Introduction:
Watercolor painting is a colorful,
transparent painting medium. A watercolor artist
uses the see-thru qualities of the paint and
the whiteness of the watercolor paper to create
a painting. The earliest watercolor paintings
can be traced back to the Egyptians, Greeks,
and Romans.
Directions:
A few fun activities to try with watercolor
are:
1) Making a Wash
A wash is a large, broad area of color. Washes can be painted on wet or dry
paper. A wash on wet paper will go on more evenly and have a softer look.
A wash on dry paper will emphasize whether a paper is smooth, rough, or medium
textured. To paint a wash on wet paper, wet a flat brush with clear water
and wet the paper with it. Mix a wash color with water and paint it onto
the surface of the wet paper. A large area of the paper can be covered if
the artist begins laying the wash in the top left corner of the paper and
drags it across the paper in a fluid, zig zag like motion. To create a wash
on dry paper, simply paint right onto it. No wetting is necessary. To emphasize
the surface texture of the paper, use a small amount of paint in the brush
and stroke the brush across the dry paper. White areas will show in the wash.
2) Masking Areas
If an artist wants to block out white areas of paper, masking fluid may be
used. Paint the masking fluid onto the paper and let it dry. Paint over the
blocked out areas. Let the paint dry. Remove the masking fluid with a rubber
cement pickup. These areas can be left white or can be painted into.
3) Creating
Textures
Adding salt to watercolor paint is a fun and unpredictable way to create
textures in a painting. Sprinkle salt into a wet wash. After the paint has
dried, brush the salt off the surface of the painting.
