Watercolor 1

> Watercolor 1

Watercolor as a Medium . . **Next>**
	Some people consider watercolor as a child's paint medium. It was handy, quick to set up, easy to use, but it had its drawbacks as well. I went on feeling that way about it until I finally took a Watercolor course in my 40's and discovered just how difficult, subtle, and challenging it could be as a color medium. Those people who paint in oils or acrylics do not live in dread of mistakes -- one can just paint them over. This is because these media are opaque -- the new layer covers whatever is underneath. But watercolor is basically transparent, even in intense concentrations, so whatever is underneath a layer still shows through. Mistakes cannot be painted over. One either has to reconfigure the composition, or start over again on a fresh sheet.

In Watercolor, there is no true white paint. There are white pigments that can be layered to alter the hue of another color. But it is the white of the paper that is the white element in a painting. It is used to lighten other colors (the more dilute a solution of pigment is, the more it is lightened by the white of the paper underneath). But most importantly, the paper becomes the white parts of the finished painting by not having paint applied in those areas that the white is supposed to be.

Obviously, this requires foresight on the part of the artist. Although applied paint can be scrubbed out by various methods, there is usually a residue of color left to spoil the pure white. Short of actually removing the stained layer of paper, there is no way to regain the white in a painted area.

So the artist must know ahead of time where the white in the composition is to be. Then one can either avoid painting that area, or else use a resist to "waterproof" the paper, that is to keep water-based color from actually touching and being adsorbed by the paper.

Kestrel in Fall Sycamore
'Kestrel in Autumn Sycamore', 18 x 13 1/2 in., watercolor on paper

The white of the paper becomes
the white part of this painting.
(It simply isn't painted on at all.)
This painting ©1998 Karen G. Jollie

Future pages on watercolor technique are forthcoming.
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