The Weird, Wonderful Wandering Ways of Watercolor

Feb 10, 2020 | Illustration, Inspiration

We’d like to thank Ashley Wolff for this colorful blog post! Ashley is co-faculty, along with Denise Fleming, for our Color, Light, Line & Texture Hands-on Workshop. Note: this was originally posted on Ashley’s blog.

Clean water

Soft brushes

Heavy paper

Cool vs Warm

Pthalo vs Ultramarine

Primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, complements

and a huge variety of grays.
color palette

A brush charged with water can lift a clean line or destroy a wash.

A spray of rubbing alcohol doesn’t make a dent on a dry wash, but drip it onto wet paint and you have fantastic, blobby bullseyes.

A sprinkling of salt makes “stars” on a damp night sky.

Crumpled plastic wrap makes blocks and angles.

Your smooth, even wash depends on keeping a wet ‘bead’ moving along under your brush.
watercolor

Glazing color over color makes every possible combo, yet all you really need to make a whole spectrum are RED, YELLOW and BLUE.
sampler board

Then layer red over blue, over yellow to create simple “shadow paintings”.
chicken
herons

Or use a “negative” painting technique that layers from light to dark to create a deep, mysterious painting.

Make a simple design and float watercolors onto wet paper.

Make a simple design and float watercolors onto wet paper.

Paint around the positive shapes , adding more and more and darkening your washes each time.

Paint around the positive shapes , adding more and more and darkening your washes each time.

keep adding more layers by drawing details into the negative spaces.

Keep adding more layers by drawing details into the negative spaces.

birds nest
Or use a resist medium to create a design, then pour the paint on top.

Draw with waterproof resist medium on clean paper.

Draw with waterproof resist medium on clean paper.

pour a mix of red, yellow and blue watercolor over the resist drawing.

Pour a mix of red, yellow and blue watercolor over the resist drawing.

rub off the resist medium with a fingertip.

Rub off the resist medium with a fingertip.

owl


You can follow Ashley Wolff Art on Facebook, her website, her Etsy shop, or on Instagram

Thank you to our faculty for this Guest Post!

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