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Start Art 5 21 www.painters-online.co.uk RT START Watercolour BASICS W atercolours are wonderfully receptive and sensitive to work with. The element of unpredictability whilst painting provides you with an exciting and inspiring medium with which to work. Watercolour paint consists mainly of pigment, water and a binder which traditionally is gum arabic. Student paints are cheaper and perfectly acceptable to use, but Artists’ quality will often produce brighter, more vibrant colours. I would suggest starting with paint in tubes as these give better colour release along with larger, richer washes. Selecting colours This is probably one of the most confusing areas for the aspiring artist. No matter which practical art book you read, each author will recommend a different set of colours. The simplest way to start is to use only the three basic primary colours: red, blue and yellow. From these pure colours, any other colour can be created, even dark grey! In watercolour, your first three primaries will ideally be transparent and bright. Some manufacturers, such as Sennelier, will helpfully label their tubes, transparent, semi-transparent or opaque, with a T, T/O or O. To test transparency for yourself, draw some pencil lines on watercolour paper and apply some diluted paint to the surface. Is the line a lot less clear? If the answer is yes, the paint is probably opaque. Look for colours where it is still relatively easy to see the line through the wash. See Figure 1. It will be obvious whether a colour is bright or dull. For example a bright red might be that of a traffic light, a dull red that of a pan-tiled roof, a reddy brown. An example of a bright colour set could be French ultramarine blue, quinacridone red, and Winsor yellow. In addition to the bright colours, a couple of dull primaries are useful. Yellow ochre and Venetian red are good extras to have. Tim Fisher tells you what you will need and how to start painting with this translucent medium texture and is often the surface of choice for watercolour beginners. ● Rough comes with more texture which is very variable depending on which make you buy. The weight or thickness of the paper is important. Lighter papers will distort when wetted, heavier papers stay flat and hold Watercolours have other properties too. No two colours react in the same way with each other; some mix happily, others split apart, all useful reactions in watercolour. Some colours stain, which means it’s hard to remove them when dry, though all colours come away easily if you remove them whilst wet. This is the happy journey you take when discovering watercolour. By limiting your palette, you will quickly become an expert in the properties of your small universe of colours. Paper Watercolour paper comes in three types of surface: ● Hot-pressed is a smooth surface and often favoured by watercolour pencil artists. ● Cold-pressed or NOT has a discernable ✎ T I P When practising, always work on your preferred watercolour paper, never on cheap alternatives, which is false economy Figure 1 To test the degree of transparency or opacity of your watercolour paints, draw some pencil lines on your paper, and paint over these with your diluted colours. My test swatch consists of, from left to right, Winsor yellow (transparent), ultramarine blue (semi-transparent) and Venetian red (opaque) An affordable, reliable paper for watercolour painting is St Cuthbert’s Bockingford