Watercolor Techniques

You’ve seen it… You’ve heard about it! Now you want to know what it is and, most importantly, how to do it! A dry brush painting method in watercolor produces fantastic textures and is valuable for certain types of painting effects. But this technique…

Did you hurl your brush away in disappointment after failing to blend your watercolors perfectly? Did you wince at the mess you made while blending out a shape? It can be very frustrating to endlessly struggle with your brushwork this way! Especially because blending is…

If you think about it, a drip effect is unique to watercolor paints. Other types of paint (think gouache or oils) have a thicker consistency. But watercolor paint is diluted with water, and the colored pigments will flow in the same way water does. So a…

In watercolor painting, the lightness comes from the white paper reflecting back through the transparent paint.  But let’s face it… sometimes there’s just too much paint on the paper!  For example, you lay down a strong-colored watercolor wash but want certain areas to be…

Watercolor glazing is the most fundamental technique you need to understand about this art medium. But don’t worry… It’s not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, chances are you’re already using a glazing technique without even thinking about it 🙂 A bit of…

It’s one of the most delightful things I’ve ever seen. I recently took a trip to an iconic art store in Paris – The Sennelier Art Store. The watercolor and pen sketch you see here is a result of me playing with the art…

This site uses cookies ! Get it ? OK… Lame joke. Actually, I painted this watercolor composition of a plate of cookies to demonstrate one of the most frequently used methods of painting with this medium. In watercolors, painting light to dark is the…

Do you know what negative painting is in watercolor?  This is where you nod your head and say… hmmm… yep… sure thing ! Actually, I was pretty confused about this topic. I’d heard about negative painting several times but I wasn’t really sure what…

Ever tried painting a big wash of color around a complex shape ? There are many occasions when you want to preserve the white paper and conserve key features in a composition. This watercolor technique is usually referred to as “reserving whites”. Of course,…