Watercolour paintings’ response to nature's shifting moods

by Tissa Hewavitarane

Water-based media are among the oldest painting substances, dating back to the cave walls of Altamaria Lascaux and the Sahara. Egyptian scribes diluted colour in water, added a binder and tinted their wall illustrations.

Medieval manuscripts were given life with passengers of water soluble colour. Roman and Byzantine artists produced tempera by adding eggs to their mixture and painted on wooden panels. But the greatest contribution to the transparent medium came from the orient.

As early as the 8th century AD watercolour painting was first started by the Chinese. Today watercolour painting has become a very popular medium in art. To begin with there is the sheer pleasure of physically handling such a fluid and responsive medium.

Therapeutic quality

There is something, a calming and therapeutic quality about watching your brush glide across the surface of the drawing paper like a skater on ice, leaving it adrift of colour that glistens momentarily then settles into the fibres of the drawing paper and dries with a luminous inner light.

Just as a short poem can say more than a thousand words, a good watercolour could capture all glories of nature, of light and sun and air and mist with just a few strokes of the brush. It is the unique freshness and immediately of watercolour that appeals to the artist and viewer a- like.

More the merrier

British and European masters such as Constable, Turner, Klee, Russel Fline and Picasso and the American Honner, Wiyeth and Hopper brought the watercolour medium to the West. Watercolour can be painted in any country under any climate and by anybody. The more one paints more the merrier. Painting in watercolour requires a high degree of planning, forethought and patience.

With an opaque medium such as oils, you can build up the paint in layers, applying light colours over dark ones and obliterating mistakes by painting over them. But watercolours are transparent and you cannot paint light colour over dark colour the darker colour will show through.

This means that you should know in advance which areas of the picture are going to be dark and be prepared to work methodically from light to dark, cutting around those areas which you want to leave as bare paper.

If you don't plan things carefully you may lose control of the painting. The painting I have done here is a picture at sunset. I have titled it ‘End of a day.’ Observe the sky.

At sunset it takes a radiant glow which even the brightest pigment colours can never hope to match. Note how the bright yellow of the setting sun with the cool blues, and grey dark clouds and dark tones on trees at the distance thus increasing the impression of light and luminosity.

Along the paddy field note the woman with a heavy load on her head home bound.

It is always a big decision whether to put figures in a landscape or not. Be sure that whatever figure you do put in is an intergal part of the picture and not just a small after thought. They can be used in different ways to give life and movement.

You do not need to bother about putting any details such as fingers, figures or feet. You do not need to know anything about anatomy. Just that the parts should relate together correctly in the right proportion, and dropped in the right place. Observe the simple hut at the distance with huge dark trees behind and birds flying over the field.

Difficult medium

There is probably no medium that is more controversial than transparent watercolour. It is misunderstood by many, derided by others but defended by its adherents. Transparent watercolour is sometimes awesome in its complexity, and this often promotes timidity in its application. Transparent watercolour is fluid and your approach to it must be fluid also. The watercolourist cannot guess, while he may make minor corrections. He works by elimination, by paring a subject down to its essential watercolour. Therefore, it is the ideal medium for capturing the effect of light and is a medium that is fresh, alive and responsive to the moment and the shifting moods. Watercolour painting is said to be a difficult medium in art, because it is said to be a cover-up of your mistakes as you can oil painting. Watercolour painting, like other arts needs practice.

The more one practises the better artist one becomes. My advice to a beginner is that he should never give up. Even first class watercolour painters make mistakes, but they try and try again, and only then do they succeed. Remember that in watercolour confidence is essential and that it is brought about by being in complete control of your tools and techniques.By relentless hard work and constant practice one will become a master of the medium. One of the greatest attractions of a good watercolour painting is its lasting freshness for many years after it has been painted provided it is carefully preserved by good framing.