Painting With Water Colors-Tips & Tricks

Painting with water colors can be very tricky sometimes if you are dealing with colors for the first time or you have little knowledge about the colors. This part is challenging for number of people and it’s common. However, following simple steps and little more practice and bring good results. 

To start a painting you need to consider different things:

1. Quality of paper: Water colors painting demands good quality of paper because paper matters a lot in any kind of painting. Poor quality paper can shrink in size when the wet color is used on it. It will not yield good results and can ruin all the hard work done to finish a master piece. Thin paper can always tear apart with the use of much water and can even spread the color all over the paper in excess. On the other hand, choose a paper with hard base, thick in size so that it can absorb the color appropriately without spreading the color or tearing the paper.

2. Brand of color: Watercolors comes in different brands and it’s really important for you to try out best quality if you want to put your best in the art work. The best colors that I use for my paintings are the water colors that come in tubes as these can be squeezed out and mixed with water according to required amount.  

3. Brush sizes and shapes: Brushes are the main part of an excellent painting. Try to use good brushes, those may be little expensive but it’s good to buy outstanding one rather regretting on a cheap quality brush. You don't want to lose the hair of cheap brush on your painting, so go with good brush and also wash it gently after use. Use different sized brushes as it will help you in giving better details in painting. 

4. Test color separately: Before starting your master piece try out the colors on separate piece of paper and practice mixing the colors you want. 

5. Use less water: Water can make your color more transparent and less in the thickness. Water should always be added in limit to get the proper and darker shade. Or if you want lighter shade use less water in that case. 

TIP: If you run out of watercolor try to use your color pencils and dip the color pencil lead in the water and rub to get color out of it. 

Water Color Painting

Water Colors are my favorite type of colors because I love the texture, color combination that I get after mixing the colors together. Some people find it hard to handle the wet colors and they also get frustrated how to use brush. Actually, water color painting is an art and technique that if anyone masters, it will become a plus point to their art skills. I also struggled at the beginning understanding the colors and patterns, but by the time I felt comfortable with it. You can check My Art Collection tab in which I have uploaded some of my paintings. Here's my most favorite painting that I personally love a lot.

 

Painting Whites

I got inspiration from Walter Foster's books especially about water color paintings. The books are so amazing that any person can learn to paint from basic to advance level. The two books that I like the most are about Outdoor Scenes and Landscapes. The books provide all the information from gathering materials, beginning with basics to exploring different techniques. 

The color palette that I have used in this painting contains colors: burnt Sienna, Cadmium red light, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, dioxazine violet, permanent magenta, raw sienna, permanent alizarin crimson.

The best tip to paint a landscape is to view the natural scene and take picture of it; this is because the light changes quickly outdoors, which makes it hard to paint all the natural colors, shadows and highlights as they shift. Capturing the light is most important so always check the variations in color of real landscape and picture. Once you understand the hues, variations and saturation, you are ready to paint anything of your interest. So friends, if you are afraid of water color painting, don't be afraid from now. Follow some books of your choice and learn from these every time you wish to paint. One most important thing, do Practice! Practice! and Practice!

All the Best!