Beginners Guide To Watercolor Painting | Painting With Watercolors

Watercolor brushes – 10 things which will damage them

By joecart, on February 13th, 2012%

Caring for your watercolor brushes

I am often giving my students advice about what to do and not to do with their watercolor brushes so I thought I would see if I could create a list of 10 things which will damage a watercolor (watercolour)brush. It took a bit of thinking . . . → Read More: Watercolor brushes – 10 things which will damage them

Art Masking Fluid

By joecart, on February 9th, 2012%

What is art masking fluid and how is it used? Masking fluid is liquid latex, which is a natural rubber, though there are synthetic versions of it as well. As a watercolor artist it allows you to protect parts of your painting allowing you to quickly paint over areas of your paper without having to . . . → Read More: Art Masking Fluid

Simple Watercolor Paintings: Size

By joecart, on January 30th, 2012%

Size of watercolor paintings

So what is the difference between simple watercolor (watercolour) paintings and difficult ones? The biggest difference is often the size of your painting. The smaller the painting the easier it is to paint with watercolors. The reason for this is because the greater the area of paper you have wet at any . . . → Read More: Simple Watercolor Paintings: Size

When a watercolor painting is not fixable

By joecart, on October 11th, 2011%

When a watercolor painting just can’t be salvaged

Well this does happen and not just to beginners, experts also create work that just doesn’t come together. In fact I believe you have to be prepared to make such paintings from time to time if you want your art to progress. You have to be prepared . . . → Read More: When a watercolor painting is not fixable

Muddy watercolor paintings and problems with design

By joecart, on October 11th, 2011%

Small area of muddy color

If your watercolor painting is largely made up of clean watercolor washes but maybe 5% is overworked and muddy looking I often just let it go as it will not alter the overall look of your painting. This is not a hard and fast rule however.

Sometimes a little muddy . . . → Read More: Muddy watercolor paintings and problems with design

Fixing problems with shape and tone in a watercolor painting

By joecart, on October 11th, 2011%

Mass of tree foliage too flat and uninteresting

You have just painted a mass of tree foliage but have just discovered it looks like one big flat shape. If the paint is still wet just use your fingernail or the rounded edge of and old credit card and scrape in some branch shapes. This breaks . . . → Read More: Fixing problems with shape and tone in a watercolor painting

Watercolor problems: objects in wrong place

By joecart, on October 11th, 2011%

Large splash of paint in unwanted area of your painting

This watercolor problem often happens when one is moving a fully loaded watercolor paint brush over your painting surface. If you are not careful or are bumped you can drop a whole lot of paint where is it unwanted. It happened to me once for . . . → Read More: Watercolor problems: objects in wrong place

Removing stray watercolor droplets in your sky

By joecart, on October 11th, 2011%

Stray watercolor droplets in the sky

Sometime when you are painting the odd tiny drop of watercolor paint will land on a light area of your painting like the sky. How can you fix this?

One way is to very quickly touch it with the tip of a tissue. Don’t press on it or you . . . → Read More: Removing stray watercolor droplets in your sky

How to fix a watercolor painting

By joecart, on October 11th, 2011%

One often hears artists say that you cannot fix a watercolor painting once you have painted it or a section of it.

This is not necessarily true, there are many things you can do to repair a painting or part of it. At worst there are things you can do that will make your next . . . → Read More: How to fix a watercolor painting

Watercolor Paper Selection

By joecart, on October 3rd, 2011%

How to choose the best watercolor paper for your painting?

You can’t just paint a watercolor painting on any type of paper. You need to use artists’ quality watercolor paper if you want to produce good work that will survive the test of time.

Some cheap papers have little or no sizing on them which . . . → Read More: Watercolor Paper Selection