Before you get the brush in your hand, get
these 10 points in your head:
Don't expect instant results -
Remember learning to ride a bicycle? You probably fell off a few times. Remember learning
to swim? You probably sank towards the bottom a few times. Here's the good news: The
potential for physical injury when learning watercolour is less than either of these.
The more you practice the better you will get
- A Doodle a day is educational play. Gradually build up confidence by doing lots and lots
of doodles rather than attempting full scale paintings. Your progress will be faster.
Just start with a few colours - If
you have one of those paint boxes with more colours in it than the proverbial coat, none
of which you know the names of, give it to the kids. Buy a few tubes - student quality
from good manufacturers are fine for practice. It's hard to get paint in the wrong tube so
the label will usually tell you what colour paint is inside. When you squeeze it out it
will be fresh and clean and ready to go. In your journey of discovery you will learn a
great deal about the unique properties of each of the colours so make sure you can
identify the colours you use.
At any stage in your painting, if it's not
fun, stop painting. - Think about all those jobs you would be doing if you
weren't painting. Smile and start painting again.
Watercolour paints are generally transparent
- this means that it's not easy to hide mistakes by covering with more paint.
When you apply paint on top of dry paint, the effect will be similar to laying coloured
sheets of glass on top of each other. The lightest tone you have is unpainted paper.
Watercolour paint is not impervious when dry.
- It can and will be loosened with subsequent attacks of the brush and has a wonderful
ability to produce mud in direct proportion to the amount of agitation it is given. The
general rule is: Bung it on, quick as you can, then leave it alone. Repeat after me - bung
it on, leave it alone. Put it to music.
The one thing you shouldn't skimp on is the
paper - Only use paper specifically made for watercolours and treat it with
respect - no fingers on the surface - not even your best friend's. A pack of of 20 sheets
of good paper will cost about £10 ($15 US Dollars). If you spend a weekend using all this
paper, front and back, 40 sides, and a few Pounds or Dollars worth of paint, just think
how much fun you would have. It's cheap entertainment - if you end up with a painting,
that's a bonus.
Don't think that buying every brush on the
market will be the magic solution to being able to paint. - The first three
brushes you should have are: Rounds No.'s 6 & 12 which come to a fine point and
a Rigger which comes to a needle point. The best quality for watercolour is Kolinsky
Sable, next best is Sable then Sable and Synthetic mix then Synthetic. Try to get the No.
6 Round in Sable synthetic mix or better. Synthetic is OK for the No. 12 and rigger.
Get all the help you can from the paper the
paint and your brushes. - They have all been designed to help the painting
process - watercolour papers have surface texture, the paints give more than colour, the
brush has more painting zones than the pointed bit.
Use a white palette with flat mixing wells.
- This will enable you to see the approximate strength of colour as it will be on the
paper and it will help your observation of some of the chemical properties of the paint.
If you have a mixing palette with slanted wells, use it as a door stop or paperweight.
