Watercolor painting is a medium that can be controlled when you learn the skill with a bit of practice, but it is by nature a very loose and transparent form of painting. This scares many people away from the media, but if you find someone to teach you the freedom that it allows you, you will be pleasantly surprised and pleased.

Good watercolor lessons will also cover the basics of drawing, composition, color, and shading. Even though watercolor lends itself to being loose, these basics are really very important to any kind of painting. When you actually begin your lessons, you will probably work with simple forms and practice techniques such as wet washes (which are wet paint laid directly onto wet paper), dry washes (which are watery washes of paint laid smoothly onto dry areas of the paper), and then layering these type of washes. You will also learn to blend and shade with this watery media. After that, you may begin to learn to control “happy” accidents, and use a dry brush or do varied fun methods of creating texture and detail. Your first paintings will be ones that generally follow that of the teacher’s painting in demonstrations to get a basis of experience and learning. Once you become more comfortable with watercolor painting, you will progress to painting from still life arrangements or photos that you have taken, or even other types of models or plein air.

There is a school of thought which is called the “Purists.” Those who follow a purist form of watercolor painting, insist that watercolor paintings must be done very cleanly and all whites must be the actual watercolor paper. Along with this, no other substances may be introduced or added to the painting. This means no white paint or opaque paints. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a school of thought, which allows and encourages the use of white paint and other substances to allow for creativity. If white paint is used, it is generally called a gouache and the painting looses it’s transparency.

Basic supplies for watercolor painting include special watercolor brushes which are more flexible than oil painting brushes. These brushes will normally have longer bristles and will hold a large amount of water or paint. Watercolor paintings are most commonly done on a special watercolor paper which is made of rag and can be purchased in varying sizes and weights. However, there are many other untraditional surfaces that can you may want to paint on. As for paints; there are the dry cake type watercolors that are available, but most serious or accomplished watercolor artists prefer tube watercolor paints. Your teacher will provide you with a list of supplies and will probably let you know their preferences.

The cost of these supplies can be relatively simple or may become quite expensive. If you decide to continue with watercolors after the beginning lessons, you will want to purchase the better brands and better quality of these artists’ tools, but they can be purchases gradually. One item of cost that many students may not consider at first will be in the framing. Watercolor paintings need to be matted on acid free matt board by a knowledgeable framer. Then the matted paintings should framed be under glass. So, this additional cost with the frame may sometimes make framing watercolors a little more expensive than perhaps oil paintings or acrylic paintings.

Watercolor painting can open a new and exciting world of expression for you. Once you consider all of the fun and positive aspects of watercolor painting and then let yourself enjoy it, you will no doubt be on your way to becoming a unique and wonderful artist.

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There is a fantastic color contrast. The artists have made a bold effort by choosing the wonderful and attractive color shades like soft green, bluish hue, purple, peach and brown colors. The beauty of rural landscape in the painting is marvelous and eye catching. The pictorial scenario of wonderful blow of sweet breeze and the beach with the protected hills encircling village has been painted in magnificent color shades. If you have the strong passion for purchasing the water color painted pictures, you can try your luck by opting for Charles Dickens Wader’s collection.

His artistic work is not only famous but the pictures are painted in unique way. Frankly speaking, from childhood days, I have very good intention to purchase the beautiful pictures and I show much interest to buy the watercolor photos. On the other hand paintings can be used for the inner decoration of the house. If you are very much interested to decorate your rooms installing the elegant paintings and pictures, you must opt for watercolor paintings for the designing of the house.

In this connection, I can tell you a sweet incident which is still fresh in my mind. There was a lawyer who earned much recognition in the legal world. However he also took keen interest in the decoration of the house. He once hired me for the selection of good paintings for decorating his bed chamber and lounge. I was very glad to accept his offer and eventually I made an extensive search in the art exhibition to find the most appropriate painting for the lawyer.

After huge investigation and probing, finally I found a wonderful picture which depicted two polo players who were seen riding the horse in the play ground. My lawyer friend was very ecstatic to see the picture. Jim Killen is also very well known to the young artists and the painting lovers. His watercolor paintings can be chosen for the decoration of the rooms.

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Watercolor is probably the most convenient of all the painting mediums. All you really need to get started is a box of paint, a few brushes, water and some paper. There are no toxic solvents or mediums to be concerned about and your brushes can be cleaned with a little soap and water. This convenience makes watercolor one of the most economical painting mediums as well. This article will provide an introduction to the more popular supplies that a beginner should consider investing in.

PAINT

Watercolor paint is made by mixing powdered pigments along with a water soluble binding medium.

In the beginning you will do fine by using a cheaper brand of paint, but you will definitely enjoy a much better painting experience if you use artist quality paints. Artist quality paints use more high quality pigment and are noticeably richer and more vibrant. After you become more comfortable working with watercolors, you should then consider upgrading to artist quality paint. Paint is available in both pan and tube form. The main difference between the tube and pan paints is that the tubes have more glycerine and they tend to be more water soluble.

BRUSHES

There are generally two types of brushes that are available to artists: your soft hair brushes like natural sable and squirrel hair and your hard hair bristle brushes. Soft hair brushes are the most popular choice amongst artists and highly recommended. Bristle brushes are sometimes used with techniques that require you to scrub the paint into your paper or other support. Among the soft brushes used by artists, sable is the most popular. These soft hair brushes are resilient and effective at holding a lot of paint.

Because of the high quality of these brushes, they also come with a high price tag. This of course leads artists to seek a cheaper alternative. This cheaper alternative comes in the form of synthetic soft hair brushes. As the name implies, these brushes are not made with animal hairs. They are made from man made materials and consequently, are not of the same quality as the sables. They are still a pretty good alternative and many artists use them.

BRUSH SHAPES

Now that you are a little more familiar with the types of hair brushes are made with, lets us cover the shapes brushes are available in.

Round Brushes

As the name implies, the hair of these brushes are round and can be shaped into an excellent point. Depending on the size of the round brushes, they can be used for detailed work or for applying washes.

Wash Brushes (or Mop Brushes)

This is a brush that forms a mop like shape and is used primarily for applying washes.

Flat Wash Brush

The flat wash brushes are square and flat in shape and closely resemble the brushes you use for house painting. These brushes are made for applying washes over large areas and can also be used for modifying existing washes.

Large Flat Wash Brushes

The large flat wash brush looks very similar to the regular flat wash brush only its a little larger, usually about 2 inches wide. This brush is also excellent for laying down washes over large areas.

PAPER

Watercolor paper comes in a variety of different sizes, weights and textures in order to accommodate the various preferences artist have. Whatever paper you decide to use, it needs to be very strong and have a certain degree of absorbency to prevent breaking, soap supplies, and tearing.

Absorbency

Watercolor paper is made to have certain degree of absorbency depending on the amount of sizing used in the manufacturing process. The more sizing used, the less absorbent your paper will be. If you are not happy with the level of absorbency in your paper, you can always purchase your own sizing and apply it yourself.

Acidity

You should look for papers that are acid free with a neutral PH. This will lessen the darkening of your paper as it ages.

Weight and Surface

Watercolor paper is available in three different surfaces: Hot pressed, cold pressed and rough.

Hot pressed paper has a smooth surface, cold pressed paper has a semi-rough surface and rough paper has, you guessed it, a rough surface. The weight of the paper refers to the weight of a ream (480 sheets) of paper.

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I’ve been buying watercolor paintings for decorating jobs. I’ve found some really nice pieces on eBay. I recently bought a watercolor painting by an artist named Y. Gianni. The painting was produced in 1890 and depicted an Italian village. It was very vivid and pleasing to look at.

I was trying to find just the right watercolor painting for a client when I came across one by an artist named William B. Gillette. The colors were pastel, ranging from soft greens, browns, blues, purples and peach. The scene was that of a pebble beach and crashing waves. The hills on one side gave the beach a feeling of privacy. It really spoke to me and my client loved it.

There was a cabin that I was decorating for a discerning client that needed one more piece of art to complete the look I was going for. I found a wonderful watercolor painting that fit just right. It had a lot of mossy green colors and there was a lake with a lake house. The artist turned out to be Charles Dickens Wader. He is a well known artist from New York.

I have a client that collects art from Romeo Tabuena. I was fortunate to find two watercolors that the owners had purchased directly from Tabuena in the fifties when they lived in San Miguel. The owner settled with me for an even thousand dollars. My client was thrilled.

A lawyer friend of mine hired me to redecorate his office. I had a lot of fun putting in things that reflected his interests and tastes. He loves polo and I found a wonderful watercolor painting of two polo players on horses. My friend liked the paintings and they have become a conversation piece in the new office.

My friend’s dad liked the office I decorated so much that he commissioned me to redecorate his office. He is a hunter and I found a really nice watercolor painting of several mallard ducks flying above a marsh. The painting was done by Jim Killen and he has painted for Ducks Unlimited. His work is well known and respected. My friend’s father really liked the find and proudly hung it in his reception area.

I was really unsure where I was going to find suitable art for the program director’s office at a local radio station. When I went to visit with him for a consultation, his office was absolutely stark. I like watercolor paintings and that is my first choice for buying art. I found a fantastic watercolor painting of Bob Marley surrounded by sunflowers. It was awesome and perfect for this job.

There is a musician that I was working for a couple of years ago that wanted their studio decorated with paintings from the artist Raoul Dufy. Raoul Dufy made a whole series of paintings called Hommage to Mozart. I was able to purchase three watercolor paintings in this series. I have always been on the lookout for more paintings to purchase for this client.

A friend of mine asked me to find a watercolor painting to give to her mother. I found one by Henry H. Parker that was of cattle in landscape. The frame was what caught my eye at first because it is heavy gilt. It would never hang in my house, but it looked great at my friend’s mother’s house.

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Learning a few basic grips is a good place to start. The first one is really simple. Hold your watercolor paint brush just like you would hold a pen or pencil for writing. Using this conventional grip, try writing your name with the brush. You can either print it or use longhand script. Experiment with slightly modifying the grip and see what interesting variations you can create. You may just amaze yourself.

Now let’s try a different grip. Pick up the brush using your thumb and index finger. Alternating between a tight and loose pinch, move the brush around the canvas. Do you notice the difference in brush strokes using this grip compared to the previous one? With the looser grip you should see that the strokes are much wider as they are freer and less controlled.

Okay, let’s move on to another technique known as the “screwdriver grip.” As you might have guessed, you’re going to hold the brush just like you hold a screwdriver, and you’re going to drive a screw into a piece of wood. You may feel a little clumsy employing this technique in the beginning but you will soon be more comfortable with practice. Because your range of control is quite limited with this grip, you’re forced to create very simple drawing. This technique is very good for sketching.

As you continue to practice the different watercolor brush techniques you will see that you can create a variety of textures and effects on the canvas by simply modifying the way you hold your brush.

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I normally paint with oils mixed with Galkyd fast-drying medium, so I assume I can make radical changes in the composition of shapes, values, and colors as I formulate the intended outcome of my pictures. But I had to exercise more thought, control, and restraint when I painted scenes of Costa Rica in watercolor during a recent vacation with my family.

It occurred to me that one might compare the difference between painting with watercolor and oil to the difference between a live stage performance and a filmed presentation. With watercolor, every gesture is observed and judged by the audience of viewers as if they were watching the painting take shape, whereas with oil, the performance is carefully edited so that only the best strokes are seen.

Each stroke of watercolor paint brushed across a sheet of paper permanently affects the surface, so an artist has to plan the mixtures of pigments and the sequence of application in order to achieve a carefully considered result. Adjustments can be made, and lots of teachers explain how to “salvage” a painting that is either timidly executed or overworked, but the best results are almost always the result of deliberate, planned, and economical actions.

After working on three paintings of the Costa Rican landscape that lacked this kind of spontaneity, freshness, and clarity, I achieved some level of success while sitting on the white-sand beach in Manuel Antonio, a growing tourist city along the Pacific Ocean. I drew the key elements of the scene on a 9″-x-12″ block of Arches watercolor paper using a mixture of three transparent, non-staining colors to establish a drawing that would disappear under the subsequent applications of paint. I started by painting the sky area, applied a dark base color to the rock formations, and gradually refined each area of the picture over a period of 90 minutes.

The finished painting isn’t anything I want to brag about, but it does capture my experience of relaxing in the warm, humid atmosphere of the tropical environment. It didn’t impress the white-faced monkeys and raccoons that were trying to steal food from people on the beach, but it satisfied me. I took some reference photographs so that eventually I can develop a larger and more considered studio painting.

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The very first thing you will need to learn how to do is draw a flat wash. You will start by mixing a generous amount of medium intensity paint on your palette. You want to use a flat brush. A Winsor and Newton 965 will do fine. You then want to saturate your brush and paint a thick straight line from left to right on your canvas. Four to six inches in length is fine.

After drawing the line, you want to repeat the procedure making sure that you start at the bottom of the first stroke. The flood of the first stroke should evenly flow into the second stroke. You then want to repeat this for a third, fourth and fifth stroke and so on. After you are done and the canvas dries, you should end up with an even toned square of color as if the whole thing were painted with one stroke. Like I said, it takes practice but is very important to master this.

Similar to the flat wash is the graded wash. The procedure is almost the same except for each line that you draw, you’re going to use a slightly lighter mixture of paint. So on your palette, you’re going to have to include several mixtures in order to get the right effect. When you’re done, the top of the square should be the darkest, the bottom of the square the lightest and as you go from top to bottom, the color gets lighter and lighter. Again, this takes some practice but is important to be able to master.

Finally, for this article, there is the glazed wash. This is where you overlap colors to make interesting designs. Get a palette with different shades of yellow, red, green and blue.

Pick any of the colors and draw, using a 1 inch flat sable brush, a straight line about 6 to 8 inches wide. Then rinse off the brush and choose another color. The color itself isn’t important. What you want to do is draw another design slightly overlapping the first one. You will notice how the second color slightly modifies the first one. Keep repeating the process using different designs and overlaps.

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While it’s not possible to go over every brush control technique, I will cover a few of the main ones. The first technique is called bands of color. It’s actually very simple. What you do is choose a color and draw some kind of a line with it, preferably curved. Then, you take another color and, right underneath the first line, try to draw an identical line in shape with the second color. You then repeat this with a third, fourth and so on. The resulting image is going to be quite interesting if done right. The key is leaving just enough space between each line so that the colors don’t wash together.

Another really cool technique is thick and thin. This is where you start out painting a line so that it begins thick but then begins to thin before going back to thick again and so on until you’ve completed the entire length of the line. This is accomplished by simply applying lots of pressure at the start to create the thick part of the line and then easing up to create the thin part. It’s a very effective technique.

Then of course there is the wrist flick technique. This is really good for painting things like grass. The technique does take a little practice but once you master it, it’s so cool. Say you want to paint a grass blade. What you do is start at the bottom of the canvas, where the grass would start (as if it were growing out of the ground) and then flick the brush upward. With a little practice, this will actually begin to look like a real blade of grass. That is of course assuming you’re using the correct watercolor.

These brush control techniques only scratch the surface but should get you started on your way to creating some nice designs. If you want a complete watercolor tutorial, check out the link in my signature. You’ll learn everything you need to know about watercolor painting.

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So, you want to learn watercolor painting? Well, in a world filled with plenty of ugliness, this is one thing that is a world of beauty at your fingertips. Watercolor painting is really not that hard. With a few tips and a little bit of imagination, you can become pretty decent at this without having to give up your first born in the process.

Let’s start with the grip. The basic grip for holding a watercolor paint brush is almost identical to the way you would hold a pen or pencil for writing. However, by simply adjusting the grip slightly, you can come up with some very interesting results. But starting with the conventional grip, since it’s similar to the handwriting grip, try writing your name. You can either print it or use script.

Okay, let’s now use a different grip. Try picking up the brush as if you are pinching it between your index finger and thumb. You can alternate between a tight pinch and a loose one. Then, take the brush, using each grip, and move it around the canvas. Notice the difference between the brush strokes using this grip and the standard grip. Notice the strokes are much fatter and with the looser grip, more free and less controlled.

Let’s try one more grip in this article called the screwdriver grip. Yes, you’re going to hold the brush as if it were a screwdriver and you were going to use it to screw something into a piece of wood. It’s a little awkward at first, but eventually, you’ll get used to it. Because there is a very limited range of control with this grip, it forces you to draw very simply. This is a great technique to use for sketching.

There are other grips that you can use but we’ll stop there. Yes, just by changing the way you hold your brush, you can get a variety of textures and effects on your canvas. For more great tips and a great resource in watercolor painting, check out the link in my signature.

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