Let’s explore the exciting world of watercolour techniques, to bring your paintings to life with some amazing skills.
The Wonders of Watercolours
Watercolour painting lets you bring your dreams onto paper. With just a brush, water, and some colours, you can paint anything you can think of. To make your artwork truly special, you need to learn some watercolour techniques. These are the clever methods that help your art shine.
Scroll down for a video where I demonstrate these watercolour techniques.
Technique 1: Wax Resist
Think of using a secret tool that watercolours can’t cover. That’s wax resist! You draw with a candle or wax crayon before painting. Wherever the wax is, the paint won’t stick. It’s brilliant for keeping certain areas white or for adding hidden designs to your picture.
Technique 2: Wet on Wet
If you dream of painting fluffy clouds or a soft sea, wet on wet is perfect. You start with a wet paper and then add your watercolour. The paint blends on its own, creating smooth edges and mixing colours in a lovely way.
Technique 3: Texture with a Sponge
With this watercolour technique, you can add interesting textures to your art. Use a scrunched-up sponge dipped in paint, then dab it onto your paper. This method is great for making trees, clouds, or any texture you want to stand out.
Technique 4: Dry Brush
Dry brush adds a fantastic texture to your artwork. With a brush that’s barely wet and has more paint, you create a rough, scratchy look. It’s ideal for detailed parts or making things appear rugged.
Technique 5: Masking With Tape
Ever wanted to keep parts of your painting clean as you work around them? Using washi tape for masking does just that. Put the tape down, paint over it, and when you take it off, you’ll have neat, sharp lines.
Technique 6: Salt on Wet
Adding a pinch of salt to wet paint creates a fascinating effect. As the paint dries, the salt forms patterns that look like tiny stars or frost. It adds an interesting texture to your painting. If you use liquid watercolours the salt reacts even stronger.
Technique 7: Rubbing Alcohol
When you drop rubbing alcohol onto wet watercolour, it pushes the paint away, creating unique textures. This method is excellent for adding effects like bubbles or stars, making your painting even more exciting.
Technique 8: Layered Painting
Layered painting adds depth to your artwork. Start with light colours and add darker ones on top. It makes your painting look deeper, almost 3D. Each layer needs to dry before you add the next one, teaching you patience and adding beauty to your work.
Technique 9: Masking Fluid
Masking fluid is like a magic shield for your artwork. It protects parts of your painting you want to keep paint-free. But here’s a super important tip: use synthetic rubber applicators to apply it, not your watercolour brushes. Masking fluid can ruin your brushes. Once the fluid dries, paint over it. Peel it off later, and you’ll find the protected area untouched by paint, just as you wanted.
Bring Your Art To Life
Eager to try these watercolour techniques in a painting of your own? Remember, art is all about trying new things. Combine at least three of these watercolour techniques to create an artwork that’s uniquely yours. Don’t forget to watch the video demo above, where I show you how each technique is done.
Here are photos of my quick demo watercolour paintings
If you missed the demo, look for your grade demo painting below to get an idea and ask for my help.
Inspiration Images for your painting – look for your year level
MEDIA ARTS: Water Reflection Photography
- Half-fill a black or grey tray with water
- One person needs to hold your painting close to the water.
- Another person holds a torch pointing to your painting.
- Hold the iPad close to the edge of the tray with the LENS at the bottom.
- Take photos of your coral reef painting next to a tray of water.
- Take at least 2 still photos and choose your best one
- gently ripple the water with your fingers
- Take at least 2 rippled photos and choose your best one
Can you answer these questions?
1 – When the water is wavy, how does it change the way the picture looks?
A) The picture stays exactly the same.
B) The picture looks more blurry.
C) The picture seems like it’s moving.
D) The picture’s colours change.
2 – If you had special glasses that made everything around you look better, what would that be similar to?
A) Watching your favourite TV show.
B) Having faith and believing in God.
C) Playing your favourite video game.
D) Getting lost in a good book.
3 – In what way does having faith in God change how we view the world around us?
A) It makes everything look blue.
B) It helps us see the world in a more positive light.
C) It doesn’t change how we see things.
D) It makes all things look bigger.
Present Your Watercolour Techniques
Remember, you get graded on presentation not just your sketches and paintings.
Create a title for your presentation. Make sure it is large and bold. You could use bubble writing to make your title stand out.
Label each technique. Remember yours will be in a different order to my demo so don’t copy my presentation. You need to place the labels according to your experiments.
