#I love the fast drying medium. but the paper texture is a bit rough for my liking

[who-is-riley]

Orchid

[pelusoart]

Hello! I just wanted to say that I really love your watercolor paintings! You do such an amazing job with handling watercolor, and your work is just lovely! I was also wondering if you had any tips or perhaps a tutorial on using watercolor? I've tried all kinds of paint mediums, but watercolor is the one I've struggled with the most.

I love you. You’re my new favorite, come here so I can hug you

Seriously though, thank you. This was such a delight to find in my inbox.

To be frank, I only seriously startedon watercolors by being in the exact same boat as you and using myirritation as fuel to get better, so I’d say you’re on the righttrack to mastery already.

I have no formal tutorial tooffer you right off that bat, but I’m happy to offer up some bits ofadvice if you think I can help in anyway, be it in general or on aspecific matter.

(if you’d like an actual tutorialthough, drop me another note and gimme about a week)

Watercolor is, and there’s really nonice way around it, a masochist’s medium. I’ve been using it as myprimary medium for over a decade now and there are still dayswhere I’m sitting in front of a painting going “why did I do thisto myself?”  This medium requires patience, planning, good timemanagement, and is pretty expensive on top of all that.  One of thebiggest things about watercolor is there is no “undo button.”Period. You make a mistake and you’re back at square one.  To dowatercolor you have to be okay with that.

That said, here are some thoughts:

Do a color study first. Take a spare sheet or scrap of your paper, draw up some basic thumbnails, and put down some color combinations till you find what you like best. Figuring out your pallet for a painting beforehand is crucial to having an easier time overall.  

Only put your final sketch on the paper.  Never sketch directly on watercolor paper. Watercolor paper hates erasers and vice versa. Erasing on watercolor paper will only damage or outright destroy the paper.  You’ll want tracing paper, carbon paper, or a light box to transfer your image onto your watercolor paper.

On that note, You want good paper.  You can actually get away with cheap paint when doing watercolors longer than you can with using cheap paper for it.  Cheap paper will murder your painting and piss on the remains.  When picking a paper you want to factor in its weight, its press and once you’ve gotten into the swing of things, its brand:

Weight: Anything marked below 90lbs is a scam. The higher the weight of the paper the more punishment (water) the paper can take and the less it will warp as you work on it. 140lbs is the average you’ll want to work with. Don’t use 90lbs outside of color thumbnails, if you must use it. 300lbs is the highest weight, which is what I use.  

Press: Basically this means what kind of texture you want the paper to have. The main to types are Cold Press and Hot Press.  Cold Press has a rough bumpy texture where as Hot Press is smooth. Some companies offer Rough Press if you want an even more textured paper and the brand Fabriano offers Soft Press which is a mid-range between Hot and Cold. Soft Press is really hard to find though.

Brand: Different brands of paper react to the paint differently, there is no simple way to go about picking one outside of quite frankly testing the paper to see which one feels nicest to you. Which gets pricey real fast. If a brand offers student vs artist ‘quality’ go for the artist if you can afford it, student is lower grade paper regardless of weight.

Different brands of paint do different colors better.   Brand loyalty with watercolor paint kinda shoots you in the foot just a wee bit.  One company’s indigo can and will vary from another’s.  This, like finding your preferred paper brand, is a trial and error situation.  Also like the paper, student vs artist quality does come into play mainly in the ratio of pigment to other ingredients. There are exceptions here though, for example, I own a cheap red that I swear by despite all of my much higher quality colors.

Clean your brushes constantly. Your colors can get so muddy so fast it’s obnoxious. You’ll want to keep at least two water buckets on hand, one of clean water to use with the paints and one to quick rinse your brush between colors, along with a roll of paper towels. For perspective, I use 4 mason jars of water when working and have to dump and get fresh water for each jar multiple times a painting. Kiss a cheap water bill goodbye.

Let the paint dry. Watercolors bleed. They bleed really really easily. Unless you’re specifically looking to have your colors bleeding into each other (wet-on-wet technique) you need to let a section dry first or work on an area that is not touching what you just worked on. Watercolors require a lot of patience because of this.  Find something to do between washes so you don’t go stir crazy.

Watercolor does what watercolor wants.  You only have so much control over the paint.  Learning to accept this is key to working with watercolors.

I hope some of this helped. Feel free to toss me a line anytime if you have more questions okay?

[doodlewash]

Hello, my name is Diana Boanas, and I’m honoured to have been asked to be a guest artist here amongst such talented people. Thank you Charlie and the member who recommended me (whoever you are!) . I live in Hull U.K. which has City of Culture status this year, so displaying some wonderful artwork in various venues across the city and within the newly refurbished Ferens Art Gallery.

I remember being interested in all art activities at school and it being used as a bribe at times if my behaviour was a bit undesirable! I studied art at O and A level (that gives my age away). I chose art and music as my specialist subjects at teacher training college and enjoyed drawing and painting as part of the three year course.

My paintings, at that time were industrial landscapes in oils. Students displayed a mini exhibition for the final assessment and the subject of mine was ‘Death’ which sounds rather macabre but was actually a study of dying plants, skeletons and other post-life objects.

That was the last time I did any serious artwork other than painting with my children and using art regularly within my teaching career with great satisfaction for myself and the students.

Fast forward almost 40 years to four years ago on holiday, my husband bought me a sketch book and pencils and I literally cried with emotion when I put pencil to paper, remembering the joy and overwhelming intensity of the mark making.

Following on, I enrolled on a couple of art evening groups, one of which was watercolour and a medium which was new to me . I also began online lessons and a few weekend workshops with the watercolourist Peter Woolley. Another online art tutoring site (Art Tutor) and it’s amazing forum gave me the confidence to enter a few of their monthly challenges, progressing to juried open exhibitions and major competitions.

I was totally addicted to the medium, loving its translucency and unpredictability. I devoured every watercolour book and video of artists painting, spending every available waking hour practicing and experimenting.

So here I am, four years down the line and still loving my painting and experimenting with technique and developing my skills. I spend an afternoon a week painting with the talented watercolourist David Thomas and enjoy the company of other artists in the group.

Initially, I collected equipment like a manic magpie and have brushes and paints which last for years to come! I use artists quality paints but have no particular favourites though I like the colours Indigo, Burnt Sienna and Green Gold which regularly appear in my work.

I own brushes in every shape, size and material from very cheap synthetics to expensive sables. Most of them get used but there are a few which are my predominant choice. My newly purchased size 2 rigger which I didn’t think I’d use much but love, and sizes 4, 6 and 12 round sables. It’s fun to use something completely new occasionally both in paint colour and brush type.

I love ceramic palettes and the feel of the paint and water gliding over the glaze along with the non-staining factor .

If I’m painting a large piece, I like to use paint from the tubes to mix bigger quantities, otherwise I use dried paint and pans to avoid washing so much away at the end. I choose to work on rough, heavy paper because I’m too lazy to stretch it and I flatten the finished painting with a good spritz of water on the reverse and some heavy books overnight.

I find that I can paint both sharp detailed lines as well as textures dry brush on a rough surface and preference Saunders Waterford and Bockingford because I am familiar with the way they respond to paint and water. My working area is in a spare bedroom with a large, beautifully lit bay window. I take myself away and always listen to the radio or music while I work, often with my huge grey cat sitting nearby .

I admire the work of so many, if not all living watercolour artists and am fascinated by the diverse range of styles and techniques. Having no particular favourites, I learn and feel motivated by studying them all.

I am always ready with my camera and am attracted to an object or scene by the play of light and am fascinated with transparency and distortion of images through glass and water. I prefer to take my own reference photographs and work from them at home because the times when something catches my attention are often not suitable venues or times for sitting down to draw or paint. I vary my approach between pre-drawing and just diving in loosely, just as I use variety in the sizes of paper used.

Watching watercolours blend is just mesmerising and it has been a rewarding and often frustrating journey for me to achieve a bit of control over the predicted outcome. I say a bit, and that’s the appeal of the medium.

I am very much an outdoor lover and thoroughly enjoy sketching and watercolour painting en plein air and am getting over the anxieties and embarrassment of painting in public places. I learned that if you paint with your back against a wall, no one can come up behind you! I keep a travel journey sketchbook. Looking back through the paintings is so evocative because the visual studying was so intense and a multi-sensory experience at the time.

Having recently retired from a teaching career, I have the luxury of being able to indulge in my artwork and continue enjoying developing my skills.

Thank you again Charlie and I look forward to seeing the beautiful work yet to be featured here.

Diana Boanas Website Facebook

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GUEST ARTIST: "Continuing Where I Left Off" by Diana Boanas #WorldWatercolorMonth #doodlewash Hello, my name is Diana Boanas, and I'm honoured to have been asked to be a guest artist here amongst such talented people.