Watercolour Paint –

Is made up of very finely ground pigments bound with gum Arabic solution. The gum allows it to be heavily diluted with water to make thin, transparent washes without losing adhesion to the surface.

Paint left in the palette or ‘pans’ will reactivate with water.

We’re using Winsor & Newton Cotmans tube watercolours in this workshop. Note that it is worth buying good quality materials even when learning!

Paper –

There are three different textures of watercolour paper – Hot-pressed HP (smooth), Not or cold-pressed (medium grain), and rough – we are using Fabriano 280gsm Not/CP.

All watercolour paper is internally sized to varying degrees. This affects the absorbency and drying time of the paint.

Many papers are also surface sized reducing the absorbency and producing more vibrant washes. It also reduces the chance of tears and fibre loss when using masking fluid and lifting out colour.

Paper weight refers to the thickness of the paper and is referred to in grams per square metre (gsm). Light weight paper less than 300gsm is prone to buckling and generally requires stretching.

Heavier papers don’t need stretching unless you intend to flood the paper with washes.

Brushes –

Using the correct brushes is an important element to watercolour painting.

There are many brands and variations of watercolour brushes using different qualities of hairs and/or synthetic fibres. Sable and animal hair brushes are expensive but offer excellent capacity for holding paint, however they don’t always hold their shape well. Synthetic brushes hold slightly less paint but will maintain their shape more than natural fibres.

There’s many different types of brushes too. Including flat, round, filbert, mop, fan and rigger brushes – all come in multiple sizes!

I’d recommend starting out with a pack of different size synthetic brushes to see which brushes you use regularly before investing in higher quality versions.

In this series of workshops we will be using synthetic fibre watercolour brushes – a size 6 round brush and a size 20 flat brush.

Week 1: Set up

Palette

For mixing paint and storing unused paint
In this workshop we used Winsor & Newton Cotmans watercolour 21ml tubes
In week 1 we used their ‘3 colour system’ of Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine and Permanent Rose

Two pots of clean water –

one for cleaning brushes and one for using on palette and paper.

Paper towel

Useful for wiping of excess water and checking all paint is removed from your brush before moving onto another colour
I recommend placing it between your water pots to help clean your brush
Can be used to lift colour off your work

Note: It’s helpful to keep your materials on the side of your dominant hand and in easy reach so that you’re not reaching across work.

Part 1: Wet on dry technique

Preparing the paint

Use a large brush to add a clean water to an empty palette compartment, press the brush down against the edge of the palette and wipe against the edge to release the water from the brush.
pick up some colour and add to the water to create a watery consistency to begin
Repeat the process until you have a small puddle of water in each colour.
You only need a small amount especially when using fresh wet paint from the tube
You can adjust the saturation the mix by adding more paint

Note: watercolour paint can be left to dry in the palette and will reactivate with water the next time you want to paint. Simply re-wet the paint and mix, some colours may granulate at first but keep mixing and they will return to normal.

Exercise 1 – adjusting the wetness and saturation on the paint

Using the flat brush paint a square in each colour. The paint will be pale and watery
Rinse the brush between colours and wipe on paper towel to check brush is clean
Repeat this process 2-3 times adding more paint pigment to the water each time. You will gradually get a thicker consistency and more intense colour

Exercise 2 – Dry brush technique

Using the thickest consistency of paint, take the dry flat brush and pick up the paint without using any water, brush it straight onto the paper.
The paint will move less freely than wet paint and will show the brush marks
Rinse the brush thoroughly between colours and use your paper towel to dry the brush

Note: if the brush is too damp or the paint is too watery the dry brush effect won’t work

Part 2: colour mixing

Each brand has differently named colours that make up their colour systems. In week 1 we used Cotmans 3 colour system of Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine & Permanent Rose.

Working with a limited palette and mixing your colours is a valuable skill and gives you more control over your painting. Limited palettes also bring a unifying quality to your work.

Exercise 3 – colour wheel with petals

Paint a petal in the three primary colours (lemon yellow, ultramarine & permanent rose) creating a ‘Y’ shape with a space in the centre
then mix lemon + ultramarine to make green, lemon + rose to make orange, and rose + ultramarine to make purple and paint a petal between the two corresponding colours
Take this a step further by mixing;
yellow-orange & a red-orange by adjusting the amount of lemon and rose in the orange
yellow-green & a blue-green by adjusting the amount of lemon and ultramarine in the green
blue-purple & red-purple by dusting the amount of rose and ultramarine in the purple
painting these additional petals between the two relating colours
Finally create black/grey by mixing the 3 primary colours together, adjusting the amounts of each to your own preference, add this in the centre of the flower

Part 3: Wet on dry technique

Exercise 4 – layering

paint a square in a single colour using a moderately wet consistency of paint so that its transparent (test on a spare piece of paper)
Dry using a hairdryer
Using the same paint, paint over 3/4 of the square
Dry with hairdryer
Repeat the process painting 1/2 the square, then 1/4 of the square drying in between layers – notice how you can build saturation using the layers of the same paint mixture

Exercise 5 – flowers with layers wet on dry petals

Using a thin transparent mix of colour, paint three separate semi-circle shapes on our paper. If preferred you can draw your shapes first as a guide
Use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process before
Paint further semicircle petal shapes that overlapped the dry ones using the same consistency of paint (you should be able to see the layer beneath)
Dry with a hairdryer
Repeat 2 to 3 more layers of translucent petals creating a multi petal flowers
To finish mix a green and paint a thin stem

Key points:

The paint needs to be moderately watery on each layer so that each layer of petals can be seen.
Each layer must be completely dry before being painted over, if not the paint below will mix with the new layer of paint and the layering effect will be lost

Week 2

Part 1 – stretching paper

It is recommended to stretch watercolour paper to avoid buckling that will cause the paint to puddle on the surface.

This is especially important when working on papers under 300gsm, and when using techniques that involve lots of water and washes.

In these workshops we used Fabriano 280gsm paper

Exercise 6 – stretching paper

materials needed; watercolour paper, board, gummed tape cut to size, bowl of water, sponge and/or paper towel
soak the paper in a bowl of clean; 20 mins for 300gsm, 8 mins for 140gsm, 3 mins for 90gsm
Lift the paper using out of the water picking up from the corner, take care not to touch the surface as oils from fingers will show on the painting, and allow excess water to drip off
Lay the paper flat on the board, avoiding air getting trapped underneath
Dip the gummed tape into the water, removing excess water by running between fingers. Lay tape down the edges of the paper (gum side down) and gently flatten with fingers or paper towel. Be careful not to get glue on the surface of the paper.
Leave flat to dry naturally. I recommend leaving it overnight before painting.

Part 2 – Wet-on-wet technique

The wet on wet techniques refers to adding the watercolour paint to a wet surface and/or adding wet paint into wet paint on the surface so that colours mix together on the paper.

Exercise 7 – painting on wet areas

draw organic pebble shapes in pencil
using clean water lay down three circles of water on to the surface using the flat brush
To each wet area add moderately wet paint to slightly wet paint in colours of your choice, by ‘dropping’ the paint in, using short strokes and dots touching the brush to the wet surface to release the paint (rather than painting the entire shape). Allow the paint to move within the wet area, adding more if desired.
Leave to dry naturally
experiment with the wetness of paper and saturation of paint

Exercise 8 – Wet on damp

draw organic pebble shapes in pencil
paint with colour of your choice using moderately wet paint
allow to soak into the surface for a minute or so until the paper is damp, with a slight sheen on the surface
add lines and dots of paint to the surface using well saturated paint mix

observe how the paint mixes and reacts depending saturation of paint and wetness of paper

Note: in both the above exercises once the paint is dry the process can be repeated to increase colour saturation and create layers of different colours

Exercise 9 – Wash gradient on wet paper

Using a flat brush wet the paper with clean water
Select a colour and using a moderate consistency of paint, brush from right to left across the wet area
Work down the wet area, wetting your brush slightly with clean water as you move down the paper, the aim is for the the paint gradually fade from top to bottom

Note: if your paint colour is too watery, add more pigment to your mix on the palette and add to the area while it is still wet

Exercise 10 – Wash gradient wet in dry

Using a moderately watery consistency of paint brush the paint onto dry paper in horizontal strokes
Dip your brush into clean water, and brush across bottom edge of the wet paint drawing into down the paper
Repeat this process aiming to creating a fading gradient

Note: as above adjust the consistency of the paint as required. You can also dry surface and repeat process to create deeper saturation

Exercise 11 – Mixing colour gradients

method 1 wet the surface of the paper, add one colour to the top and create a gradient then add another colour over the bottom edge of the first colour and repeat the gradient effect by using clean water
method 2 – add the second colour lower, leaving a gap between the colours, then use clean water to draw it up towards the first colour
Experiment with the consistency of the paint and wetness of paper
Add more colours as desired

Week 3 – landscape painting & salt effects

Part 1 – Painting a Landscape

This exercise has been inspired by the landscape paintings by Robert Tilling.

This is the example I painted inspired by one of his paintings

Here is a video of me painting a simple version in the style of Robert Tilling demonstrating the following exercise:

Exercise 12 – Simple landscape using washes and layering

On our stretched paper use the flat brush to wet the surface with clean water
Whilst wet add a light washes that will act as the underpainting, mix colours and use gradients to suit your own desire
use hairdryer to dry
Add a second wash layer using a mixture of wet on dry & wet on wet/damp techniques to mix colours and adding more saturation
use a hairdryer to dry
Repeat until you are happy with the background colours
Then, using wet on dry paint in hills in the background and foreground, blend the foreground hills by using gradient technique of adding cleaning water to blend edge
use a hairdryer to dry
Add another layer of to hills if required using the same process as above (this will enhanced the depth of colour gradually), and add further details of your choice
use a hairdryer to dry
continue process until you are happy with your painting

Exercise 13 – comparing water, table salt & sea salt effects

Paint 3 squares using a moderately wet mix of blue or red
While the paint is damp sprinkle table salt on the first square…
then sprinkle sea salt on the second square
then flick or sprinkle clean water on the the third square
Leave to dry naturally

Exercise 14 – salt & water effects on layered paint

paint three shapes using a light colour and moderately wet paint mix
dry with a hairdryer
add a layer of a darker shade of paint, again using a moderately wet mix
whilst the second layer is still damp sprinkle table salt on one of the shapes, sea salt on the second, and drop/splatter water onto the third
leave to dry naturally

once dry you can rub the salt off the surface to reveal the full effect

Note: the effects will vary depending on the wetness of the paint, I recommend trying these effects on different levels of wetness and different colours as pigments can react differently

These techniques are useful for creating texture such as Lichen on rocks, speckles on flowers & fungi, and interesting background effects.