abstract flowing drips of color to a painting. A very wet application of paint can be encouraged to trickle down the page using the help of gravity.

This is more of an illustrative style of texture creation in watercolors. It yields a very interesting graphic look to a painting!

Watercolors’ watery, fluid nature makes this method unique compared to other mediums. 

I’ve written a more detailed description of this approach here…

25. Watercolor Splatter Techniques 

Watercolor splatters can be applied to make very subtle or dense patterns of spots and freckles of color. The most common way to apply this technique is to use a toothbrush, but any stiff-haired brush can do the job. 

Load the brush with paint, then flick the brush with your index finger to splatter droplets of color on the paper surface.

This can sometimes be done with a round paint brush by vigorously flicking a loaded wet brush over the surface. 

Soft watercolor brushes are less effective for this method. The hairs need some “spring” to snap back into place and fling the paint around!

26. Scumbling Watercolor

Scumbling is a brush technique for adding texture to your artwork. You use your brush with a dabbing and scribbling action to create patchy specks of color. Dabbing repeatedly in this way creates loose dots of texture that can be varied in tone or layered on top of each other. This technique is great for adding detail.

Scumbling is a technique that originates from oil painting. It’s used to add scattered dots of lighter-colored paint to create highlights. Because oil paints are opaque, this works well for creating areas of lighter color. But because watercolors are transparent, scumbling works differently. With watercolor, you begin light and finish dark. So scumbling is added in stages to create darker dots of texture over spots of lighter-toned paint or untouched white paper.

It’s an excellent technique for adding textures for masonry, fur, hair, feathers, leaves, foliage, etc.

Any brush can be used for scumbling, but generally, it seems to work better with short tufted brushes. If you find yourself stabbing and scraping quite hard, maybe don’t use your best brushes! Scumbling is a wet on dry technique. You begin by laying down base washes of color or an initial pattern of scumbling. These first layers must be dry before you start dabbing texture over them. Also, your brush should not be too wet.

It’s a straightforward technique, providing a good level of control. Use your brush to create irregular shapes any way you want by randomly dotting or stroking the paper.

Try experimenting with scumbling to see what effects you can get.

27. Watercolor and Ink Painting Techniques 

Watercolor and ink pen is a very popular mixed media technique. The linear pen marks create a graphic style, and the watercolor provides shapes of color. 

This is a great way to combine loose watercolor brush strokes and precise pen lines. 

The two can be combined in any order:

• paint followed by ink, 
• or ink followed by watercolor washes…

The pen ink must be waterproof, or the lines will bleed and spread into the watercolor wash. And the paper needs to be able to handle water. Mixed media paper or smooth hot-pressed watercolor paper are best.

You’ll find an overview of this technique here…

28. Watercolor Bloom Texture Method

Watercolor blooms (also known as cauliflowers or blossoms) are often viewed as a mistake. They occur when paint or water flows back into a drying wash, causing a feathery-looking texture.

But when you know how to control the appearance of blooms, this phenomenon can be deliberately used to add interesting texture to a painting.

The effect remains somewhat random and uncontrolled, but this haphazard quality is one of the beautiful aspects of watercolor!

I have written a complete tutorial about using blooms here…

The post Unmissable Watercolor Techniques (EVERYTHING You Need!) first appeared on Watercolor Affair.