Winter 2018 Watercolor Class Week 1

Watercolor Skies - Week 1

Note to the Monday Watercolor Class: We will be doing similar things when we meet in our class, I will edit this post with any new or improved examples next week. Be sure to review what I am doing in the Wednesday class, I don't want to have to repeat myself for each class. thanks.

In our first Watercolor Plus class where we were all painting we went over painting skies, not just to learn how to paint skies but to experiment with the paint to see how it works under various conditions. It may seem like a simple lesson but it is a very important one.

One of the key elements of this lesson it learning how gravity helps you. It is always helpful to have at least a slight angle to your paper so the paint will move down the paper, if it is laying flat, the water just pools up and doesn't do anything and could cause a problem with areas that dry faster than others. It doesn't take much, like a roll of tape under the top of your tablet or support is enough help the paint move and help you as you paint.

I was working on a large sheet of paper and divided it in to several sections to show different techniques.

This first technique I started by wetting the whole area with just water before I added color, this is called WET INTO WET - wet paint onto wet paper.

I used just my ultramarine blue starting at the top painting it across with crisscross strokes and down a couple of inches. I rinsed my brush and with just water (the brush was damp not dripping) I went back into the bottom of the color I just put down and painted across the paper with the water. Rinse and repeat as many times as you want. I came down 3 or 4 inches in this manner then with a very wet brush hit the bottom of the color and let the paint run into the wet paper below. You can see how left to its own devices the watercolor will blend and disperse quite nicely on its own.

The clouds were added later after the blue had dried using a combination of lifting with a brush and adding color to the dry paper. That funny little cloud with the dark center is what happens when you scrub too much and damage the paper, there is no recovery from the damage.

The next sample was started the same way. first wet the paper completely, then start at the top with the blue the move the blue down the paper using just water. You can always go back up into the darker blue and add more if it seems to be getting a bit too pale just remember to go back up into the dark area to add it then continue with water to move it.

WHILE THE PAINT IS STILL WET take a paper towel or a tissue, wad up a part of it and press it to the paper making cloud shapes. Look at the towel after a few dabs you may need to move to a cleaner spot on the towel. This is called LIFTING and can be done with a paper towel/tissue, brush, sponge even a Q-Tip for small areas and is very useful in an assortment of situations.

This next technique is called a GRADED WASH. The blue was also a graded wash using just one color and water, this time we will be using several.

I turned my paper upside down to start and wet the area of paper I was going to be working. At the now top I added cad. yellow light across the bottom letting it run down, then picked up some cad. orange with a bit of water and added this new color just to the bottom of the yellow, it should overlap just a bit. I did the same with the next color either napthol red or cad. red light and I lit that run to about midway of the area helping with just water if it seemed a bit slow. When I got the paint where I wanted it, I flipped the paper back over so that now becomes the bottom again.

The paper still needs to be wet so if it has dried a bit, go over it with just water before starting the next sequence of colors.

I started at the top with the ultramarine blue, and painted it down about a quarter of the way, because someone asked about using other blues, the next color I used was cerulean blue rather than just water but you can use just water at this point. I over lapped the bottom of the UM blue with the cerulean blue then moved the cerulean down to meet the red with just water. Watch the water on your brush you want a damp brush not a runny one or you will get drips. Let the watercolor finish painting this for you.

The clouds were added using color (a weak red so it looked pink and yellow) to a still damp sky so the paint would create "blooms" as it touched the drying paper.

Up to this point we have been working on wet paper when we added color but you can work WET ON DRY and using a combination of lifting or softening edges with a damp brush.

I used my UM blue and water at the top on dry paper, as I painted I suggested some rough cloud shapes. I rinsed my brush and with just water went along the edge of the painted area with the damp brush to soften the edge and hope for a bloom. I think I talked too much and the paper dried too fast because I wasn't getting the look I wanted so I took a bit more water on my brush and moved the paint around a bit more and even lifted with a paper towel (Left side). You need to understand that each paper will work just a bit different from other papers because of the way they were manufactured also the weather will affect the way the paper works, if the humidity is high it may work great, too low and you are fighting it, that is watercolor and you need to be aware of it.

This last one I was back to wet into wet starting with the blue but to make the white cloud tops I just used water to make the shapes of the clouds. You might have to turn the paper upside down so it doesn't just run down the paper, that is the fun of watercolor is turning the paper to make the paint move in a certain direction. In the still damp white part of the clouds I added a gray color, the "tornado" was made by forcing a drip to run into the red area that was already drying.


You are only limited by the limits you put on yourself. My best advise to you is to experiment and play with the watercolor and watch what they do. The more you understand about how watercolor works the better relationship you get with the medium so you work together, watercolor is the only medium I know I can say this about because at times it does act like it has a mind of its own if you can determine what it might do in a certain situation, you can use that to your advantage, if you try to control the watercolor and not know what it is going to do, you will lose the battle. So play, experiment and observe as you paint and remember: It is just a piece of paper, no one dies, you life does not depend on that one piece of paper so relax, learn and enjoy.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.