Mastering Watercolour Techniques in Painting

1. WaterColourUnit Vocabulary

2. Watercolour • Painting in pigments suspended in water and a binder such as gum arabic. Traditionally used in a light to dark manner, using the white of the paper to determine values.

3. Wash • A transparent layer of diluted color that is brushed on.

4. Flat Wash • Any area of a painting where a wash of single color and value is painted in a series of multiple, overlapping stokes following the flow of the paint. • A slightly tilted surface aids the flow of your washes. Paper can be dry or damp.

5. Graded Wash • A wash that smoothly changes in value from dark to light. Most noted in landscape painting for open sky work, but an essential skill for watercolor painting in general.

6. Blended Wash • Fusing two or more color planes together so no discernable sharp divisions are apparent.

7. Tilt • The effect achieved when watercolors are not kept perfectly flat while drying.

9. Wet on Wet • The technique of painting wet color into a wet surface (paper saturated).

10. Wet on Dry • The technique of painting wet color onto a dry surface

11. Dry Brush • Any textured application of paint where your brush is fairly dry (thin or thick paint) and you rely the hairs of your brush, the angle of attack of your stroke, and the paper's surface texture to create broken areas of paint. • Used for rendering a variety of textured surfaces: stone, weathered wood, foliage, lakes and rivers, bark, clouds.

12. Lifting Off • The process of removing wet paint

13. Transparent • Easily seen through.

14. Opaque • A paint that is not transparent by nature or intentionally. A dense paint that obscures or totally hides the underpainting in any given artwork.

15. Layers • Also called ‘washes’. Many watercolors are a building up of washes or layers.

16. Background • The area of a painting farthest from the viewer. • In a landscape this would include the sky and horizon. • In a still life or portrait it could be a wall or room interior.

17. Middleground • Area of a painting between the foreground and the background. In a landscape this is usually where your focal point would be.

18. Foreground • The area of a painting closest to the viewer. In a landscape this would include the area from the viewer to the middle distance.

19. Atmospheric Perspective • Suggesting perspective in a painting with changes in tone and color between foreground and background. The background is usually blurred and hues are less intense.

20. The Importance of Sketching • For watercolor keep it light and clean and simple. Put in the details you need but don’t overdo it.

21. Underpainting • The first, thin transparent laying of color in a painting.

23. Salting • Adding salt to wet watercolor in order to achieve a speckled effect.

24. Highlight • A point of intense brightness, such as the reflection in an eye. • The part of the paper that is left untouched.

25. Masking Fluid • A latex gum product that is used to cover a surface you wish to protect from receiving paint.

26. Georgia O’Keeffe • Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986) was a groundbreaking Modernist painter who digressed from realism to express her own visionary style. • O’Keefe is best known for flower paintings which made up a significant percentage of her work. • Expressing what she felt, rather than what she had been taught, O’Keeffe painted enormous close-ups of flowers, transforming their contours into fascinating abstractions, and highlighting their importance in a manner that commanded attention. • One of the most influential and innovative artists of the 20th century, O’Keeffe was the first woman to have her own exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

28. Your Assignment: • You will create a watercolour painting of your choice  • Options and ideas: • Nature • Portraiture • Animals • Still life • Extreme close ups • Photocopied body part (face, hands, feet, etc.) • Food • Expressive • Mixed media