In this post, I'm going to show you my process of learning how to do washes with watercolor. Before I get into the actual washes, I want to correct something I said in my video "Watercolor vs Acrylic". In that video, I said that watercolor paint consists only of pigment and water. That's not correct. In addition to pigment and water, watercolor paint has binders such as gum Arabic or honey. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with the washes. I used Winsor Newton's Cotman paint on their 140lb coldpress paper. I got this little pad that's perfect for practice like what I'm doing right now. For my first wash, I had a lot of water mixed into the paint and I was expecting the paint to pool where the water is and become blotchy. For my next wash, I mixed less water with the paint, so I was expecting it to come out more even. For my third wash, I did what's called wet on dry. For my next wash, I did what's called wet on wet. That could be wet paint over wet paint over other wet paint or just over water, which is what I did. My water was dirty, which is not good, but you can still get the general idea of how this works. I tried to keep the layer of water as even as possible all around, so the paint would be even. I really like doing wet on wet, because I think it's fun to see the paint spread out, but if you're doing small details where you need to have control, it's obviously not a good technique. Let's see how the wet on wet technique looks with clean water. Keep in mind I'm using the same color I've been using this whole time, which, in case anyone is wondering, is ultramarine blue. Next I tried to do a gradient. Now, a gradient is difficult because it has to be done with the previously stroke wet. So that means it has to be done in one sitting. You can’t stop in the middle of doing a gradient and come back to it, because then your previous stroke will have dried and you won’t be able to continue the gradient effect. As you can see, I attempted the graduent a few times. Basically, everytime I make a stroke, I wipe some paint off my brush and get more water so the strokes get progressively lighter. Alice's video that inspired this.
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I’m back with another art productivity tip for you and that’s shift your focus. Now I’m guessing there are probably some people out there who like to work on one thing until it’s finished and move on to the next. If that’s you and you like to work that way, I’m not telling you to change. However, I know, for me personally, when I’m trying hard to adjust something, I can work a long time and not feel like I got anything done. It’s times like that I find it necessarily to put that aside and work on something else, to give myself the feeling that I accomplished something. For example, on my current painting, I’d been working on the skin for quite some time, but I still wasn’t happy with it. So instead of continuing to fiddle with it, I told myself I’ll put aside, I can go back to it later, and for now, I’m going to work on the eyes and the lips that night. I wanted to know if I was the only who feels this way, so I asked some other artists if shifting focus makes them feel more accomplished and these are the responses I got. …when I'm working on a piece and I've got different areas completed to different levels, I feel like I'm adding a lot more to the areas that are less completed than the ones that are closer to being finished. This happens to me all the time! I always feel I’m “all over the place” when I’m working on something, but I just have to constantly change focus and adjust things as I go along I get frustrated with one spot so I move to another. When I come back, I feel like I'm seeing it with new eyes In case you didn’t already know, I’m Autistic. My mom told me she met someone and told them that her daughter was artistic. Then my mom told this person that her daughter was Autistic. I was told that this person became confused and was like “Well, what is she, artistic or Autistic” and my mom was like, “She’s both”. Yes I am both artistic and Autistic. The reason I’m making this video is to convey that people with disabilities, Autism included, also have abilities and we can accomplish things. We’re not pity cases. I’m not going to go into a whole lot of detail about Autism in this video, but for those who don’t know, Autism is a disorder characterized by difficulty with social interaction and being either over or under stimulated by external sensory stimuli. If you’re curious and want to know more about Autism and how it can affect people, I’m linking to two channels run by Autistics that give accurate information and firsthand accounts. I want to you to know I’m not going to be making lots of videos about Autism on this channel, but is it a big part of my life and I wanted to touch on it here at least once. Here are a couple of my pieces. Autism youtube channels I recommend. Oak Croft Films Check out "Autism Actually Speaking". Amethyst Schaber Check out "Ask An Autistic". |
Sara MillettPainter of portraits and wildlife Archives
November 2023
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