Landscape with wash technique

by Tissa Hewavitarane

Despite the fact that wash is executed with watercolour, it is really a drawing technique. No matter whether you are experienced at drawing or not, you will see how closely wash is linked to drawing.

The brush is used to apply lines with a pencil. Moreover, the gradation technique is similar to stumping or shading, progressing from dark to light using a single colour. In both cases the artist can achieve a great number of tones. Wash allows the artist to paint different tones of the same colour, according to the amount of water that is added to the paint on the palette.

The drawing is the foundation of a watercolour painting. It is used as a guide as to where to apply the various tones or colours. Therefore, it is essential that the artist draws the lines correctly before starting to paint.

To enable you to paint the beautiful village landscape which I have done was a wash drawing will set this in successive steps to make it easy for you to paint. First make a simple drawing in pencil.

It does not have to be exact but it should be partly correct. 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. A watercolour must always be painted from light to dark.

The exercise that follows in this landscape shows the entire surface of the drawing paper is first wetted with clean brush.

Before it dries completely load the brush with the first colour you intend to apply and make a thin wash. The dampness of the paper causes the colour to spread out.

The brush is then cleaned and run over the colour to spread it.

The procedure is repeated until the first graduation is achieved. Now dip the brush in a slightly darker tone almost without water and paint the trees.

Notice the trees on the left corner of the picture. Whenever I paint trees, I try to resolve them into two basic tones, putting the lightest tones first and adding the strong darker colour while keeping the first damp, noting where the light source is.

With the same dark tone utilised for painting, trees heighten the contrast on the right hand side the hut with a light wash and at far distance the remaining trees with a light wash.

Wait a few minutes for the paper to dry completely. Once it is dry apply a very light tone of colour shade to the hut, before going on to paint the darker tone of the shadows without their mixing or merging with the contours of the previous tone.

It is always a big decision as to whether to have figures in a landscape or not. They can be used in different ways to give life, movement and scale to a scene.

Here the tiny human figures walking by the roadside and two small figures by the side of the hut from the anchoring point for the whole composition give life to the picture.

Emphasis

It seems improbable that student watercolours are often made with very little water. But this is not so. Washes should be prepared in containers that will hold plenty of water. Painted washes are continuous areas of watercolour that take more than a single brush stroke to apply.

Succeeding strokes (of either colour or water) should be made at the wet edges to spread the colour area. All must be done rapidly to keep the tones of the wash even.

Some drawing papers help this process while others hinder it. Colour and value changes can be made while applying washes, but try not to scrub or overwork a good wash - it will just be destroyed.

Applying a loaded brush to paper is a delightful experience and should be experienced for itself. Perhaps the flashest technique in painting is that of flowing rich colours on to a wet surface and watching the resulting mixtures, flows and blending.

The control of wash technique takes much practice, but the rewards are often quite exhilarating.

A sound painting is made up of beautiful arrangements of values and colour and what helps in arranging the shapes us a knowledge of proportions.

Through experience you will discover how to improve the vibrancy of your colours by mixing them transparent glazes and show how to control relationship to create a good painting.

In watercolour there is no thrilling sight than that of large soupy washes of colour being brushed on to a sheet of sparkling white paper and allowed to defuse softly together.

The effect is magical. Watercolour painting is a difficult medium in art. But watercolour is the ideal medium of capturing the effects of light and it's a medium that is fresh, alike and responsive to the moment and the shifting moods of nature.

This medium like other arts needs practice. The more one practises, the better artist one becomes. My advice to any beginner is that you should never give up or get depressed, if you paint a bad picture.

If you want to become a successful painter never ever give up. First class watercolourists make mistakes, but they try and try again and only then do they succeed.

By relentless hard work and constant practice one will become a master of this medium.