Short Introduction into Watercolour Painting

 

1. Watercolour Painting & Watercolours

Watercolour painting is one of the most popular painting techniques. It equally fascinates both beginners and professionals alike, and its wide range of possibilities continually calls out for new motifs. Although watercolour painting is deemed a difficult painting technique, even beginners may achieve remarkable results.

Watercolours belong - as the name implies - to a range of colours used in connection with water. They consist of superfine ground pigments, gum arabic as a binding agent, and a small amount of wetting agent. They are water-soluble and remain so even after drying. Therefore, watercolour paintings should be stored in a protected  place, kept behind glass and the colours may also need to be protected by a fixative. Watercolours can be easily mixed with each other. Thus, a quite small number of shades are sufficient for first time watercolour painters to get started.

One important element for painting in general, but in particular for watercolour painting, is the need for high quality materials. Colours, brushes and paper should be of the highest quality right from the start. Of course, high quality materials are no guarantee for a masterpiece - but without them, good results, brilliant colours, resistance to light, and durability are almost excluded. With Schmincke watercolours, you are well on the way to brilliant, colourful and long-lasting paintings.

 

1.1 HORADAM® AQUARELL finest artists' watercolour series 14

The HORADAM® AQUARELL range of finest artists' watercolours consist of 110 brilliant and extremely light-resistant shades. The palette contains 69 single-pigment shade. This feature thus ensures purity and brilliance for mixtures of colours as well. HORADAM® AQUARELL colours are characterised by a paint flow which can always be controlled and the ability to re-use the colours even when dried on a palette. A particularly exquisite feature of these patented finest artists' watercolours, developed by Josef Horadam in 1892, is the individual formulation of each shade and the time consuming production process of each colour pan by means of the so-called liquid pouring process. In a first production step, the liquid colours are poured into the pan and then kept in a drying room for several weeks.

The actual duration of the drying process depends on the pigments used in each case. Then, the pans are filled a second times, which is followed by another drying phase of several weeks. This process is repeated four times - overall production time is thus 3 - 5 months. Only this process ensures the outstanding quality and uniqueness of HORADAM® AQUARELL  watercolours. 

HORADAM® AQUARELL  watercolours are available in small and large pans, and in tubes of 5ml and 15ml. Besides these, Schmincke also offer a comprehensive range of metal and wooden painting sets with 12 to 48 colours. Empty boxes allow for an expansion of an artist's individual range of colours.

 

2. Paper & Brushes, other Accessories

 

2.1 Watercolour paper and other surfaces

There are particular types of paper especially developed for watercolour painting, which facilitate the best possible results. As the choice of paper and the differences between individual types of paper are very large, we would like to give you some information concerning this:

Watercolour paper is available in different sizes and qualities, in single sheets, pads and blocks. Additionally, paper types differ with respect to their production methods, surface quality and weight.

Generally, you should make sure to get good quality paper with a weight of at least 190gsm/90lb or 300gsm/140lb for bigger formats. For palette knife and structural works, a minimum weight of 425gsm/200lb should be chosen. Alternatively, primed stretched canvas or painting board may be used for watercolour painting as well. One has to distinguish between the surfaces of each type of paper, as this feature influences the effect of the colour and paint flow.

NOT watercolour paper has a slightly grained, barely structured surface. It is hardly possible to achieve clear boundaries between colours; the colours are blurred at the edges. Therefore, matt paper types are particularly recommended for wet-in-wet techniques. 

Rough watercolour papers have a slight to stronger surface structure which influences the flow characteristics of the colours. This paper is equally suitable for both extensive colour application and wet-in-wet technique. Rough paper is also ideally suited for the application of dry colours with granulating effect. Only fine details are more difficult to attain.

Hot Press paper and paper with sateen finish support the brilliance of the colours. The colours hardly flow into each other and fine details can be easily achieved. However corrections on this paper are quite complicated, compared to other types of paper.

 

2.2 Watercolour brushes, sponges, palette knives

Brushes differ from each other by their shape and the type of brush hair used. Generally, you should ensure that you are using only good quality watercolour brushes. Only quality brushes absorb enough colour and have enough elasticity to support good technical painting results.

Genuine natural high quality hair brushes are certainly the best (but also the most expensive) available brushes for watercolour painting. However, high quality synthetic or mixed hair brushes provide - in particular for beginners - a very good and durable alternative.

Round brushes are the most suitable tools for implementing small details, flat brushes are suitable for effective stroke and surface design, liners provide precise lines, and thick wash brushes are ideal for applying colour to larger areas. Additionally, there is a range of special brushes such as fan brushes or brushes especially designed to draw grass and stalks. Small sponges allow for interesting colour application effects as well.

There are still some other tools and accessories which can be of interest when working with watercolour: spatulas and palette knives are used to apply and design primers and structuring material.

 

3. Useful Advise for Beginners

 

3.1 General information on the use of watercolours

Taking colour out of the pans should be done with the brush kept at as flat an angle as possible, and with the movement towards you. If you hold the brush at a very steep angle, this may not only damage the brush's hairs, but you may also make holes in the colour substance, in which dissolved colour may be caught.

Water or fluid colour should never remain in indentations in the colour once you have finished work! Best of all, you should only wet as much colour as you actually need. For 'colour reserves', it is generally better to use the indentations in the painting set's lid or a palette - and not the colour pans. It is also recommended to let the colours in the pans dry before closing the watercolour set.

 

3.2 Colour application

You should never apply dissolved colour directly from the pan to the watercolour paper. First of all, you may unintentionally apply too little thinned colour; second, the brush will in most cases be unevenly saturated with colour, which would result in a patchy colour application; third, you should initially carry out a colour test with an evenly and fully filled brush on a separate piece of watercolour paper.

 

4. Mixing Colours / the Chromatic Circle

 

Although the colour range of a watercolour set with 12 colours already offers many creative possibilities, beginners should nevertheless learn some things about the rules of mixing colours. With a bit of experience, the artist can mix the most beautiful shades by himself. The best way to learn something about colour mixing is a combined theoretical and practical approach, as you will only understand the special effects of colours if you try out mixtures yourself.

 

4.1 Primary, secondary and tertiary colours

 

In painting, yellow, red and blue are called the basic or primary colours. In the printing industry, however the colour basis is the so-called "CMYK" ie. Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and the Key colour (black). For reasons of clearness, we are going to use the terms as they are used in painting and choose the shades ultramarine finest, permanent carmine and cadmium yellow light for some of the first mixing exercises.

Secondary colours

Practical task: Mix two of the three basic colours together in separate pairs, in a ratio of 1:1, and you will obtain so called secondary colours.

ultramarine finest (blue) + permanent carmine (red) = violet

ultramarine finest (blue) + cadmium yellow light (yellow) = green

permanent carmine (red) + cadmium yellow light (yellow) = orange

 

The colours that are opposite to each other in the chromatic circle are called complementary colours, as the complement each other, i.e increase the intensity of each other. This effect is called the complementary contrast.

yellow - violet

red - green

blue - orange

Mixing complementary colours in a ration of 1:1 will result in warm brown shades.

 

Tertiary colours

Practical task: Now mix each secondary colour with one adjacent basic colour in separate pairs in a ration of 1:1, and you will get the tertiary colours:

violet + ultramarine finest (blue) = blue violet

green + ultramarine finest (blue) = blue green

green + cadmium yellow light (yellow) = light green

orange + cadmium yellow light (yellow) = light orange

orange + permanent carmine (red) = light red

violet + permanent carmine (red) = red violet

Other shades

Depending on the mixture ratio you can thus mix a whole range of further shades.

Practical task: Try to mix colour sequences with slight gradations by choosing one basic colour (e.g., cadmium yellow) and gradually adding more and more of another basic colour (e.g., permanent carmine) while at the same time reducing the amount of the first basic colour:

Orange sequence: from cadmium yellow light to permanent carmine
Green sequence: from cadmium yellow light to ultramarine finest
Violet sequence: from ultramarine finest to permanent carmine

 

4.2 The extended chromatic circle

Your Schmincke 12-colour HORADAM AQUARELL set features two yellow, two red, and two blue shades. There is a good reason for this. At first glance, you can see that there is a warm and a cold version of each colour. In concrete terms, this means:

yellow with red tinge (= warm) – cadmium yellow light (14 224) G1

yellow with green tinge (= cold) – lemon yellow (14 215) G2

blue with red tinge (= warm) – ultramarine finest (14 494) B1

blue with green tinge (= cold) – Prussian blue (14 492) B2

red with blue tinge (= cold) – permanent carmine (14 353) R2

red with yellow tinge (= warm) – cadmium red light (14 349) R1

This is very important for mixing. If only warm or cold shades are mixed with each other, the result will be purer shades. But any other mixtures as well will yield beautiful, moderate shades. Here, your personal taste is the decisive factor.

Practical task: If you are prepared to take on a task that requires a bit more effort, we recommend making a fourbeam chromatic circle based on our model. To do so, you should first make light sketch with a pencil or a compasses on water-colour paper. Then, all colours are mixed with each other and applied to the respective fields.

We recommend mixing sequences as described above, i.e., choosing an basic colour and gradually add more and more of another basic colour. Even if this mixing exercise is a bit laborious, it will pay off – in the end, you will have learned a great deal about mixing and the behaviour of warm and cold colours.


5. Watercolour techniques

In water-colour painting, there are a number of traditional techniques we would like to briefly go into. Additionally, there are new, creative techniques allowing the artist to achieve strong effects and interesting details. We recommend doing a number of smaller tests using all the techniques to become acquainted with the flow properties of the colours and how they appear. Try each technique with different colour combinations, as this will allow you to concurrently gain some experience in colour mixing and colour harmonies.

 

5.1 Translucence

Translucently applied colour allows whatever is underneath it to shimmer through. The interesting thing about layers of colour on top of each other is that, on the one hand, the different shapes shine through and, on the other hand, spontaneous, so-called optical colour mixtures develop. To prevent the colours from becoming smudged or flowing into each other, the individual layers of colour must be completely dry before another colour is laid on top.

5.2 Wet-in-wet

With this technique, one has to distinguish between colour application on wet, or on dry paper. On wet paper (which has been moistened with a sponge), the colours flow in all directions, and this flow can only be controlled to a limited extent. The wetter the paper, the more the colours bloom. On dry paper, the colours are applied within each other so that they flow into each other at their outer edges.

 

5.3 Colour Flows

There are two types of colour flows: One is monochrome, in which the colour decreases in intensity through increased dilution; the other type is the transition from one shade into another. In the second type (also called “wash”), an increasing amount of a second shade is gradually added to the initial shade. After this, the washed-out, moist brush is evenly moved to and fro over the wash area so that the colour seamlessly flow into each other in the transition areas.

 

5.4 Dry brush

This is a “dry” painting technique, in which the surface structure of the paper or other substructure plays an important role. On rough, slightly-structured paper, the almost undiluted colour remains in the raised areas if the only slightly moistened brush is guided over the surface quickly and without pressure.

 

5.5 Spatula technique

For this technique, thin layers of (tube) water-colours are applied with a palette knife or flexible spatula. For thicker layers, mix the water-colour with AQUA pasto (see chapter “AQUA mediums”) and spread the colour as required by the motif. You may also spread several colours – mixed with AQUA pasto – in thin layers within or on top of each other. Combined with other water-colour techniques such as wetin- wet, this technique yields exciting results with threedimensional effects.

 

5.6 Spraying / splashing

Softened individual effects can be achieved by spraying or dripping heavily-diluted colour perpendicularly on the paper, using a bristle brush or toothbrush. You should first try out this technique on a separate piece of paper, to familiarise yourself with its actual effect.

 

6. New Options for Watercolour

The new water-colour mediums from Schmincke, the AQUA series, allows new creative techniques and they create exceptional effects to the traditional water-colour painting. Water-colours in combination with the new Schmincke AQUA mediums can now be applied on stretched canvas and allow three-dimensional operation. There are a number of effect mediums providing exciting effects, new optical stimulus and new creative experiments.

We recommend to use the brilliant and lightfast Schmincke water-colours HORADAM®AQUARELL or AKADEMIE® Aquarell colours in order to obtain best results.

Apart from stretched canvas and painting boards once primed with AQUA primer, solid water-colour papers (at least 350 g/m2) are also suitable to be painted with watercolours. In addition to the traditional water-colour brushes wide brushes and rollers, various palette knives or spatulas can be used.

 

6.1 Products and Advices

Tip: Several AQUA mediums have to be mixed with water-colours before application. Please do always use a palette or a plate for mixing and avoid to mix colour and medium in the pan!

 

6.1.1 Priming

AQUA primer, fine (50 702) and coarse (50 703) allows to paint with water-colours on various surfaces like canvas, painting boards, wood etc. The primer may be tinted with HORADAM AQUARELL tube water-colour. Apply at least 3 layers of AQUA primer, fine with brush, spatula or roller on the surface. AQUA primer, coarse – for a structure like water-colour paper – should be applied with a spatula. Start painting with water-colour after drying.

6.1.2 Application: Effects

AQUA fix (50 701) dries water-colours to be waterproof. It avoids dissolving of colour when painted in several layers and allows more possibilities for transparent painting. To be used for water-colour painting instead of water. Stronger effects if used undiluted. Clean brush and palette thoroughly with water and soap immediately after use. Do not mix medium and colour in the pan. AQUA shine (50 720) is an iridescent medium for shimmering and pearl effects. AQUA shine can be applied pure or mixed with (transparent) water-colours. Dilution reduces pearl effect. AQUA shine retards drying slightly, stays water-soluble. Do not mix colour and medium in the pan. Shake before use.

AQUA pasto (50 725) is a transparent thickener for watercolour in tubes. Can be used in thin layers applied with a spatula. AQUA pasto reduces colour flow, improves gloss and stays water-soluble. Masking fluid, colourless (50 730) and coloured (50 731) is a removable masking fluid for water-colours especially for fine details in a handy dispensing bottle. Specific fields to remain original, should be prepared with a mask, then dry thoroughly before painting with water-colours. Do not leave masking fluid longer than 2 days on the paper. Rub easily off with finger or eraser, do not pull off / use only on dry paper.

Pretests for applicability on respective paper are necessary.

Liquid frisket (50 300) is a colourless gum emulsion for masking larger specific fields which should remain original. To be applied with writing pen, cotton or wooden stick. AQUA effect spray (50 735) for coincidental bizarre surface effects on water-colour paintings. Apply AQUA effect spray into the still wet or humid water-colour. Specific fields to remain original, should be prepared with a mask. Spraying distance approx. 20 – 30 cm. No effect on strong absorbent surfaces.

AQUA gloss (50 740) increases gloss of water-colours. Can be applied on already dried water-colour or can be mixed with water-colour. Strong effect if used pur, gloss effect decreases when AQUA gloss is diluted with water. Remains water-soluble. Do not mix colour and medium in the pan. Gum arabic, concentrated (50 302) is a viscous flow and binding medium for all gouache and water-colours. It improves transparency, adhesion of undercoats and intensity of colours. Dilutable with water. Oxgall, cleaned (50 031) and ONetz (thickend oxgall in pans, 14 031) are natural wetting agents for degreasing undercoats such as lacquered palettes of painting boxes. Used sparingly, they are suitable as levelling agent for watercolours. ONetz diluted with water decreases surface tension of liquid colours.

 

6.1.3 Application: Structure artwork

AQUA modelling paste, fine (50 706) and coarse (50 707) ideally suit for three-dimensional operations and new structure effects. Apply with a palette knife or spatula for modelling and structuring. Paint over with watercolour after drying. AQUA modelling paste, coarse allows structures with coarse surface, AQUA modelling paste, fine provides structures with even surfaces.

AQUA collage (50 715) increases adhesion of light collage material such as textiles, silk paper, pigments, sand. Apply AQUA collage pure or mixed with water-colour on the painting and strew or press the respective materials into the wet medium. Collage effect decreases with stronger dilution. AQUA collage stays water-soluble, if mixed with AQUA fix it becomes waterproof and can be painted over. Do not mix colour and medium in the pan.

 

6.1.4 Final treatment

Tip: Water-colour paintings remain very sensible after drying and therefore should be protected with a watercolour fixative. We recommend a spray fixative to be applied in crisscross fashion at a distance of 30 cm. Shake spray fixatives and varnishes before use.

AEROSPRAY fixative for water-colours (50 403) protects water-colour paintings from finger-prints, humidity and dust. No colour changes when applied in thin layers. May increase transparency of water-colour papers.

AEROSPRAY fixative universal (50 405) with UV-protection. Final fixative for charcoal, pencil, water-colour and gouache paintings. The fixative is fast-drying, satin-glossy nonyellowing and forms a clear and resistant film.

AEROSPRAY mat varnish (50 584) is a mat, fast-drying acrylic-resin spray varnish.

Varnish for water-colours (50 112) is a liquid watercolour varnish for technical water-colour proceedings. To be applied by brush. May intensify colour tones and increases transparency of water-colour papers. Brushes to be cleaned with alcohol.