Hints and Tips: Watercolour Painting

Creative Watercolour Painting

Watercolour: hints and tips

MM.jpgAs some of you may know I have recently come across the work of an artist called Michael Morgan. He is a great watercolour painter, whose landscape paintings could be mistaken for  oil or acrylic paintings such is their boldness.  This man is now in his 80’s and obviously has a wealth of experience, but what is amazing is his sheer creativity.

This is a man who is not restricted by techniques and the idea that it is somehow ‘cheating’ if he breaks the ‘rules’ of traditional watercolour painting. Without seeing his work in the flesh it can be difficult to work out some of his methods, but just to give you an example of how he has pushed the boundaries of watercolour, he appears not averse to using a palette knife. It seems on some of his work he lays down an underpainting with a palette knife probably using white gouache and then lays watercolour washes over the top. This gives a really interesting ridged effect which is great for mountains, rocks etc. He is also fond of using resists, probably by applying an oil, to create patterns in his washes.

You will also notice an interesting play with perspective, the houses are painted as though we are looking straight at them as though they are close to our eye level, yet roads / paths are painted as though we are in a plane looking down on the landscape. This multiple view point is not new, but can be effective. The point is that this man experiments and is not restricted by tradition, he is always looking to push the boundaries. Isn’t that what we all should be doing?

Stretching Watercolour Paper
It's generally recommended that watercolor paper less than 356 gsm (260 lb) is stretched before use, otherwise it'll warp. I

Step by Step
1. Cut four strips of gummed brown tape, masking tape and plastic tape won't work) one for each side of the  watercolour paper. Cut these slightly longer than the sides. 
2. Soak a sheet of watercolour paper in cold water for a couple of minutes. 
3. Lift the sheet of watercolour paper and gently shake off the excess water. Place it on a drawing board, which must be lying flat.
Smooth the watercolor paper out with a clean sponge. If the sheet of watercolour paper not perfectly smooth at this stage, it won't dry smooth.
4. Moisten a strip of gummed tape and stick it down firmly alone one side so that one third of the tape is on the paper and two-thirds on the board. This will stop the watercolour paper pulling off the board when it dries.Tape down the other sides in the same way.
5. Leave to dry for several hours, away from direct heat. As the water evaporates.
6. Keep the board flat while the watercolour paper dries, otherwise the water will drain to one edge and the paper will dry unevenly.
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Tips:
Don't use hot water to soak your watercolour paper as this could remove the sizing from the paper, and don't soak it for too long for the same reason. Sizing is added to watercolour paper to reduce its absorbency.
Don't try to peel off the brown tape when you've finished your painting as it will probably tear the paper. Best way is to cut it out with a Stanley knife.

Choose good quality watercolour paper, at least 300lb with a good ‘tooth’ (tooth refers to the roughness of the paper). Don’t use cartridge paper, it is too smooth and wrinkles too easily.

  • Use the best brushes you can afford, cheap brushes simply don’t cut it.

  • Always keep you brush fully loaded when working on washes. Make sure that one wash is perfectly dry before applying another unless working wet-in-wet.

  • Always work from light to dark. Start as light as you can you can always darken areas later.

  • It is a good idea to establish the lightest area and the darkest areas in your painting before anything else, and then you make sure your tones range between the extremes. This assumes you have worked out the idea for your painting before you start.

  • Try not to fiddle or overwork your painting. Don’t use three brush strokes when one will do.

  • Get to know your colours, their names and what happens when you mix then together. You should know for example, which reds and blues when mixed, will give you good purples and which give muddy browns. Remember those muddy browns could be ideal for some types of landscape painting.