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WATERCOLOUR TECHNIQUES

▲ Cley Mill, Norfolk

20 x 28 cm (8 x 11 in)

This sky was painted with a rough wash and brush strokes gave the water light and movement.

Over a period of time artists evolve some of their own techniques through experience, and this is fine – but there are some basic ones that you will need to practise and become familiar with before you find your own developing.

Watercolour is a very direct medium. Sometimes the quicker you work – with confidence – the better the result. So practise the techniques shown in this chapter and enjoy your watercolour sketching. Remember, time is not the most important aspect of practising. Work at your own speed to gain experience with the techniques, and speed will follow quickly.

Colour mixing

Mixing your colours is much easier than you might think. By using just three colours, red, yellow and blue, almost all colours can be created. These three colours are called the primary colours. There are, of course, different reds, yellows and blues, which can help in mixing, but I use mainly French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and Yellow Ochre for 80 per cent of my paintings. The other colours I like to work with are Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Coeruleum and Hooker’s Green Dark, and these seven are the only colours that I used throughout the book.

Achieving the right mix

In the colour chart shown here, the three primary colours are in the middle. If you mix red and yellow you make orange and as you add more water to the mix the colour becomes paler. This applies to all colours you mix. Naturally, if you mix more red than yellow your orange will be a reddish-orange, and if there is a greater proportion of yellow you will create a yellowy-orange.

▲ Colour mixes

Practise mixing colours, using the ones shown here as a starting point.

Therefore, the most important rule when you are mixing colours is to put the predominant colour that you are trying to create into the palette first (with water). For example, if you wanted a bright yellowy green, you would put yellow into the palette first, then add small amounts of blue until you had mixed the green that you wanted. In this book, the first colour I specify is usually the predominant colour of the mix, with other colours added in smaller amounts.

It isn’t necessary to get the colour perfect. Practise mixing colours indoors, finding the colour of a cushion, an armchair, a piece of wallpaper, and so forth. Use any paper, even copier paper or the back of some old wallpaper – you’re not painting a masterpiece, you are mixing colours and practising for a masterpiece!

▲ Sunflowers

11 x 18 cm (4½ x 7 in)

Here I used Cadmium Yellow, Alizarin Crimson and French Ultramarine on Bockingford Not paper, beginning with the yellow petals. The dark centres were painted using all three primary colours with little water. I left white unpainted paper showing in some areas, which gives extra life to a watercolour.

QUICK TIP

Use plenty of water when mixing your pigments to keep colours transparent. Too little water can make them look muddy.

Watercolour washes

The term ‘wash’ simply means an area of paint applied to a watercolour painting – it can be as small as a 2.5 cm (1 in) square or the size of your painting. In its most perfect form, it is an area of colour that is equal in tone throughout with no blemishes.

The secret of producing a good flat wash is to use plenty of water and not to allow the wash to dry as you work it. Start at the top on dry paper and take a large brush, fully loaded, from left to right. Start on the left again, picking up the reservoir of paint left by the first stroke, work to the right and continue in this way to the bottom. The paper must be tilted slightly to allow the paint to run slowly down. You can add in different colours as you go. For a graduated wash, make the colour paler by adding water to the paint in your palette as you work down.

▲ Learning to paint a perfect flat wash is just a matter of following the basic principles and practising until it comes easily.

▲ Evening Sky

10 x 18 cm (4 x 7 in)

On Bockingford Not paper, I started the sky with French Ultramarine, adding Alizarin Crimson towards the horizon. The sea was French Ultramarine, and the headland was painted once that was dry.

Rough washes

Most of the time you don’t need to achieve a pristine wash – in fact a wash with blemishes and tone and colour changes gives life and movement to a sketch. From a practical point of view, having to work quickly outdoors does not allow for carefully laying a perfect wash and you will sometimes have to paint on top of a wash before it is perfectly dry, which will disturb any perfection you have managed to achieve. But remember, however you paint your sketches you must use plenty of water to keep your paintings fluid and simple.