Painting with watercolours – Area 5

MATERIALS LIST

• Watercolour sketchbook
• Watercolour paint (a set of 1/2 pans)
• Brushes
• Two cups of water
• Cloth/Paper towels
• Loose sheets of watercolour paper
• Pen, pencil, eraser, coloured pencils
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Ruler
• Camera/Camera phone
• Random mark-making tools
• Salt, bleach spray, alcohol, cling film
• Tracing/Layout/Printer paper
• Palette/White plate (optional)
• Liquid watercolours (optional)

Sketchbook:

Choose a watercolour sketchbook that contains the thickest paper you can afford.
300 gram is great, but not always easy to come by in a sketchbook. The thicker the
paper the better it will hold its shape.

Size and dimensions are up to you. An A5 or bigger will be a good size to work with.

Hot pressed paper = smooth, paint dries quicker;

Cold pressed = a bit more texture (‘tooth’), paint dries slower.

Watercolour paints:

You don’t need anything bigger than a small watercolour set like this travel set by
Winsor and Newton.

Other good watercolour paint brands include Sennelier, Daniel Smith, Talens Van Gogh
and Schmincke. A small number of primary colours is sufficient.

Brushes:

Synthetic brushes are much cheaper than natural ones and adequate for use with
watercolour.

I would aim for one small (no. 1), one or two middle size (6-12) and a flat-head (10-25).
These numbers are guides, and if you already have brushes at home then use those.

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 Painting with watercolours – Area 5

EXERCISES:

1. Flurry Burry:

I encourage you to explore different ways of combining water and paint. Vary
quantities, dilutions, drying time and application.
The main principles to remember are:

• The wetter the paper, the further paint spreads.

• The more dilute the paint, less defined shape.
• To retain intensity of colour, make paint more concentrated than usual.
• Paint is contained by the perimeter of a water shape.
• You can lift water or wet paint with a dry, clean brush.
• Water added to paint creates ‘cauliflower’ effects.
• Water added around the edge of paint will invite the paint to escape.
• The spread will vary depending on the type and thickness of paper.

2. Monochrome:

We can create a whole tonal range (lighter and darker areas) in a painting simply by
varying quantities of water and pigment - and also by building up layers.

1. Take a colour and gradually add a little more water, making it slightly lighter each
time you paint. Create a monochrome scale moving from intense colour to the full
whiteness of the paper.

2. Mix up a diluted colour and apply a single layer. Wait for it to dry and add the same
dilution on top. Repeat until you have a range from one layer, up to six or seven.
Watch how the colour intensifies, the more paint layers are applied. There isn’t a right
way to work with monochrome, and in reality, artists use both these methods.
Familiarise yourself with varying dilution and also building layers.

VOCABULARY

Cloth
Paper towel
Sheet
Bleach
Thick
Thin
Hot/cold pressed paper
Size
Dilution
Layers
Wet
Dry

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