Alternative solutions to watercolour

by Tissa Hewavitarane

The difference between a photograph and a painting is that the latter expresses more than just the surface appearance of things. With each stroke of the brush the artist expresses his own personality and feelings about the subject.

This applies particularly in a watercolour painting, in which every brush mark remains visible and therefore becomes an integral part of the finished image. Beginners have a tendency to be rigid and inflexible in their brushwork because they back the confidence to be able to let go and adapt to the spontaneous qualities of watercolour.

Do not be a slave to your subject. Break loose from it and let your enjoyment of it come through in your painting. Take the landscape painting I have done. Observe the energetic brush strokes that convey movement in the trees. Downward sweeping strokes propel the eye to the water. Transparent glazes of violet blue, yellow and green are used throughout, helping the whole painting together through colour harmony. Loose dry brush strokes allow the picture to spread out, concentrating our attention on the trees at the distance and the huge tree on the left corner as the local point. Every inch of the painting is alive and vibrant with sweeping brush stokes. It makes us feel the energy of the wind in the trees and observe the reflection on the water clear as crystal. Achieving the energy and spontaneity without losing control of the medium, requires skill and this can only be gained through practice.

Familiarisation

Learnt to paint the same subject many times, so as to become really familiar with it. The more you paint the more one gets the feel of the subject and freer and looser his brush strokes become.

Remember, you do not have to paint a masterpiece every time. Sometimes it's good simply to experiment and discover new ways of manipulating the brush and the paint.

Expressive brush strokes can only be achieved of your hand and arm are relaxed. Hold the brush closely, and too close to the ferrule, and apply the paint to the paper lightly but confidently. To help you loosen up, it may be helpful to work on a larger size paper than you normally use and with bigger brushes that encourage a more expansive approach.

Line speed

Try to convey the movement and energy inherent in living from by varying the speed, thrust and direction of your brush strokes. The interaction of fingers wrist and arm is important here.

Use your whole arm to make fast, sweeping strokes that capture the turbulence of a stormy sky for fine, precise details rest the hell of your hand on the paper and use your fingers and wrist only.

Remember the way you manipulate brush, water and paint can have a marked effect on the emotional quality of the finished work. By varying the pressure on the brush, you can make likes that vary from thick to thin in a single stroke.

You can even 'loose' lines and 'find' them gain, creating broken contours, that lend rhythm to the work and allow it to 'breathe'.

Broken contours also break down the barriers between one form and another allowing them to link together harmoniously. One common mistake made by beginners is putting rigid lines around everything so that the finished painting looks not unlike a jigsaw.

Problem subjects

Be aware of the emotional impact of the lines and strokes in your painting and try to choose those which are compatible with the mood you want to capture. To help you "Limber up" before starting a painting, make random brush strokes and consider what emotions they convey.

Every painter is confounded by certain subjects that seem to cause particular difficulty. When painting skies for instance, we encounter most of the technical problems associated with controlling large areas of wet paint.

Flowers are another popular painting subject, yet capturing their dedicate forms and subtle colours is no easy matter. Many of the problems encountered, however, steam from the same source. The student tries too hard to make a photographic copy and the subject and ends up with a dull, routine picture.

This lesson shows you how to harness the expressive potential of watercolour to suggest texture and forms without overstating them. Watercolour paint can be removed from the paper with a clean brush.

Wherever the brush touches the back ground, the wet paint is absorbed. The paper must have the right weight and must be especially for water. Otherwise the colour will make a soggy patch on the paper surface and it will not be possible to paint.

Composing a picture in watercolour presents its own particular problems. You have to plan things carefully in advance because you can't paint over mistakes as you can in oil paint.

It is difficult to use just the technique of painting on a wet background or just the technique of painting on a dry background in any given painting.

Usually both are used simultaneously to achieve the desired effects of each, capturing the fashion of tones on one hand and the precision of a dry brush stroke on the other.

The only problem posed, is that these two techniques demand completely different drying times between applications. If the base is wet, the newly applied paint will spread and merge.

If the base is solid, the brush strokes will appear definite and precise, If you paint while the paper is still soaking wet, the same thing will happen as in the initial gradation, the colour will run and bend completely.