First steps / Wash on dry paper
There are two ways to approach watercolor: either you don't allow yourself the right to make a mistake (and then the anxiety of the blank page is guaranteed!), or you give yourself time to experiment and allow yourself several attempts. Here are a few exercises to get to know your materials, the colors, and above all, the effects obtained according to the degree of humidity of the paper or the brush. We are our own clients in painting; the most important person to satisfy is oneself!
Welcome to the world of watercolor!
Wash on dry paper
Watercolor relies on an understanding of the properties of water (see Taming the water). It is absolutely necessary to study its qualities and mysteries, even for the so-called "dry" technique. To summarize, the dry technique relies on depositing a colored wash on dry paper.
To draw, take simple reference points: top, bottom, left, right. Note the points to be placed relative to each other: higher or lower? Further to the right or to the left?
One fish... or two
Watercolor paper doesn't really like being erased, so it is better to be sure of your lines! If you are not very comfortable, use tracing paper. Many painters do this.
Adjust the "skirt" with your medium wash brush, prepare a wash by diluting a bit of Schmincke orange, and coat the surface of your fish starting from the center and slowing down to paint the outlines as delicately and precisely as possible.
Start again by varying the colors! Here, Winsor red then Winsor yellow.
Some Trees
Green is the color that requires the most nuances. Let's find some green recipes or refer to the color chart (see here). Lemon yellow-based greens are tart and a bit cool. They can be warmed up by adding an orange tone. Generally speaking, you will start with the distant backgrounds and continue moving progressively towards the very foreground.
Warmer colors placed in the front and cooler colors in the background will accentuate this. If the backgrounds are blurred and the foregrounds are precise, you will obtain an impression of depth.
A background is absolutely necessary to give depth to closer trees; they will stand out all the more clearly the blurrier the background is. The nuances you obtain will bring the notion of atmosphere, or season, to your watercolor.
Creating a background of trees is a bit like making clouds. Apply a nuanced wash with your medium wash brush on dry paper.
Here, sharper trees have been added to the foreground. The greens of the trees placed in front are warmer (mixes based on Indian yellow or green broken with red).
Halloween Pumpkins
After drawing the three pumpkins, you will use a medium-sized wash brush that has had its "skirt" adjusted, loaded with water but not dripping. Load the latter with Schmincke orange wash and generously spread it over the surface of the pumpkin. You can also mix or alternate with burnt sienna. Do not forget that you start from the inside and go towards the edges!
On the small pumpkin on the left, apply a little diluted lemon yellow to the brush, wash the brush, wring it out, and then place this damp brush right at the edge of the yellow spot. Soften the edge of the spot (this is called blending). Let it dry.
Alternative of the "double brush" for blending: one brush deposits the color and another contains just a little water. Place the damp brush a short distance from the spot of color and gradually bring it closer, to create a blended edge.
Apply shadows with a mixture of cobalt blue and magenta (the blue must be dominant). And in the background, spread a cobalt blue wash. Paint the little stems brown by mixing a little burnt sienna with ultramarine blue. If, like me, you had covered the eye with orange, clean it with a small damp beveled brush, as well as the contour of the eye cavities.
On cellulose paper, you can "depigment" (see here). You simply have to moisten a flat brush or a beveled brush, preferably with synthetic bristles, and gently clean what you want to remove. Do not rub! If it does not come off, your brush is not wet enough! Adjust the "skirt" and start again several times if necessary. Then let it dry.
You can, if you wish, give a nocturnal atmosphere to this subject with a more intense background: pass a dense wash of ultramarine blue and Mars black behind the pumpkins.
When you add a dark color to a background, it is said that you "dramatize" the subject. The resulting aspect is generally more realistic, and less "light."
