Watercolor Painting

Subtopics

Using Watercolor Pencils (3) Watercolor Tips @ Watercolor Painting FAQ (6)

Articles & Resources

Sort By : Guide Picks | Alphabetical | Recent

Online Watercolor Mixing Palette
This online color mixing tool lets you experiment with mixing primary colors and secondary colors without worrying that you're wasting paint.

How To Choose a Watercolor Paper
Watercolor papers come in different surfaces and weights. Do you know which is best suited to which painting techniques?

How To Stretch Watercolor Paper
It's generally recommended that watercolor paper less than 356 gsm (260 lb) is stretched before use, otherwise it'll warp. Read this to find out just how simple a process it is to do.

Watercolor Class 1: Laying a Wash
A wash is useful for providing a background or for covering a large area. It can either be done in one tone, known as an even, smooth, or flat wash; or gradually getting lighter, known as a graded wash.

Watercolor Class 2: Painting Wet-on-Wet and Wet-on-Dry
If you wait until a color you've put down has dried before you put down another color, known as painting wet-on-dry, you get a very different effect than if you put a second color down before the first has dried, known as painting wet-on-wet.

How to Use Watercolor Canvas
If you want to try using watercolor canvas but wondered how it differs from painting on paper, here are the answers.

How To Use Salt to Create Snowflakes in Watercolor
When you're painting a scene in which it's snowing, it's impossible to leave hundreds of tiny specks of white across your painting. The secret is to take the salt from your kitchen and use it in your painting.

How To Choose Between Pan and Tube Watercolors
What's the difference between watercolor paints that come in pans and those in tubes? How do you decide which is best for you?

How To Remove Errors From a Watercolor Painting
If you make a mistake in a watercolor, you need to react fast if you're going to remove it before the paint dries.

Tips on Buying Watercolor Painting Supplies
If you're about to start painting with watercolors, you'll need to get a basic set of good-quality paints, a range of papers, and a few brushes. Find out what you need to consider before you buy.

Mixed Media: Wax Resist
Making the most of the fact that oil/wax and water don't mix when painting with watercolors or acrylics.

Watercolor Tips from John Lovett
A collection of helpful tips from Australian watercolourist John Lovett to help you create successful watercolours, beginning with the need to decide where the areas of white will be in your painting.

Masking for Watercolor
Artist Sue Dickinson explains how she used masking fluid in a watercolor painting of a lion cub.

Painting from Dark to Light
Ken Hosmer explains the unusual but effective technique he uses to get intense colours: painting "backwards", from dark to light.

Big Brush Tree In Watercolor
A 17-step demonstration by Canadian artist Peter Humeniuk showing how to paint a birch tree using a big watercolor brush.

Watercolor Sky "Doodles"
Four different skies done in watercolor with a detailed explanation from the artist of how he painted each so you can copy them.

Step by Step Irises in Watercolor
A nine-step demonstration and explanation of a watercolor painting of a bed of irises.

Using a Hairdryer on Watercolor
A hairdyer is a useful tool when painting with watercolors if you use it correctly. For a start, don't turn it on high!

Troubleshooting Problems with Stretching Watercolor Paper
Have you had problems with stretching watercolor paper? Take a look at these tips from St Cuthberts Mill which covers issues such as paper acting and blotting paper after it's been stretched and tape pulling away. If you hate stretching paper, there are also two tips at the bottom of the article on how to avoid this.

Watercolor Demo: Old Truck
Follow the creation of a watercolor painting featuring a rusty old truck, from start to finish, as explained by artist Maury Kettell.