Exploring Watercolour Techniques

1.Splattering Wet on Wet Wet an area on the paper. Load some rich colour on the stiff bristle brush (toothbrush). Splatter the paint onto your wet paper by passing your thumb or a pencil over the bristles. Try changing colours and the richness of the paint to achieve a variety of values. Your goal is to have various colours blend together, so you need to work quickly while the paper is still wet.

2. Splattering Dry on Dry Follow the same process as you did for the wet-on-wet splatter technique (#1), except do not wet the paper surface first. As a result, the splatters should stay separate from one another, with minimal blending of colours.

3. Wet on Wet Wet an area on your paper. Take your brush with a colour on it and draw an “S” shape through the middle. Change the colour and draw another, similar shape beside and overlapping the first. Notice how the colours “bleed” into each other.

4. Dry on Dry Work on a dry area of paper. Leaving your brush quite dry, apply some paint to your brush. Encourage the bristles to spread apart. Quickly pass the brush over your paper, leaving irregular lines and marks. Change colours and try again.

5. Paper Towel Texture Paint an area with one or two colours. While the surface is still wet, dab your paper towel onto it. Your goal is to create an interesting texture by “blotting out” the top layer of wet paint.

6. Whitening an area by lifting the paint Paint in an area. Rinse your brush out. With a wet brush, “lift” some of the paint by gently painting over an area. Rinse and repeat.

7. Pastel Resist Draw a collection of lines with the white pastel. Paint over the area with a colour and watch how the paint resists staying on (or bounces off) the pastel.

8. Salt Texture Paint colour into an area. While the paint is reasonably wet and still has a shine, sprinkle salt over it (you need to work quickly). This will not work if the paint is too wet—if it lies in puddles on the paper. Leave the salt on the paint overnight. When it is dry, you should see a snowflake-like effect.

9. Scratched Surface Paint colour into an area. While the paint is still wet, scratch in lines with the end on a pencil, fingernail, or the end of paint brush. If the line does not appear clearly, paint over the section (not just the line) with your paintbrush again.

10. Saran Wrap Texture Paint colour into a section so that it is quite wet. Wrinkle a piece of Saran Wrap and lay it over the painted surface. Use a roller and roll over the surface several times. Carefully lift away the Saran Wrap and you should have a really cool texture.

11. Canvas Texture Paint the small piece of canvas with a dark value of paint. Place the painted canvas face down on your paper. Roll over the top with a roller. Lift the canvas and there should be a nice texture of the material. If the canvas was really loaded with paint, continue to press it on clean paper surfaces to create a collection of patterns.

12. Sponge Texture Paint a section of a sponge. Dab your paper with it and create an area of texture. You can change colours and overlap areas to make it interesting.

Select a good example of each of the techniques. Cut out a sample and neatly glue it in your sketchbook. Label each of the techniques with pen. Title the activity “Watercolour Techniques”.