Category:Watercolor

Watercolor painting is a method using paints in which the pigments are suspended in water or a water soluble vehicle. The watercolor pigment can be applied wet or dry and with a variety of tools, including, but not limited to paint brushes, rolled paper pieces, sponges, scrolls, medicine droppers, spray bottles, (salt and pepper) shakers, cotton swabs, rubber stamps and shapes, and fingers. The surfaces on which watercolor can be applied include paper, papyrus, canvas, leather, canvas, wood, fabric, bark and bark papers, and vellum. Plastic can also be used if it is mixed with an agent such as glue, which will adhere to the plastic. It can be used in conjunction with inks, graphite or colored pencils, markers, crayons, glues, and types of oil pigments. Salt, sand, sugar, water soluble glue, and sawdust can be used with watercolor pigments and water to produce a variety of different textures and sheens.

Watercolors can be purchased as dry raw pigments, dried cakes or blocks on a pallet, in premixed tubes, watercolor pencils, or watercolor pastels.

Cling film is sometimes used to concentrate a color in one area to give the appearance of long, tall grass or rippled water. Another technique is to wick out excess water with a brush or paper towel (scumbling) or use an almost dry brush and dip it into dry pigment to get the deepest color possible, making little crisscrossing brush strokes.