My goal today is to show you some things! How I wish you could all be in my studio right now… First my brushes … and yes one of our kitties and no I have not washed a brush yet in that pot!. I always keep 3-4 pots of water out. I keep the water very clean for as soon as a brush is washed there is no longer clean water. For brushes a good round and one flat is all you really need to start. Buy the best brushes you can afford especially the round. It really does make a difference as you learn the science of watercolor.
I buy tube watercolors squirting out to fill the wells on my palette. If you use the pigment that day it will be really goopy so becareful not to take too much pigment. If it has been a day or two since you have used your palette squirt the hardened pigment well to activate it. In the picture on the right ‘Day’ is written in pigment that has not been fully activated. It is a light value. The next stroke the pigment has sat with water on it for oh 3-4 minutes. The last stroke even longer.
This is a flat brush. One can use it pulling the tip after the base. But there are many other ways as well. How many can you discover? The pigment being used is Cobalt Blue (CB) it is a non staining, transparent one.
Below is a round being used as Asian brush painters use their brushes keeping teh base and the tip parallel to each other. This makes for a wider stroke. THe next picture is when there is less pigment/ water (p/w) mixture and a quick brush stroke so that some of the paper does not take the p/w – this can produce sparkles on water for example. So today’s homework is to play with your brush. How many different ways can you move it on the paper? How many different effects can you create? What could depict with those effects?
In this picture a new color has been introduced. Rose Madder Genuine (RMG) another non staining, transparent pigment. First stroke is pure CB. The next is a dried CB with RMG over it. Then the 3rd is CB mixed on the palette with RMG. Isnt that cool? Same colors but totally different affects depending on how they were mixed!!! In the last picture on the left is RMG but before it was completely dry I swiped CB over it. Note how the water in the CB mixture pushed away some of the RMG! It created a softer edge. This is a powerful tool in watercolor. Softening edges makes objects look less ‘cut out’
Play with these 2 colors. Mixing on the palette on the paper, glazing one over a dried area of the other. (Glazing is when a color is painted over a dry colored area) Try glazing when bottom pigment is not dry. Can you discover how glazing CB on RMG is different than glazing GMG on CB?
Would you consider posting pictures of your results so others can see what can be done?