Watercolor – a painting technique that uses special watercolor paints, dissolving in water to form a transparent suspension of fine pigment, and allows you to create the effect of lightness, airiness and subtle color transitions. The watercolor combines features of painting (richness of tone, the construction of form and space by color) and graphics (the active role of paper in the construction of the image, the lack of specific relief of the brushstroke characteristic of a painting surface).
Depending on the degree of humidity on the paper, we can distinguish such watercolor techniques as “work wet” (“English” watercolor) and “work dry” (“Italian” watercolor). Work on a fragmentally moistened sheet gives an interesting effect. In addition, it is possible to meet and combinations of these techniques.
Work in the wet.
The essence of this technique is that the paint is applied on the pre-wet sheet. The level of its humidity depends on the artist’s creative idea, but usually one starts working after the water on the paper stops “glittering” in the light. If you have enough experience, you can control the humidity of the sheet by hand. Depending on how full of water the hairbrush bundle is, it is customary to conventionally distinguish such methods of work as “wet-on-wet” and “dry-on-wet”.
A la Prima technique.
It is a wet painting, painted quickly, in one sitting, which creates the unique effects of dilutions, overflows and flows of paint. The advantage and at the same time the difficulty here is that the image, instantly appearing on paper and intricately blurred by the movement of the water, can not be subsequently subjected to any change. Each detail begins and ends in one go, all the colors are taken at once in full force. Therefore, this method requires extraordinary concentration, precision writing and a perfect sense of composition.
Another inconvenience is the limited timeframe of this kind of watercolor, as there is no possibility of unhurried work with breaks between painting sessions (including when painting a large format picture, by gradual fulfillment of separate fragments). The image is painted practically without stopping and, as a rule, “in one touch”, i.e. the brush touches a separate part of the paper only once or twice if possible, without returning to it again. This allows to keep absolute transparency and lightness of watercolor and to avoid muddying the work.
Working “dry”.
It means that the color is applied on the dry sheet of paper in one or two (one layer watercolor) or few (glaze) layers, depending on the artist’s idea. This way allows to have a good control over the flowability of paint, tonality and the shape of brush strokes.
One layer watercolor “dry”.
As you can see from the name, in this case the work is done in one layer on a dry sheet and usually with one or two touches. This keeps the colors in the image clean. If necessary, it is possible to “include” paint of a different shade or color in the applied, but not yet dry, layer.
The one-layer dry-on-dry method is more transparent and airy than the glaze technique, but lacks the beauty of the wet overtones achieved by the A la Prima technique. However, unlike the latter, it allows, without much difficulty, to perform strokes of the desired shape and tonality, to provide the necessary control over the paint. To avoid dirt and smudges it is advisable to work out and prepare the colors used in advance, at the very beginning of the painting session, so that they can be easily applied to the sheet.
In this technique it is convenient to work with the outline of the drawing in advance, as there is no possibility to make corrections with additional layers of paint. This method is well suited for graphic images, as the strokes on dry paper retain their clarity. Besides, such watercolor can be painted in one session or in several sessions (for fragmentary work) with breaks as necessary.
Multiple layers of watercolor (glaze).
Lesseeing is the way of applying watercolour in transparent strokes (as a rule, darker ones on top of lighter ones), one layer on top of another with the lower one being dry each time. Thus, the paint in the different layers does not mix, but works on the light, and the color of each fragment is the sum of the colors in its layers. When working in this technique, you can see the borders of the strokes. But, as those are transparent, it doesn’t spoil the painting, but gives it a peculiar texture. The strokes are executed carefully so as not to damage or blur the already dried out painting areas. Lessing is indispensable in shaded interiors and distant panorama plans. The softness of interior light and shade in quiet and diffused light, with a multitude of reflexes, and the complexity of the general condition of the interior can only be reproduced by the technique of glaze painting.