Paints from a Tube

Don’t even think about using those dried out paints that have been sitting on your palette since the last time you tried watercolor. If you don’t have any paints then buy the paints in tubes. Where I am going with this? We need rich gooey paint to get rich luscious colors. The alternative is to use pans of color, but spritz water on them and let it soak in. They need to be creamy when you use them. The techniques we are going to use require rich color and the only way to get that is to use it as gooey as possible from the tube.

The Big Brush

Use a big brush and let your arm not your hand do the work. Standing up helps too. A big brush keeps you from painting small. How big? A one inch flat square brush is good or even a one and a half would do. Practice making marks with this brush, from broad washes to thin pencil like lines.

Paper Quality

I can’t stress enough the difference in using good quality paper over cheap. Your paintings will never look as good and the paint won’t behave in the way it should if your paper isn’t meant for watercolour or it is a cheap brand. Arches, Fabriano, Canson, and Strathmore. You will be amazed at the difference!

Mixing Paint on the Paper

Want to keep your colors from getting muddy? Mix them on the paper instead of on the palette. Start by mixing up some creamy color from the tube using cadmium yellow and cobalt blue. Get the paper wet apply the yellow color then charge in the blue. Let them mix on the paper by tilting or just letting the water do it’s thing. You will get a lovely green where you can still see the yellow and blue.

 The Beauty of Wet in Wet

Wet in wet means wet paint on wet paper. This is where the magic of watercolor happens. Where the mixing of paint on the paper makes for beautiful accidents. And the good news? You can keep working on the painting by spraying water on it to keep the paper wet. The downside is not to muddy your colors by mixing too many. Make sure you have nice creamy paint and even use some direct from the tube. Remember it will dry much lighter. This will give you a wonderful background to start adding your next level of details.