For centuries, people have had an immense love for watercolor paintings. It is an age-old tradition. Watercolor paintings are attractive and let an artist be more creative. But painting with watercolors is not that easy, it requires a lot of skills to paint with watercolors. In watercolor paintings, it is difficult to take control over the colors especially when you are not a pro.
Painting with watercolor is complex, perplexing, and exciting at the same time. Watercolors can be easily removed from the brushes after the painting. On the contrary, it requires solvents to clean oil paints from the brushes. Watercolor painters have years of expertise in painting with watercolors and know how to take control over the colors.
If you want to be a pro in watercolor painting then you need to follow some tips and tricks we have mentioned in this post. Many art galleries are offering natural watercolor paintings for sale at highly affordable rates. Without further ado, let’s dive in;
When it comes to watercolor paintings, you need to consider a lot of things such as the quality of the paper and watercolors. Good quality watercolors can make a difference in your paintings. You will be surprised to see how good quality watercolors affect your final product. Many artists skimp on the quality of the pigments just to save a few bucks.
Always purchase good-quality watercolors to fill your painting with rich and colorful pigments. The paper, watercolors, and brushes everything must be of high quality. A poor-quality brush loses bristles after getting wet again and again.
Pay Attention to the Paper
The next thing you need to consider in watercolor paintings is to pay attention to the quality of the paper. Not every paper is suitable for watercolor paintings. Some papers are glossy whereas some papers are hard and don’t absorb the watercolors.
Therefore, the best option for watercolor paintings is thick and porous paper. Because porous paper absorbs the water and doesn’t wrinkle or get damaged. While painting, you can start with anywhere on the page but it must be absorbent to show the transparency of watercolors.
Mount Your Paper
Watercolor paintings can be frustrating at times when the water dries up, it buckles the paper. The paper soaks all the water and creates wrinkles in the paintings which doesn’t look good. To avoid this, it is essential to stretch your paper over cardboard, wood, or panel. Stretching protects the watercolor paintings from wrinkles and shows all the watercolor effects. Moreover, you can also mount your paper on the wall to keep it stretched while drying.
Make A Sketch First
When it comes to watercolor paintings, most artist’s sketch their art before painting with watercolors. Because sketch makes it easier for the artists to paint as they can see the visible edges. Always sketch out lightly with a lead pencil so that you can see the boundaries without making them visible in your painting. But lead pencil lines don’t look bad if you are making an abstract painting.
Always Begin With Fewer Colors
Watercolor painting is not difficult but you need to understand the colors when they blend into each other. There are various techniques to do watercolor painting such as
- Wet on Wet
- Dry on Wet
- Wet on Dry
- Dry on Dry
Watercolor paintings are creative as it allows an artist to be as much creative as he can. The watercolors have a characteristic that they bleed into one another during painting which gives an amazing final product. It allows you to easily blend and gives shading to your painting.
But you need to choose colors wisely because not every color goes well when combined with another color. Some colors are similar so when they are combined, the results can be wonderful. On the contrary, if two dissimilar colors mix then the result won’t be satisfactory.
So, it is essential to understand these things while learning watercolor painting. The best way to cope with this problem is to limit your palette. If you are a beginner in watercolor painting and don’t know about blending and shading.
Then you need to begin with a few colors to experiment on the canvas that which colors blend well with others and which don’t. Once, you understand the blending and mixing, you are good to go with the whole watercolor palette.
Use Layering
Watercolor paintings are different from oil and acrylic paintings. In watercolor paintings, you can’t apply all the watercolors at once. Watercolor painting experts create their art by applying thin layers of watercolors on top of one another. Some artists allow each watercolor layer to dry before applying the next coat using the wet on dry technique.
On the other hand, some experts use the wet-on-wet technique. The rule of thumb in watercolor painting is to paint the lighter layers first then add the darker layers. Because you can cover the lighter layers under the darker ones but you can’t cover a darker pigment with a lighter layer. That’s why.
Always Use Masking Fluid
Have you ever thought about how artists create watercolor paintings with well-defined shapes and edges? Because watercolors merge into each other during drying. But there’s an effective tool to protect your painting from bleeding into each other known as the masking fluid. It is composed of pigment and rubber latex.
Masking fluid is resistant to water so you can apply it to a certain area in your paper before making the painting. After you are done with your painting, you can peel off the dried masking fluid from your paper. But apply the masking fluid carefully to the areas where you want to leave the white space.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, watercolor painting allows an artist to bring out all his creativity on the canvas. There are many advantages of watercolor paintings over acrylic and oil paintings such as it is cost-effective, easy to clean, containing no harsh chemicals, and transparent. Besides this, you can use watercolors again by adding a little water to your palette.
