How to create beautiful pictures with watercolors.

First a general comment on materials. Buy the best materials you can afford.

First off, take some time to explore(and this and other watercolor and artist's sites to understand the tools, history, theory and variety of styles and techniques of other artists. Once you have the basic idea of what's involved in being a watercolorist you're ready to give it a go.

You don't have to know how to draw really well to start to make art. That comes with much practice. But all of the beautiful techniques used in creating a watercolor painting can be learned, more or less like any trade that involves a certain set of skills.

Each piece of art you make will gradually lead you to your own unique expression and style. It can be marketable, if not satisfying, if your painting skills can allow you to evoke an emotional response from your viewers and patrons. I'd shoot for a good response.

The tutorials and lessons found on the site will get you started and perhaps inspire you, as a watercolor painter. We can supply lessons on the craft and skills, but purpose is what is driving you to want to try to create art. What that vision is, is unique for everyone. The footsteps of the path that lies before you are yours to follow until you can find your own path.

A basic artistic right. Before you learn the skills and craft of painting in watercolor you must play with your paints, papers, brushes and other tools. Get some cheaper watercolor paper, a glass of water, watercolor paint and palette. If using cake (hard) or pan (moist) colors first moisten all your colors with a few drops of water from the tip of your brush. Rinse and charge after each color.

Watch what happens. Grab a brush and dip it in the water, shake some on your palette to make a puddle. Dip your brush into a color with a twist or wiggle of the brush and pick up some color with your brush. Stir the color into the water puddle until it is of uniform color (or not). Charge your brush with this color and test out the color and brush on the paper. Get a feel for how the brush feels in your hand and how different angles affect the resulting stroke.

Play with the other colors in the same manner. Each color may have unique physical properties that affect how each is mixed. Some paints are clear bright transparent colors. Some are heavy and dense and are almost opaque. Some watercolor paints are grainy and settle into the texture of the paper when they dry.

Try lines. Try big splotches of color. Try mixing two or more colors together. Make it wet. Make it dry. Experiment and play. When your water turns murky replace it with clean water. Keep your brushes rinsed between colors so you don't pollute the color you are picking up. After you fill up a sheet with your doodling, grab a new sheet or use the back of the first sheet after it dries. Have fun. You are just getting a feel for the materials.

Repeat playing with paint as necessary until the zen of watercolor painting sets in or you think you can't use up any more of your materials. You may return to play at any instant in your career as an artist. Playing has been known to help pass the time and alleviate artistic "blocks."

That being said, you can now proceed and learn the basic skills and techniques of being a watercolor artist. Or get on with your surfing. (by Greg Conley, B.A. Artist-in-Residence)

A good starting palette of student quality paints is:

Essentials: Ultramarine, Cerulean Blue Hue, Cadmium Red Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Lemon yellow.

These six colours, Warm Blue - Cold Blue, Warm Red - Cold Red & Warm Yellow - Cold Yellow, enable the mixing of a wide range of colours.

Useful additional colours are: Light Red, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Payne's Gray, Cobalt blue, Winsor blue, New Gamboge Hue.

Ready made greens are not essential for landscape and flower paintings as a wide range of greens can be mixed from the colours above

Brushes
There are a wide variety of brushes on the market. The best for watercolour are Kolinsky Sable, next best is Sable, then Sable synthetic mix the cheapest being all synthetic. The difference between the brushes is the cost, the amount of water they hold, the ability to maintain a sharp point and the effects that can be created with them.

There are round brushes, flat brushes, riggers (for producing long fine lines) fan brushes (for special effects) and wash brushes (for applying large amounts of colour). Be sure to get brushes made specifically for watercolour. The size of the paintings you intend to do will have an influence on the sizes of brushes used. Buy the best you can afford. Synthetic Brushes Synthetic Brushes Top to bottom: 1 Inch Flat, No.4 Fan, No.s 12, 6 & 2 Round & No. 0 Rigger

For a reasonable cost, Sable synthetic mix No. 3, 6 & 12 round brushes and a synthetic rigger will cover most situations for landscape, flower and portrait work. When buying, make sure that round brushes have a fine point. Useful additional brushes are a wash brush and a 1" synthetic Flat.

Palette: There are many different types and shapes of palette available made from metal, plastic and porcelain. The only essentials are that it should be white, so that the colours can be seen clearly and it should have a number of mixing wells with sufficient depth to allow mixing of a number of separate washes. The palette should preferably have flat rather than slanted wells. Palettes with slanted wells make it difficult to gauge the intensity of colour in a wash and also prevent the formation of variegated mixes (mixtures which allow the constituent colours to form a marbled appearance by not completely mixing them together). Many people use ordinary white dinner plates.

Pencils: A 2B pencil is ideal for preliminary drawing on watercolour paper. Harder pencils can mark the paper, softer ones can cause smudges while working. It's generally better to perfect a drawing on Liner or Cartridge paper and then transfer it to watercolour paper by tracing. This avoids damaging the delicate surface of watercolour paper.

Eraser: The best eraser for use on watercolour paper is a putty eraser. These can be used gently on the paper without causing too much damage. Conventional erasers can damage the paper and make the further application of paint less predictable.

Water container: Anything which will hold water will do - the bigger the better, however a clear container lets you see easily how dirty the water is getting. Many artists use two containers, one for brush washing and another for colour mixing.

Paper: Watercolour papers are made with three different surfaces. From smoothest to roughest these are 'Hot pressed', 'Not' and 'Rough'. The choice of surface depends on the subject and the effects you want to create. The surface textures and absorbency vary considerably between manufacturers. The best papers are hand made from 100% cotton and are acid free to ensure that they do not effect the paint and do not rot.

Other equipment: A drawing board on which paper can be taped or stretched. The board can be laid flat or tilted using a book etc. 8 mm or thicker Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) is OK.

Current Category: Painting Media >> Painting with Watercolors Painting with Acrylic         Painting with Watercolors         Painting with Oil         Painting Techniques & Tips       Colors Mixing Techniques & Tips