Taming the Water
A large part of learning watercolor relies on the ability to properly dose the water. In practice, it is necessary to take into account three parameters (the pigment, the brush, the paper!) to give yourself every chance of obtaining the expected effects.
Over time, these adjustments become so instinctive that most watercolorists no longer even realize they are implementing them!
The degree of humidity of the paper
In watercolor, there are several basic techniques, all of which are defined in relation to the degree of humidity of the paper before depositing the pigment.
Watercolor on dry
This is when the paper is dry at the start.
Wet-on-wet watercolor
This operation, which consists of wetting the sheet only on the top surface (even partially), is enough to classify the watercolor as "wet-on-wet." The paper is more or less moistened only on the upper surface of the sheet, whether it is stretched on a block or not.
Watercolor on soaked paper
The sheet of paper is wet on top and underneath; the sheet is independent of a block. It is soaked for about ten minutes in a tray, then spread out on a plexiglass plate or stapled to a frame. You start painting without waiting.
Watercolor demands an understanding of the properties of 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. This wash may in some cases need to be blended out, particularly to avoid overly sharp edges.
The boundaries between the different techniques are very fluid: you can start on dry paper and finish on very wet paper, and the reverse is also true; you can start on wet paper and do the finishing touches dry.
The Rule of the 3 Ps
- P for Pigment: Paste, cream, wash... You prepare the texture of the color in the palette. For convenience in this article, we will call "pigment" the color as it comes out of the tube. In fact, we shouldn't say "the color" either, but the paste!
- P for Paintbrush: Made of synthetic or natural hair, your brush can be pointed, beveled, or otherwise. Choose it and then fill it adequately.
- P for Paper: Dry, more or less matte, shiny... Opt for the degree of moistening of the paper that corresponds to your expectations.
The texture of pigments
There are several types of pigment textures that you will choose according to the practices and results desired. Water is, of course, the key; you will add it to the pigment to dilute it to a greater or lesser extent. An essential part plays out in the palette, the moment the brush mixes the pigment.
Paste
This is how the color comes out of the tube; to use it, simply mix it a little with a slightly dampened brush. The paste sticks to the tip of the brush tuft. This texture is used almost exclusively on very wet paper.
You can also use the paste by spreading it with a painting knife on dry paper and spraying it with water to liquefy it. Guaranteed effects!
Preparing a cream with Winsor blue.
Cream
It is easier to prepare a cream with a synthetic brush that will naturally retain less water than a wash brush. Taken from the palette well, the color is mixed with a moistened brush. In the mixing basin, the creamy pigment sticks.
Wash (Jus)
It makes more sense to use a wash brush, which will naturally hold more water, to prepare a wash. Taken from one of the palette pans, the pigment is diluted with a very wet brush. In the large mixing basin, it flows if you tilt the palette. The wash is the essential step to start in watercolor.
Preparing a wash with lemon yellow.
The skirt of the brush
Priming the brush with water
Priming the brush means dipping the brush in water so that it is wet. At first glance, you wouldn't imagine using a completely dry brush to paint with watercolor. However, some painters do it to create rubbings and textural effects to imitate wood or stone, for example. For my part, I always prefer to prime the brush a little with water, even for rubbings.
Here, rubbings were done for texture effects on the rocks.
Adjusting the water level in the brush: the skirt
What we call the skirt is adjusting as precisely as possible with the brush the amount of water needed for each gesture you will make on the paper.
Dip any type of brush into the water container, the entire tuft and the entire ferrule. Count to 10. Then, wring out the brush by pressing it against the edges of the container. It is ready to use. Repeat this FUNDAMENTAL operation as often as necessary: for example, between two color changes, and joyfully stir the brush in the water!
Each type of brush corresponds to a certain filling capacity. Wash brushes, with a round tuft and a more or less pointed tip, are those that can hold the most water; their belly is a reservoir. By wringing them out, they can also hold much less.
Do not twist your brush like a mop! Respect the direction of the hair. For a marten or wash brush of medium size, I press it about 3 times on the edge of the container. Be gentle.
It is largely at this moment, when you dip the brush into the water and press it against the edge of the container to adjust the overflow, that the secret of a mastered watercolor plays out. Pay close attention to your gesture. Never do it "mechanically." Do it with full mindfulness.
Controlling water on the paper
Paper is the third essential ingredient for a successful watercolor. And it is no coincidence that each painter particularly cherishes the one they use. Monitoring the state of the paper in watercolor is a bit like monitoring the cooking process in the kitchen!
Some painters differentiate between fresh matte, which is still shiny (as above), and dry matte, when to the touch, the paper is dry but the back remains damp. You can notice this better when working on a stretcher frame, but to start, prefer a stretched block.
Drop of water to pump after tilting the paper.
At first, when the paper is very wet, it is shiny. Sometimes, small puddles form.
When the water begins to be absorbed by the paper fibers or when it has evaporated (if it is a bit warm, it can go quite fast), the paper becomes matte.
Finally, when nothing moves to the touch and no moisture is perceptible, the paper is dry.
Drying artificially
When you need to dry the paper, use a hairdryer or a heat gun (careful, do this from a distance and always keep it moving because the tool is very hot and drying is rapid!). Drying dulls the pigments slightly. It should never be overused.
Here, the heat gun is used too close to the watercolor!
Rewetting
When the paper is shiny, you can rewet it with a fine mist spray and thus maintain the moisture longer.
When the paper has dried, be very gentle when rewetting it. Use a very wet wash brush and DO NOT RUB! Only the water contained in the belly of the brush tuft should touch the paper. It is at the cost of this delicacy that you will succeed in successive passes on cellulose papers. Indeed, unlike cotton paper, the pigments do not penetrate very deeply into the fibers, and any untimely rubbing will depigment!
Drop under the belly of the brush
Blended or sharp?
If your paper is damp or wet, you will get blended effects; if it is dry, your deposits will be sharper.
To summarize
- Each of your interventions on your watercolor must be thought out.
- Carefully choose the adapted Paintbrush, fill it with water correctly.
- Prepare in the palette the texture of Pigment or color adapted to the desired result.
- Wet the Paper or not according to your needs.
In most of the gestures performed, either the paper is abundantly wet, or the brush contains more water, or the pigment is a liquid (wash). This Rule of the 3 Ps is not absolute but can help you get started.
In this rule, one of the three elements (paper, paintbrush, or pigment) is considered dominant in the water supply.
To start, even for the wettest techniques presented here, we will simply keep the sheet without detaching it, stretched on the block glued on all four sides as it is sold commercially.
