laying a wash
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laying a wash
A wash is a large area in a
watercolor painting where the paint flow anddiffusion have been manipulated to efface
individual brushstrokes. Within wash areas,
color transitions are usually gradual and span
analogous hues.
Laying a wash a flawless portrait
background or a landscape sky that shadesfrom bright to mist is one of the most
satisfying tasks in watercolor painting. It's a
skill that takes practice to master, although
the essentials are not difficult to learn.
As a novice painter, I discovered that the
instructions provided in watercolor handbooks
are often inadequate. You're sometimes told to
use incorrect techniques, or to use a single
approach in all situations. An example:
Set your board or block on a slant, raising the
top edge about 1-1/2" to 2" off the top of the
table. Load your 1" flat brush with paint and
make a pass horizontally across the top of the
aper. The paint will move downward, with abead forming at the bottom of the stroke.
Load the brush again, and make the next pass
a little down the page, in the opposite
direction, slightly overlapping the first. It's
important to pick up the bead on each pass.
Don't waste time: a line can form. It's also
important to reverse the direction of the
stroke with each pass. This will prevent a
buildup of darker pigment on one side of the
age. Repeat the process until the paper is
covered.
That's the total guidance. Even the wash
instructions in David Dewey's watercolor
book, though unusually accurate and
complete, still leave many things
unexplained ... what happens when I use
different papers, different brushes, different
brushstrokes, different types of paints,
different angles of tilt? How can I vary washes
technique
the setup, brushes &papers
pigment & paint behavior
tilting the wash
wash brushstrokes
to wet or not to wet
wash strategies
basic wash principles
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to get expressive effects?
The difficulty in learning watercolor is that
there is too much going on at once. I found
the only way to unlock the problem was to
break the technique down into its basic
components brushes, papers, pigments
types, paint behavior, tilting the wash,brushstroke techniques, prewetting,
application strategies then examine each
component carefully, see what happens whenI change or vary it, and finally put everything
back together in a spirit of exploration and
improvisation. That's the outline of this page.
As with any skill, the key is practice and
more practice. A good way to start is to try
out the wash strategies described on this
page. Buy six or eight medium sized (10"x14")watercolor blocks, five or six with rough (R) or
cold pressed (CP or NOT) finishes and one or
two with a hot pressed (HP) finish. Select
different paper manufacturers so that you get
different qualities of paper and variations in
finish. Use these up (paint on both sides) asyou explore the different wash techniques
described here. I guarantee you will feel it is
time (and paper) well spent.
For starters, a few aspects of wash
technique are part of your general painting
methods and only require brief comment.
These include the setup, brushes and papers.
The Setup. Every painter develops a
personal, habitual setup for painting. This
work space depends on the space available,
the painter's physical comfort and stamina,
the typical size of work, and the artist's
preferred painting technique. But a fewspecific requirements are necessary for
proficient wash application.
The essential thing is a clean and
uncluttered working area. Everything
extraneous to the wash task pencils, brush
holders, coffee mugs, tubes of paint must
the setup, brushes & papers
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be stowed or cleared to one side. All surfaces
must be clean of dirt, hair, pencil shavings,
eraser rubbings, drips of paint and anything
else that might stray onto the paper.
You also need a a tiltable work surface
the paper should lie on or be affixed to a hard,
flat surface that can be tilted quickly to anydesired angle. Some painters use a tiltable
drafting table, which gives maximum control
and comfort. Some work on the floor and tilt
the surface by lifting a corner or edge of the
sheet this gives good control, but crouching
to paint is physically tiring.
My work surface is a compromise: the largest
dining table I could find retail (about 4 by 9
feet, from Crate & Barrel), set away from the
walls so it can be addressed from either side.This is my "floor". Paper rests on two or three
sheets of Daniel Smith's watercolor board,
23" x 31", propped on a long strip of 2x2 or
4x4 lumber. This is my tilt, which I manipulate
by turning, lifting or bending the sheet from
the edges, or with a system oflumber and
weights.
a generic wash setup
You'll also want flat, reachable work space
to hold all your incidental tools within easy
reach. In my setup, this is the table on either
side. Painters who use a tiltable drafting table
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set their tools on a taboret or nearby
bookshelf.
The wash mixture, or paints used to build
the wash, should be in a separate container
located close to the painting. Some painters
mix their wash solutions in the mixing area of
a flat palette, eldajon palette or butchertray, which lets them swirl in a bit of fresh
paint to adjust the mixture on the fly. I use a
system of separate mixing dishes andpremix all paints before starting work.
Whatever your system, if the paints are not
set close to the work, you'll find yourself
making a rapid swing from paint to paper that
can cause a hasty splatter. The container
should be heavy and squat enough that it does
not tip over if accidentally struck with thehand.
Always mix up a generous quantity of wash
mixture, more than enough to cover the entire
area you want to paint, with slop off the sides.
Running out of wash mixture before you aredone is always fatal to the wash. But mix up a
punch bowl, either. I find one tablespoon is
just enough to cover a moderately sized full
sheet.
Finally, a water supply primarily for
prewetting the sheet and gradating the wash
density. (This should not be the brush rinse
water.) I use both a bowl and a spray bottle.
Other tools are useful. It is prudent to have
paper towels at the ready, and a roll of
towels within reach, to absorb excess runoff,
blot or shape the wash edges, and catch drips
before they sink into the paper. Many artistsuse hold fasts bulldog clips, binder clips,
carpenter's spring clamps (right), tacks, tapeor weights to hold the paper in place when
it is tilted or to control cockling or warping.
(Chinese painters use narrow lead weights to
hold down their rice papers, but these may be
insufficient for heavier cellulose papers and
can slide if the support is tilted.) Many
painters use tape, masks or resists to
reserve areas that the wash should not cover,
a variety of clips, clampsand clamp pads
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or sheets of paper anchored with drafting tape
to protect unpainted areas of the paper from
drips or splatters.
Should you stand or sit? Half sheet or smaller
works are easy to bring off while sitting,
though larger works are awkward to do. For
small paintings, I prefer to sit on a small stoolthat raises me above the work but that I can
kick aside to stand if necessary.
If you find yourself rearranging tools andmaterials as you work, or putting tools down
in a place different from where you picked
them up, then reconsider your setup. You
want to avoid any interruptions created when
you have to stop and look forsomething, and
especially the interruption created when you
knock something over. Don't fight it: start byputting things where you conveniently or
normally reach for them, and clear away
everything else.
A fresh, flawless wash usually requires a
rhythmic and uninterrupted performance.
You can't stop in the middle to answer thephone, let out the cat, or look for a different
brush. It's tricky to go back and do a small
section over. Once you start, you're
committed to finish. That's part of thechallenge and the fun. Take the phone off the
hook, let out the cat, and you're ready to
start.
Brushes. The common advice is that you
should use the largest brush practical for a
wash. In fact, you can lay down a wash with
almost any brush, but some brushes make the
task easier than others.
Most painters go to a 1" or less flat brush
(bright or one stroke) or a #16 to #12 roundbrush; the flats are especially useful for
carving precise edges or wedge shaped
cutouts, or for "scrubbing in" pigment or paint
over an area of especially rough paper texture,
a folded deckle, or a blotch of water repelling
tub sizing.
However, in many situations a smaller brush
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to have a second editing brush at the
ready, premoistened with the wash solution
and shaken out. (Don't moisten with pure
water, unless you intend to dilute the wash
color.) A filbert brush or smaller sized round
brush is most useful to refine the wash edge
around areas of more detail, smooth out a
blotch of coarse pigment, or soak up smallquantities of excess wash.
I suggest you purchase and use the largewash brushes only after you have practiced
your wash technique with a #12 or #14 round
anda 1" flat. The larger wash brushes can
conceal a lot of faults in your technique and
give you excellent results in big areas, but
someday you will need to paint a wash that
requires detailed edges or complex patterns
where the standard wash brush is too big orclumsy to maneuver. If the big wash brush is
the only brush you know how to use, you're
stuck. If you can lay a good wash with the
standard brushes, then using the specialized
wash brushes will be a pleasure.
Papers. You can lay a wash on almost anykind of paper, but some papers make it easier
than others.
The best paper for good wash results ismoderately sized with a moderate surface
finish or tooth (cold pressed or a gentle rough
pressed). If the surface texture is too heavy,
you will have difficulty laying down the wash
mixture without pinholes popping open over
the paper indentations, especially for active
pigments. It's possible to lay a flat or evenly
graded wash on hot pressed (HP) paper, but
the paper will ruthlessly show anyirregularities in your wash mixture,
brushstrokes, or brush wetness. However, if
you want a wash to show painterly, expressivevariations, then hot pressed may be ideal.
Most painters prefer the paper stretched, or of
a sufficiently heavy basis weight (400GSM or
higher) that it will not cockle or warp when
wet. Note that a heavier basis paper generally
has a slightly rougher surface texture.
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All painters discover, once they have matured
their technique, that it is straightforward to
complete a single wash application before the
paper absorbs enough moisture to cockle
(especially if the paper is tilted to drain the
excess paint downward), and it is relatively
easy to lay a second wash over moderately
cockled paper, provided that the brushpressure is kept constant across the paper
surface and the paper is tilted enough to
prevent puddling.
The surface of the paper must be absolutely
clean, free of any oil or dirt from your fingers
or the painting surface. Nothing is more
disheartening when you are most of the way
through a perfect wash than to hit a skid of
invisible grease or heavy surface sizing that
repels the paint to make an ugly white blotch.If this happens, stop and give the area a
quick, vigorous, all over scrubbing with the
brush tuft, then retrace from the wash stroke
above and continue downward.
Most wash tutorials give the
impression that paints don't matter in your
wash technique: all wash mixtures can beapplied in the same way. This assumption is a
legacy of "color theorists", who teach that
paints are just "colors", so one "brown" or
"blue" wash mixture is just the same as any
other.
In fact, painters make paintings with paints,
not with "colors", so the types of paints in a
wash mixture have a major effect on the
quality of the wash and how the wash should
be applied. In addition, the pigment behavior
depends on how much the paint is diluted with
water. So painters need to consider bothfactors before they apply the paint to paper.
The behavior of pigment particles depends
primarily on three things: (1) the weight of
the pigment in water, or its specific gravity;
(2) the average pigment particle size; and
(3) the color difference between small and
pigment & paint behavior
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large pigment particles. These differences in
pigment behavior are enhanced by diluting the
paint with water, which thins out the vehicle
ingredients.
Basics of Pigment Behavior. Let's consider
first how pigments behave when suspended in
water.
All paints contain millions of microscopic
pigment particles. These particles are not allthe same size, but form a particle size
distribution, as shown in the figure. It's the
same with sand at the beach, gravel in the
road or stones in the river bed: there is a size
variation around the average. These variations
are always present, and the distribution of
sizes has a similar shape, regardless of the
average size of the particles.
pigment particle size distribution
In pigments that are relatively light in water
and have a very small average particle size,
even the largest pigment particles are kept insuspension indefinitely by continuous jostling
of water molecules. Like an infusion of tea, the
solution remains the same even if left
undisturbed for several days.
The contrasting behavior of heavy pigments is
probably familiar to you. If you mix up a
quantity of water and a grainy mineral
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pigment, such as viridian, cobalt blue or
manganese violet, then let the mixture sit
undisturbed in a clear glass container, the
paint visibly begins to separate after a few
minutes.
settling of pigment particles in a wash
solution
The heavier particles sink to the bottom, while
the lighter particles remain suspended. How
much of the pigment settles out depends on
the weight and size of the largest particles,
but the separation always becomes more
pronounced if you let the solution sit
overnight: the concentration of paint changes
from nearly transparent at the top of thesolution to nearly opaque at the bottom.
This variation in particle size might be trivial,except that in pigments with medium to large
particle sizes, pigment color can change
with particle size: smaller particles are
typically a different hue, and typically are
lighter in value. In fact, by manufacturing
pigments to different average particle sizes,
pigment manufacturers can adjust a pigment's
color, hiding power, lightfastness and other
attributes. So many heavy pigments are
really mixtures of two different paints
one made of coarse, saturated particles, andthe other made of whitish, light particles.
You can observe this by mixing up a
moderately diluted solution ofcobalt teal
blue (PG50) in a flat bottomed highball or
drinking glass, then letting it sit undisturbed
for two days. Examined from above, the paint
will seem to have changed color to a dull
bluish gray, but this is because the smallest
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cobalt particles, which are whiter and bluer,
have settled as an opaque layer on the top.
Scrape this layer aside with a brush, or look at
the container from underneath, and the larger,
bright turquoise particles become visible.
Basics of Paint Behavior. Two additional
factors depend on the paint formulation andhow much the paint is diluted with water.
Paints contain many other paintingredients besides pigment, including
binder, plasticizer, humectant, filler and
dispersant. These invisible ingredients are
also dissolved or suspended in the paint
solution, and they often affect how the visible
pigment disperses, flows, settles and backruns
when diluted with water and applied to paper.
The proportion of pigment in a paint varies
across paint brands and types of pigment or
paint. In general the proportion of pigment is
smaller in low quality or inexpensive
("student") paints, and in high quality paints
that are made with strongly tinting pigments(such as the phthalocyanines or dioxazine)
where a little pigment goes a very long way.
The proportion of pigment is also smaller in
pigments with very small particle sizes,
because the total surface area of pigmentparticles increases as the individual particles
get smaller, and this larger total surface area
requires proportionally more vehicle to cover
or "wet" completely. Finely divided pigments
are also more likely to be formulated with a
dispersant to aid in milling (mixing pigment
and vehicle) when the paint is made, or with
fillers to moderate an excessively high tinting
strength.
Both aspects of paint formulation mean that
the pigment behavior or "pigment personality"depends both on the type of pigment in the
paint and the manufacturer (brand) that made
the paints. The primary way the painter
controls the effect of vehicle ingredients on
pigment behavior is through the brand of paint
you choose. Most modern watercolors, such as
DaVinci, are formulated so that all "colors"
behave the same, regardless of the pigments
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in the paints. M.Graham tube paints, and
especially the Kremer pan paints, which
contain pigment, gum, glycerin, sugar and
little else, show a wider range of pigment
behavior. Student paints often rely more
heavily on dispersants to reduce the time
required to mill (thoroughly mix) the paint,
but the dispersant causes these paints todiffuse rapidly when applied wet in wet.
However, you usually must add water to thepaint to get a suspenison of pigment at the
right concentration, and the more water
added to the paint, the less effect vehicle
ingredients have on pigment behavior. So
paint brands tend to behave more alike, and
pigments tend to behave more differently, as
they are more diluted. This is the second way
that the painter can control the effect ofvehicle ingredients on pigment behavior.
Wash Mixture Guidelines. To sum up: the
pigment behavior in a wash is determined by
three pigment attributes weight in water,
average particle size and hue variation across
particle sizes. The quantity of dispersant in the
paint, the proportion of vehicle (binder,
humectant and plasticizer) to pigment, and
the proportion of paint to water (dilution) also
change the paint behavior; but these effectsare weaker in heavily diluted paints.
These basics of pigment and paint behavior
suggest these important wash principles:
concentrated paints impede diffusion and
flow, and magnify differences in the rate of
evaporation between paint areas of different
wetness, producing irregularities in the wash
diluted paint mixtures more easily produce a
flawlesspaintapplication with no visiblebrushstrokes, but enhancepigmenteffects
related to weight, size and color variation
heavier particles sink faster than lighter
particles to the bottom of a diluted wash
solution
larger particles sink faster than smaller
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particles the smaller particles are kept
suspended by the jostling of water molecules
around them
larger vs. smaller particles separate in a
wash: and if there is a noticeable color
difference between large and small particles,
then their separation creates a visible colorseparation as well.
light, small particles are more easily
displaced by capillary water movement,brushstroke irregularities, and the flow of
wash solution down the page
Four Types of Pigment. By combining the
basics of pigment and paint behavior, we can
conveniently classify all paints into one offour
pigment types:
Active pigments. These pigments are very
light (specific gravity under 2.0), have a very
small average particle size (less than 0.5
micron), and little color variation across
particle sizes. They include iron blue, carbonblack (specific gravity 1.8), phthalo blue,
dioxazine violet (1.6), indanthrone blue (1.5),
and most of the quinacridones. Excepting the
iron oxides, active pigments have high tinting
strength and therefore comprise less than20% of the total paint volume (a vehicle to
pigment ratio of at least 4 to 1) most of
what you apply to the paper is binder,
plasticizer, humectant and filler. These vehicle
ingredients increase the osmotic difference
between paint and pure water, causing the
pigments to diffuse more aggressively wet in
wet, and to dry more slowly. The light, small
pigment particles are also more easily moved
along by capillary flows that occur in the last
stages of drying, which creates backruns and
other visible imperfections in the washtexture. They often diffuse or shoot wildly
across wet paper, because a dispersant has
been added to the vehicle to help it completely
wet the extremely small pigment particles,
which tend to clump or cake during milling.
(Ultramarine blue and ultramarine violet,
though they have much larger particle sizes,
can behave like active pigments when
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dispersants are used to wet the pigment
particles during milling.) In general, active
pigments apply smoothly, but are susceptible
to diffusion and backruns.
Heavy Pigments. These have a specific
gravity of 3.5 or more, a medium to large
average particle size (on the order of 5microns or more), and significant color
variation across particle sizes. Pigments of this
type are mostly metallic crystalline pigmentssuch as viridian (specific gravity 3.5), cobalt
violet (3.8), manganese violet (3.9), cobalt
turquoise (3.9), cobalt blue (4.0) and cobalt
green (4.1), and some red iron oxides labeled
"transparent" that in fact have a granulating
texture. Because larger pigment particles
require less vehicle to be thoroughly wetted,
the pigment usually comprises more than 40%of the paint by volume (a vehicle to pigment
ratio of about 1 to 1). The thicker vehicle
makes these paints more likely to streak or
show brushstrokes if applied at high
concentrations, and are especially difficult to
apply evenly to dry paper. The vehicle usuallycontains proportionately more gum arabic and
glycerin to prevent the large, hard, heavy
particles from separating out in the tube, and
contain the least dispersant. The large, heavy
particles rapidly sink out of a wash solution,which must be stirred each time the brush is
charged, or they will produce a dark blotch
where the brush first touches the paper. But
they do not diffuse wet in wet and are
resistant to backruns even when rewetted with
paint or water, and blotches or irregularities
usually can be smoothed out with a brush
while the paint is still wet.
Muddy Pigments. Finally, there are some
exceptional pigments that are both very heavy
(specific gravity above 4.0) yet have average
to small particle sizes (0.5 micron or less) and
little color variation across particle sizes. In
most brands of watercolors, these include the
red, orange and yellow cadmiums (specific
gravity 4.4 to 4.5), chromium oxide green
(5.1), red iron oxides (venetian red or indian
red, specific gravity 5.2), any opaque but
nongranulating umber, sienna or ochre, and
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chinese white (5.6). These paints have a
dense, opaque texture caused by the heavy
pigment specific gravity, the small particle
size, and the relatively limited variation in the
size of particles (or particle aggregates)
produced by the methods of chemical
synthesis and finishing. They usually have a
high refractive index, low tinting strength andin many cases a relatively dull color, so more
pigment must be used in a wash to obtain the
same color density as other paints. Theproportion of gum arabic or glycerin in the
vehicle is higher than in average pigments but
not as high as in other heavy pigments
(cobalts). In dilute solutions they are as likely
to backrun as the active pigments, are
resistant to backruns when moderately or
heavily diluted, but are likely to cake, streak
or bronze when applied near full strength.
Average Pigments. What remains are the
pigments that do not fit into any of the
previous categories. These usually have a
specific gravity between 2.0 and 3.5, an
average particle size between 0.5 and 1micron, and consistent color across all particle
sizes. Nearly all of these average pigments are
synthetic organics (most of them laked
dyes), yellow iron oxides, and a few synthetic
inorganic pigments such as nickel titanateyellow and the metal azomethines. In these
paints the pigment usually comprises around
30% to 40% of the total paint volume (a
vehicle to pigment ratio of about 2 to 1). Most
watercolors are manufactured so that these
"average" pigments behave the same way:
relatively inactive wet in wet, consistent
across different concentrations of paint and
water, and producing a flat, textureless colorno matter how they are applied.
Pigment Mixtures. Very often the paints
mixed in a wash solution contain two or more
pigment types. The painter can manipulate the
wash behavior by the choice of these pigment
combinations.
Heavy + Muddy. The mixture of two
granulating or powdery mineral pigments
(synthetic inorganic compounds of cobalt,
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cadmium, manganese, chromium or iron) of
very different particle sizes is the most difficult
of all wash mixtures to control. The crystalline
components settle out of solution quickly, but
at different rates, and usually one pigment is
more concentrated in the first touch of the
brush. Painted with juicy, randomly varied
brushstrokes on flat paper, these mixtures drywith a mottled, mineral appearance, but it is
very difficult to get an even, flat color.
Active + Heavy. An especially versatile
mixture consists of a granulating or
powdery mineral pigment (a heavy pigment,
such as viridian or a compound of cadmium,
cobalt, manganese or magnesium) with a
synthetic organic or "staining" pigment (such
as iron blue or any quinacridone,
phthalocyanine, perylene, dioxazine orbenzimidazolone). The synthetic organic
pigments produce a bright, consistent and
strongly tinting basic color, and create subtle
color variations in concentrated applications
due to small backruns; the heavier mineral
pigments mute backruns and induce pigmenttexture in diluted, juicy applications, and
importantly reduce the staining behavior of a
concentrated mixture, making the paint easier
to lift or edit.
Wash mixtures normally should be stirred
each time the brush is charged, otherwise the
heavier pigments (cobalt teal blue in solution
with a phthalocyanine) or heavier pigment
particles (in grainy pigments such as cerulean
blue or cobalt violet) separate in solution.
However an unstirred wash mixture provides
the painter with a simple method to modify
the paint color on the fly, by the way thebrush is charged with new paint. If the brush
is dipped into the surface of the wash mixture,
it only picks up the smaller, lighter pigment
particles, which usually provide a more fluid
color. If the brush is swept along the bottom
of the container, it picks up the heavier,
coarser pigment particles and usually leaves
a heavy paint concentration or grainy blotch
where the brush first touches the paper.
Active + Muddy. These mixtures produce
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similar paint behavior as the active+heavy
mixtures, with two exceptions: the smaller
particle size of the muddy paints makes the
mixture more susceptible to backruns at all
concentrations, and typically makes the
mixtures more staining.
Active + Active. These mixtures, forexample a phthalocyanine with a quinacridone,
are very stable in solution. On paper, slight
backruns may cause the two pigments toseparate, producing very subtle, feathery
contours of color within the wash area. These
can be produced by brushing upwards into the
previous was stroke after each new stroke is
applied, or by lightly stroking satin wet wash
areas with a thirsty or wicked brush. The
amount of color variation depends on the
specific pigments and brands of paint in themixture and the absorptance of the paper, and
must be discovered by trial and error.
Average + Heavy/Muddy/Active. The
"average" pigments generally mute or buffer
the attributes of any of the other pigments,but the amount of change depends on the
specific paints used and their concentration in
water.
Decanting Pigments. If you require agranulating (usually blue or violet) pigment for
one reason or another (hue, mixing behavior,
lack of alternative paints), but want to
minimize the paint texture or pigment
separation, or pigment banding during the
wash application, a traditional remedy is to
decant the paint solution.
In the 19th century, the procedure was to
pour the wash or paint solution into a papercone (like the paper cups used for "snow
cones" today). The largest, heaviest particlessank into the point of the cone, out of reach of
the tip of the brush. The paint mixture could
then be drawn directly from the cone (though
the solution had to be regularly stirred to keep
the smaller particles in suspension, while the
heavier particles would quickly sink back out
of reach), or the bottom of the cone could be
pinched with thumb and finger (to trap the
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heavy particles in place) and the rest of the
paint solution poured off into a mixing cup.
The same trick works well today, and if you
can't buy the snow cone cups at a party
supply or culinary supply store, use a sharply
tapering cocktail glass (some martini glasses
work fine), or a funnel rolled from heavywaxed paper with the tip folded upwards to
seal the bottom.
I prefer something simpler: I mix up the paintin a mixing cup, let the paint settle for an hour
or so, then decant the paint by pouring it off
into a second mixing cup. A sludge of the
largest pigment particles remains behind.
(Keep in mind that decanting off these largest
pigments will usually alter the paint color.)
A traditional component of wash
technique is the tilt of the painting surface.
The tilt creates a fall line or directed
gravitational flow across the paper. This pulls
the wash solution from high to low and
collects the excess liquid in a reservoir, called
the wash bead, along the bottom edge of the
last brushstroke.
the downward flow of the wash bead
Each brushstroke cuts into the existing wash
bead and creates a wetted area underneath it,
allowing it to flow down the stroke to the new
edge. This downward flow has three functions:
tilting the wash
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It erases brushstroke edges, by flowing
perpendicularly (across) the horizontal
direction of the brush.
It equalizes variations in the quantity of
paint applied in successive brushstrokes,
producing an even concentration of pigment
down the paper.
It prevents upward backruns as paint is
applied, and makes it easy to wick up excess
paint with a thirsty brush.
The question is, how much of a tilt should you
use, and why? Watercolor tutorials differ as to
the optimal tilt to use. The advice quoted
above suggests 2 inches which can be
almost any tilt, depending on the size of the
painting support. Rex Brandt suggests you tiltthe surface to 15; David Dewey suggests
40.
First, let's make the inquiry: what are the
actual limits on the tilt you can use in
painting?
If you lay horizontal brushstrokes of clear
water on watercolor paper, one below the
next, tilting the surface upwards at a greater
angle as you go, eventually the wash bead will
break and run down the paper. This usually
happens when the tilt is around 40. So 40 is
the upper limit on a tilt that still lets you
confidently control a wash.
If you pour a teaspoon of pure water on a
flat watercolor paper, then slowly tilt the
surface upward, the puddle of water starts to
run downwards at a tilt of about 6. Because
gravity does dislodge this large puddle ofwater if the tilt is below 6, there is little or
no tilt effect below 6.
A little trigonometry shows that you get a tilt
of 40 by raising the back edge of the painting
support by about 2/3d's (64%) of the support
height. That is, if your drawing surface is four
feet from top edge to bottom edge, you must
raise the top edge so that it about 2-1/2 feet
higher than the bottom edge to get a 40 tilt.
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A 6 tilt requires you to raise the top edge by
about 10% (or 5 inches/4 feet).
the painting surface at a 15 and 30 tilt
Within this range, there are two convenient
benchmarks. A 15 angle is obtained byraising the top edge of the drawing surface to
a height equal to 1/4 of its top to bottom
dimension. A 30 angle requires a tilt of
exactly 2/4 (or 1/2). These proportions are
easy to judge by eye.
How does the tilt affect the paint behavior? As
you increase the tilt of the watercolor surface,
several things happen:
1. Greater tilt causes more water to flow from
the top edge to the bottom edge of a new
wash stroke in the time between strokes; this
water collects into a tighter, larger bead at the
bottom edge of the wash, which is more likelyto break and run down the paper. So the
tilted wash forms a larger wash bead that
is more likely to drip and therefore must be
watched and manipulated with more care.
a tilted wash forms a larger wash beadbrushstroke viewed from the side
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2. Because a greater tilt causes the wash
solution to flow more quickly off the surface of
the paper, the tilted wash dries more
quickly from top to bottom than a wash
painted on flat paper. This leaves less
opportunity to brush out small imperfections
and less leeway to vary the tempo of yourbrushstrokes.
a tilted wash dries more quickly
3. As the tilt increases, more pigment is swept
into the wash bead by the faster water
currents and force of gravity, leaving less
pigment on the paper above; as a result the
tilted wash leaves a lighter color than a
wash painted on flat paper.
a tilted wash has a lighter color
4. There is increased gravitational resistance
to the capillary pull upwards of water in the
new wash stroke, caused by the evaporation
of water from the previous wash strokes; this
capillary pull can cause backruns. So a tilted
wash is less likely to backrun as it dries,
because excess water is drained away.
(Backruns can still form from a wash bead that
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is not wicked up from the bottom edge of the
wash.)
5. The optimal wash brushstroke is achieved
with the brush handle held nearly vertical to
the ground andperpendicular to the paper
surface. This is also puts the least strain on
the wrist. The tilted wash brushstrokeimpairs brush action by forcing the brush
toward a horizontal angle to the ground (if it is
held perpendicular to the paper) or forcing anoblique angle of contact with the paper (if it is
turned vertical to the ground); the increased
angle also forces the wrist into an
uncomfortable extension.
a tilted wash can impair brush action
6. More of the large pigment particles are
swept into the wash bead by the faster water
currents, rather than coming to rest on the
paper where they are applied; but these large
particles settle quickly on the paper
underneath the wash bead before the next
brushstroke can be applied. The tilted wash
brushstroke shows heavy pigment
banding, while a flat stroke has none.
larger pigment particles form bands in a
tilted washbrushstroke viewed from the side
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7. The increased water flow and paint
movement downward effaces any unevenness
in the density of pigment applied by the brush
or marks left by separate brushstrokes; so a
tilted wash creates more even color,
especially on a dry painting surface and for
average or active pigments.
Some watercolor books explain that, in a tilted
wash, the wash bead presses with a greater
volume of water against the lower edge of the
stroke, and this inhibits evaporation orcapillary action along the "dry" edge of the
wash area that can form a hard edge of paint
by drying. But you have to be pretty stingy
with paint application in order for this to
happen.
If a hard edge does begin to form, it can
usually be scrubbed out with the brush as the
next brushstroke is applied. In addition, the
appearance of dried edges can be better
controlled by prewetting the wash area.
The ease of applying a wash when the surface
is relatively flat the paint can be appliedmore quickly and with less worry about
managing the wash bead, especially around
"cut out" forms actually compensates for
the supposed advantage of a tilted painting
surface. Overall, tilting the painting surface is
not the most effective way to control whether
edges form in your wash area.
This means there are really only two unique
benefits to tilting the paper (#4, fewer
backruns and #7, more even color), and
several potential drawbacks (primarily #5,
impaired brush action and #6, pigment
banding; but often also #1, larger wash bead,
#2, too rapid drying and #3, lighter color).Tilting therefore seems overall like mixed bag.
All things being equal, we should tilt the
paper no more than necessary just
enough to get the beneficial effects, but not
enough to amplify the drawbacks.
If we view the wash benefits in terms of the
four types of pigment, then three basic
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approaches emerge:
For active pigments and concentrated muddy
igments, the pigments are usually
homogenous enough to minimize brushmarks
and banding. The benefits #4 and #7 are most
important, and too rapid drying (#2) is a
significant hazard because it can inducebackruns from the wash bead. So the principal
goal is to tilt the wash far enough toprevent
backruns, provided this does not aggressivelydrain the color or cause the wash to dry too
quickly. This can usually be accomplished by
using a tilt of 15 or more.
For average pigments and diluted muddy
igments, the benefits #4 and #7 are
relatively less important the capillary forces
that can cause backruns are not as strong, andthese paints usually apply very smoothly at
moderate dilution. But their lower tinting
strength makes drawback #3 more significant.
So the tilt should be just enough to smooth out
the wash (keep the wash bead moving down
the page to efface brush strokes), whileminimizing the drawbacks caused by the
increased downward flow. This can usually be
accomplished by using a tilt between 6 to
15.
For heavy pigments, the wash bands formed
by the largest particles form more quickly the
more the painting surface is tilted, and for
most heavy pigment paints (the cobalt paints,
especially) backruns almost never occur unless
they are mixed with a different type of
pigment. For these wash situations the best
approach is often to use a minimal tiltor to
paint the wash on flat paper and thenimmediately but very slowly tilt the paper to
drain off the excess liquid (as described
below). This can usually be accomplished byusing a tilt of 6 or less.
Once the wash application has been finished,
the tilt may be sharply increased up to 90
if desired to drain the paint more forcibly
and produce a greater blending or smoothing
effect on paint irregularities or color
transitions.
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These tilt recommendations apply to a diluted
wash mixture as it is brushed on. Thicker paint
mixtures must be applied at a more extreme
tilt, sometimes 60 or more, to compensate
the increased viscosity of the paint mixture
with an increased gravitational pull. Thicker
wash mixtures may show no water movement
at tilts of 15 or less, color gradients orimperfections are blended less forcibly by
extreme tilting, and backruns caused by too
rapid drying (#2) are more of a hazard. If ahigh color density is required in the wash, a
smoother wash texture can always be
obtained from two or three diluted
applications, rather than one thick application.
The tilt no more than necessary rules
depends on the dilution of the wash mixture
and the type of paint, paper, paper surfaceand brush you are using, as well as the wash
appearance you want to achieve. You learn to
navigate the nuances through experience. But
the rule is a useful starting point and can
guide your judgment as you look for the right
solution.
Now we turn attention to thebrushstroke, which is the primary way that the
wash bead, pigment banding, backruns and
other paint behavior is controlled in a wash.
All watercolor handbooks recommend applying
the wash with quick, even, horizontal
brushstrokes. Yet the brushstroke is an aspect
of technique that you can (and should) adjust
to suit the pigment and the kind of wash
texture you want to achieve.
Holding the Brush. To find the best way to
grip the handle of your brush, consider thedifferent ways you will need to adjust the
angle of the brush to the paper.
wash brushstrokes
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right and wrong start to a wash
brushstroke
When you start the new stroke, always brush
upwards into the wash bead from the dry
paper underneath. Do not dip the brush into
the bead or into the lower edge. This willbreak the liquid's surface tension, but provides
nothing below the water to stop its downward
flow.
If you are using a round, gently pull the brush
upwards into the bead. If you are using a flat
wash brush, touch the lower corner of the tuft
at an angle to the paper, then press the brush
to lay it flat against the paper, touching the
wash bead with the upper corner. These
movements set the brush tuft as a cup or wall
under the bead before you break its surface
tension, so any drip of water is caught beforeit gains momentum.
To make a smooth wash, hold the brush
handle as near to perpendicular to the
paper as you can without limiting your arm
movement or cramping your wrist. A vertical
brush increases the liquid flow from the tuft
and also strikes the tips of the hairs against
the paper: this helps to fill in pinholes on the
paper.
If you want to show more of the paper texture
(or the texture of the brush bristles), then
hold the brush with the handle nearly parallel
to the paper surface. This reduces the rate of
liquid flow from the brush, and hits the paperwith the sides of the hairs instead of the tips:
both contribute to make a scratchy, irregular
wash application that highlights the texture of
the paper.
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Third, unless you are scrubbing the paper to
disperse heavy pigment deposits, dissolve
surface impurities, or cover up the texture or
pinholes in a rough paper, lightly touch the
brush to the paper with just enough
pressure to maintain contact. This draws the
pigment evenly from the brush (rather than
extruding it with pressure), and spreads thepigment evenly across the stroke. Heavy
pressure forces the paint away from the center
of the stroke and toward the edges; a lighttouch also keeps the bristles from pressing
heavy pigments deep into the paper texture.
Finally, many washes must be applied around
the edges of objects that are perceived to
stand in front of the wash area, and these
"cutout" edges must be painted cleanly and
accurately. These edges usually requireflexible wrist movements, which are more
difficult if the wrist is held at an awkward
angle.
Try different ways of gripping the brush until
you find one that gives you the most flexibilityto perform these four essential brush
movements upward movement at the start
of the wash stroke, perpendicular angle to the
paper, gentle pressure across the stroke, and
flexible wrist movements. You should be ableto perform these across a wash stroke of any
length with any type of brush you want to use.
Three Wash Brushstrokes. Now, what
pattern of brushstrokes should you use? The
diagram shows the three basic types of wash
stroke patterns.
The straight brushstroke (left) is the
commonly recommended approach. The
strokes are made to overlap just enough tobreak the wash bead at the bottom of the
previous stroke. The top edge of the brush
passes through the bead in the stroke above,
breaking the tension along the bottom edge
and allowing the excess paint and water to
flow across the width of the new brushstroke
and form a new wash bead along its bottom
edge.
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You must alternate the direction of the
brushstroke to keep the pigment coverage
even: either by brushing in the opposite
direction over the stroke you have just made,
or by switching direction from one brushstroke
to the next. If you always start at the left (or
right) edge of the wash area, the bead is large
on that side and small on the opposite side,where the brush has little liquid left. This can
cause irregularities in the wash color, or
backruns. A back and forth stroke alsoimproves pigment mixing, as shown in the
examples below.
pigment mixing in horizontal wash
brushstrokesleft to right only (left) or alternating directions (right);
tilted surface, first stroke is yellow, all other strokes areblue
At the start of each new straight stroke, most
of the paint applied to the paper is actually
drawn right out of the brush: the paint in the
wash bead flows downward only toward the
end of the stroke, when the brush runs out of
liquid. If all the strokes are made in the same
direction, the concentration of paint is not the
same on the two sides of the paper.
The straight stroke is fine for average pigment
washes: but with active or heavy pigments it
causes three annoying problems. You are
locked into a fairly mechanical rhythm,
completing one horizontal stroke all the way
across the page before starting the next,
which limits your ability to handle complex
edges or cutout shapes, such as clouds, in the
horizontal washbrushstrokes
top: full width horizontalbrushstroke; bottom:
refreshed horizontal
brushstroke
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middle of the wash. Second, you must work as
quickly as you safely can, because the longer
the time between strokes, the more visible
imperfections will result. If you're using an
active pigment, backruns will appear just from
capillary action at the upper edge of a
stationary wash bead. If you're using heavy
pigments, the bead quickly collects the largestand darkest pigment particles. These backruns
or pigment stripes will show up very clearly
when the wash has dried even though theymay not be apparent while the wash is still
wet. Finally, the action of brushing in
alternating directions can be awkward to
manage with one hand, especially with a flat
brush.
The scalloped brushstroke (right) solves
these problems by creating an irregular,broken pattern to the wash strokes, freeing
the artist to add new paint randomly over the
entire surface of the wash. Each scallop
creates its own small wash bead at the bottom
of the curved stroke, and this bead is picked
up by the new stroke coming underneath it, so
the timing and flow of the wash application
can be adjusted with great flexibility and
accuracy. Just make a new scalloped stroke
anywhere along the irregular bottom edge of
the wash, to add paint or move a bead thathas been resting for too long.
Lay this stroke down in a graceful, light,
movement don't daub or dither with it. The
shape of the stroke should not be mechanical,
but varied to fit the location and shape of the
specific wash area you paint. Mechanical
repetition creates a regular pattern, which is
easier for the eye to detect.
The scalloped stroke lets you control banding,
brushstroke edges and backruns with greater
freedom. You can start with the wash bead of
a stroke, pull it downwards, then back up into
another bead nearby, combining two beads
into one. Or you can start below one wash
bead, pull downwards to make a new bottom
edge, then brush upwards into a second wash
bead to dislodge any heavy pigment particles.
You can make the lower edge sharply curved,
scalloped washbrushstrokes
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to create a focused wash bead, or nearly flat,
to spread the wash bead across a larger edge.
In short, you can fit the stroke to the
situation, and solve problems the moment you
see them appear.
If banding occurs in the scalloped wash beads
across the wash area, the irregular shape andplacement of these bands will make them
much less noticeable and create a subtle
textural variation that blends well into theoverall watercolor effect.
cerulean blue washespainted with straight (left) and scalloped (right)
brushstrokeson a tilted surface
The example shows the difference between
these two strokes for a robustly granulating
pigment, M. Graham cerulean blue (PB36).The banding on the left shows the straight
brushstroke at its very worst: but the
scalloped stroke solves the banding problem
completely.
If you must paint against very complex or
detailed edges, the scalloped strokes allow you
to break these maneuvers into small
segments, independent of the overall
accumulation of the wash. You can paint part
of an edge, quickly refresh any wash beads
that have gathered for too long, paint anotherincrement of edge, and so on, giving you
much greater control over the overall
movement of the wash.
Finally, the crossed brushstroke (right) is
the most aggressive. The paint is laid downwith short, overlapping strokes, and except for
the strokes at the top of the page, the start of
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each stroke crosses over the end of a previous
stroke. The brush is used almost with a
scrubbing emphasis, so that any collection of
heavy pigment particles that may have formed
is dispersed by the new stroke.
The strokes can be crossed with either an
upwards or downwards direction; the diagramshows downward strokes, which are safest to
use only when the painting surface is nearly
flat. However, this stroke is useful for heavilygranulating pigments, and (as discussed in the
section on tilting), these are painting with very
little tilt anyway.
Very coarse pigments, such as cerulean blue
or manganese blue, may require this kind of
aggressive brushing to smooth out
irregularities in pigment density at the startand end of a single wash stroke, and to break
up bands that form within the wash beads. If
necessary, you can go back into an area of the
wash that you've already laid down (to add
paint or smooth out visible brushstrokes),
because heavy pigments tend to backrun verylittle when new pigment or water is added to
them.
The crossed brushstroke is also useful in
painting graded washes, as it can pull thedarker wash mixture downward much more
effectively than the scalloped or straight
strokes, which rely only on the flow of the
wash bead.
Complex Cutouts. By this time you should
have guessed that you can use pretty much
anyapplication method or combination of
brushstrokes, provided that you (1) control
backruns, (2) efface brushmarks and (3)obtain even paint distribution. You fit the
application to the problem.
Complex cutouts require technical flexibility.
Most washes necessitate a "cutout" at the
edges painting around the edge of a
differently colored area. Clouds or a city
skyline against the sky, or the background
behind an object, are common challenges. The
normal procedure is either to use a straight
crossed wash brushstrokes
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brushstroke which you break and then
continue on either side of the foreground form
(s), or scalloped brushstrokes to take the
wash first down one side of the form, then
down the other side.
Botanical painters are familiar with even more
complex situations, where the upward andoutward radiation of stems and flowers
produce many separate, narrowing spaces.
The example shown below is a recreational
painting (unretouched) that I knocked off in a
few hours because I enjoyed looking at the
subject. The problem here was to get a
homogenous background behind the weave of
stems and petals. I wanted to use an active
pigment (phthalo turquoise), but the paper
was relatively absorbent which minimized theproblem of backruns.
I could not get a horizontal stroke across all
the detail edges before the start of the stroke
had dried to a hard edge; scrubbing out the
edge would leave a backrun. I could have
turned the paper sideways, effectively painting
left to right down the sheet, to reduce the
length of each horizontal stroke, but decided
that wouldn't be much easier. I did not want
to go to the utter fuss of reserving all thebotanical detail with a liquid resist, especially
as i wanted to paint it freehand (without an
underdrawing).
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wash sequence around complex shapesa still life watercolor (top) and the strategy used to
paint the background (bottom)
Instead I (1) simplified the design, (2) painted
in all the botanical detail first, and then (3)
painted the background sequentially with the
paper laid flat, as shown above with arrows
and numbers.
The design was simplified by carrying a few
stems to the paper edge, as shown by the
white dots. These cut the background into four
detached areas (not counting the peekthrough
areas around the vase handle). Each of these
areas could be painted independently of theothers.
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I started with an upward path (1) that let me
practice the petal cutouts early on, then
carried this over the top of a bordering stem
(2). I painted outward and downward along a
gradually expanding edge (3), and when the
paint reached the opposite stem I painted first
down (4) while lightly rewetting the edge
along (5), then across the remaining area tothe corner. I carried this edge around the
second stem and repeated the strategy into
the next area (6,7). This completed the firstbackground section and I stopped for a rest.
Other sections were completed in the same
way, and I finished by filling in the leftover
peek through areas (16).
This strategy works because at every spot
where I had to negotiate detail cutouts, the
stem patterns left me with only a few inches ofwash bead to keep wet and moving forward.
With the paper laid flat the "bead" is really the
wettest paint edge, but as long as this edge is
kept moving at a constant rate with even paint
application, backruns will not usually form,
even in active pigments. That is, I paintedwithout the wash bead because I didn't need it
to get color homogeneity.
The crux is that it is normal to increase
pressure on the brush during detail painting,to improve control; but this also reduces the
paint flow onto the paper and produces
uneven color and minor backruns. With a
small paint edge to control there was no panic
imperative to keep working quickly, which left
me more time to paint the detail cutouts with
care, and ensure even paint application.
The final wash nuance is whether
or not to prewet the wash area or the paper asa whole. Some artists first sponge or brush the
area with water and let it dry completely.
Others wet the area in the same way, then lay
in the wash while the surface has a shiny to
satin wetness. Still others paint the wash
directly on dry paper.
to wet or not to wet
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Prewetting as Surface Preparation. Many
artists habitually prewet a wash area, or the
entire paper surface, as a way to minimize or
eliminate contaminants on the paper surface
that can destroy an otherwise smooth wash
texture.
There are two types of problems. The first isfine pinholing tiny white flecks that
appear in a wash after it has dried. The
second, related problem is unsightly largewhitish splotches that appear immediately
after a wash has been applied.
Both these problems seem to occur most often
on block sheets, but I have also encountered
them on supposedly high quality individual
sheets from large manufacturers. The usual
causes in both cases are impurities such asoils on the paper surface or a somewhat thick
layer of gelatin tub sizing that has collected in
the paper depressions and will repel paint until
it is dissolved.
Both problems can be prevented by prewettingthe entire paper with pure water or with a
highly diluted gum arabic solution, then
quickly and lightly "polishing" the paper
surface with an acrylic flat brush or large
sponge in a gentle, rapid, scrubbing orpolishing motion. After this brief cleaning,
hang the paper vertically until it is completely
dry. Do this before you begin to draw or paint
on the sheet.
This treatment dissolves away any surface
impurities, breaks up the dried skin of tub
sizing on the paper, and also slightly raises
the nap of the compacted cellulose fibers,making the surface more absorbent. If you do
not want to disturb the surface texture
(especially in a hot pressed sheet), you canidentify large problem areas by first flooding
the paper surface with water, then
immediately holding the sheet vertically by
one corner to drain the water away. The entire
sheet should dry in even gradations of
wetness from top to bottom: any areas that
will repel a wash become visible as
prematurely "dry" patches on the surface.
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These should be treated as described above.
Tiny pinholing usually occurs in paints made
with dark valued, finely divided pigments with
a low pigment to vehicle ratio typically
this includes the phthalos, quinacridones, iron
blue, dioxazine violet and carbon black. These
require extra attention as you paint. Paintsmade with a high pigment to vehicle ratio
(cadmiums and iron oxide pigments) or large
particle size (cobalts) are less affected, butcan still show this problem in diluted solutions.
A partial remedy is to use a stiffer wash brush
and to pull the brush more slowly across the
paper. If pinholes appear while the paint is still
completely wet, go back into the area with the
brush and a little more paint and use a
circular, scrubbing motion to work the paintinto the imperfections. Don't do this if the
paint has partly dried, as you will create
blossoms or backruns. If the pinholes appear
long after the paint has been applied then the
only remedy is a second coat of paint.
But keep in mind: anything that happens while
you paint can be used for expressive effect. If
you can learn to produce pinholing at will
through your choice of paint and paper, you
can use it to produce a glittery visual texturein a dark color area.
Prewetting for Paint Blending. Prewetting
the surface is also a simple method to improve
the evenness of the wash. It obscures
brushmarks and prolongs the wash drying
time, so it is an obvious help for pigments that
dry quickly or have a tendency to streak (the
heavy pigments in particular). Prewetting alsoencourages different colored paints to blend,
which is especially useful in a graded wash,
where extra time is especially valuable and asmooth mixture (between paint and clear
water, or two different colors of paint) is hard
to achieve. Prewetting is also advantageous
when painting around complex edges, as the
longer drying time gives you more time to
paint accurately.
Prewetting is awkward when the painting
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surface must be tilted (that is, for active
pigments), as the wash bead will not form on
the wet surface the brush strokes
immediately start to diffuse down the page.
For these pigments, prewetting and then
applying the paint in a level wash is best.
Also, prewetting gives pigments of very
different textures more time to separate onthe paper. If you mix a wash with a cobalt and
quinacridone pigment, a prewetted application
will give the quinacridone more incentive toseparate and blossom away from the cobalt,
producing more interesting blossoming and
two color effects. Of course, these become
more spectacular when the separate pigments
are very different colors from their mixture
for example, when you apply a violet mixed
from a dark magenta quinacridone and a light
cobalt teal blue.
Whenever possible, I prefer to prewet the
wash area with brush and water, just as if I
were applying the actual wash. I use water
that is very lightly tinted with the wash
solution or a harmonizing color, so that I cansee where the paper is still dry. This
prewetting lets me practice the overall wash
strategy, assess the timing of the wash
application, and recognize any difficulties
created by complex edges. If I stumble into aproblem with the wash application, or discover
that water is evaporating too quickly, or locate
a splotchy patch on the paper surface, I find
this out with an almost invisible tint of water
instead of an irreversible layer of paint. This
prewetting will make the paper more receptive
to the wash layers whether or not you let the
paper dry.
I wet approximately around complex edges,
not actually up against them. It's always
harder to paint a complex edge twice rather
than once, and if I prewet beyond the edge by
mistake, then I must let the area completely
dry before I can apply the paint. So I save the
one time for the actual paint. If the edge area
is dry, but the area near it is moist, then the
prewetting actually helps to wick paint toward
the edge as it dries, making a crisp and
slightly darkened border around the wash
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area.
Some artists use special wash additives in
order to manipulate the drying time or
viscosity of a wash solution. These
preparations require carefully adjusted
concentrations of pigment in the mixture, and
the use ofpaint additives such as ox gall,glycerin, or alcohol. I've also experimented
with adding a little glycerin soap to the wash
solution, to break the water tension.
I urge you to experiment with these additives
to learn their effects. I excluded them from my
own methods on the grounds that I did not
want additional equipment (chemicals) as part
of my wash technique, and because my limited
experiments with these additives did not show
me that they added anything essential.
So: we've divided up the wash into
its separate components and examined each
in turn. Now we can put these back together
in wash practice, using whatever combination
of methods is appropriate to get a specific
result.
Homogenous Wash Techniques. The goal
in a homogenous wash is to create a colored
area with no perceptible variation in the
color, texture or value of the paint. There
are three ways to approach this.
The Level Wash. In this method you lay the
paper perfectly flat to start. Using whatever
brushstrokes are convenient, you cover the
area to be washed with paint to a shiny
wetness. If areas of the wash begin to dry
before you have finished, rewet them with a
moderately wet brush. When the entire washarea is covered to an equal wetness, quickly
and lightly brush over the entire area as
needed to ensure smooth coverage, then wick
off with a brush any puddles of water in the
wash or around the edges. Let sit undisturbed
until dry.
wash strategies
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This wash covers the paper with a good dark
color and slightly uneven texture and that's
the main point of a level wash. Heavy
pigments can be smoothed out nicely with the
brush to create a somewhat random, feathery
texture. Active pigments, such as prussian
blue or ivory black, tend to show subtle
backruns and streaking as well. But all washapplications, brushed out or not, will show
slight variations in surface pattern.
These texture variations largely follow the
patterns in which the wash area was painted:
the last painted areas are the wettest, so they
will backrun into the earlier painted areas,
which have already started to dry. By varying
the amount of wash solution painted down at
the start and finish, and by choosing the start
and finish of the wash and the sequence ofareas painted in between, you can control the
pattern of the backruns without adding more
water. (Painting the wash in one pass, using
the minimum amount of wash liquid, and not
going back to rewet areas that begin to dry
too quickly will increase these randomvariations.) This is a spontaneous approach
that lets the water play a natural role in the
finished effect, with surprisingly lyrical results.
The level wash also interacts strongly with thepaper surface. Papers that are heavily sized
and therefore relatively unabsorbent, or thin
papers or papers that have already been
wetted and have cockled, will cause pooling or
puddles in the wash. These create areas of
darker color and also areas at the center of
expanding backruns. If a large amount of
liquid accumulates in the pools, the dried
pigment can show impressively complex,random variations in pigment color and
density.
The Tilted Wash. This is the commonly
recommended approach. You begin the wash
with the paper tilted to a small angle, and
apply the paint to dry paper from top to
bottom of the wash area. You normally use a
straight or scalloped stroke, and pull the wash
bead downwards as you go. Finish off with
strokes that do not add more paint, so that
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you use up what remains of the wash bead in
the bottom of the wash area. Let sit until dry,
using a moist, thirsty brush to wick off any
excess paint that beads at the bottom edge.
For the majority of watercolor paints, this
method works fine. You can adjust the force of
gravity on the water by changing the tilt of theboard: below a 10% slope there is very little
pull, and above 25% the pull is very strong. As
described above, you use a higher tiltprimarily to inhibit backruns in lighter than
average pigments, or when using a large
brush that applies a large amount of liquid in
one stroke.
The Two Step Wash. This method combines
the two previous approaches and can be very
effective, especially for active and heavypigments.
The paper is laid perfectly level to start, and
the wash area is filled in completely with paint
using a scalloped or crossed brushstroke.
Sufficient wash liquid is used to bring the
paper to a soaked wetness.
Once all brushing is done, tilt the surface up
very slightly (about 5), and use a moist brush
(shaken out, or wicked on a paper towel) todraw off the excess liquid at the bottom. When
the downward flow of paint at this tilt begins
to slow, tilt the paper slightly higher to keep
the water moving. Wick off excess paint as it
forms a bead along the bottom edges.
Continue increasing the tilt and wicking off the
excess until the wash area has stabilized or
the paper is tilted vertically. Let stand
undisturbed to dry, and continue to wicking offany excess that collects along the bottom
edge.
The two step wash is the only method that can
suppress irregularities in very active pigments,
yet can be manipulated to produce subtle or
strong variations in wash texture with heavy
pigments. The surface is extremely even and
consistent, with one exception: a darker band
of concentrated pigment may form along the
bottom edge of the wash area.
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You can suppress this darker band by using
less paint, by tilting the surface more slowly
as it dries (this requires some practice, to
keep backruns from forming!), or by carrying
the bottom edge of the wash entirely off the
painted area, onto the stretching tape or the
paint board. I find it is also possible to lighten
this band by wicking directly from it, ratherthan from the edge of the paper but this is
a little risky, as the wicking can cause
backruns.
three washes of iron (prussian) bluescalloped brushstrokes with level (left), tilted (center)
andtwo step (right) wash technique
The example shows these three techniques
used with the same brush, paper and Daniel
Smith iron blue (prussian blue, PB27) wash
solution. An active pigment, iron blue willbackrun slightly if capillary movement is not
controlled; it also contains visible grains,
which will cause banding in a tilted wash with
straight brushstrokes. Using a scallopedstroke, all the wash techniques get good
results: the level wash technique gives the
richest color with subtle and expressive
variations in paint density, while the two step
method gets a really impressive flatness and a
perfectly random distribution in the darkest,
heaviest particles (note also the dark band at
the bottom).
Graded Wash Techniques. In the graded
wash, the objective is to create a gradient in
the hue or value of the color area. Most
often this means an even transition between a
full strength mixture and a transparent wash(pure water), but it can also be a transition
from one color to another.
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This is the most difficult wash effect to do
correctly, and it verges on the impossible if
you must also manage complex edges or
cutouts as you work. Don't get discouraged,
though: practice will bring you familiarity with
the common problems and how to deal with
them.
One approach is to build the gradient through
two or more wash applications, so that the
imperfections in each wash average out. I findthat this often only invites disaster several
times instead of once; in particular, it is hard
to paint complex edges exactly the same
across all the different washes.
The other approach is to reserve the whites
with tape or resist, and then paint one or more
wash gradients with abandon. Once thewashes have dried, remove the resists, and
you have crisp, perfect edges. To my eye, the
edges created by resists look contrived and
artsy, and resists and tape are a major
addition in equipment and fuss. They also tend
to make the finished paintings appearmechanical.
With experience, you'll also discover design
points that make the finished result more
acceptable. For example, if the wash gradientis exactly parallel with vertical, any deviation
from a perfect gradient shows up with
exasperating clarity. If you tilt the gradient
slightly to one side or the other, for example
in imitation of late afternoon light or a slanted
shadow across a wall, then a missed gradient
is along the diagonal, and appears as part of
the overall textural variations in the painting.
I'll describe three different approaches. Thereis a lot of diversity in the gradient wash
methods explore different combinations ofthese methods to discover what works for you.
Dry Gradient Wash. In this approach, the
paper is dry, and either tilted or laid flat to
start. If tilted, use a moderately steep angle
(15% to 30%) to enhance the blurring of the
gradient across wash strokes. Orient the paper
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so that the dark area of the wash is at the top
and the light (clear) area is at the bottom: the
line of flow of the water down the page must
be parallel with the line of the gradient.
Start at the top with a single straight stroke of
pure wash solution on dry paper, mixed to a
darker color than you need. Now, dip the endof the brush tuft lightly in the rinse water, and
lift it out without stirring or shaking it. When it
has stopped dripping, apply the mixture ofwash solution and water to the paper, again
using a straight stroke back and forth, pulling
the bead of pure wash mixture downwards.
Overlap the strokes more than you normally
would on a straight stroke up to half with
width of the brush. Dip the brush again, but
this time farther up the tuft; apply the second
stroke. On the third dip, shake the brushslightly in the rinse water, lift it out and let
drain, then paint.
Bring more rinse water in successive strokes,
shaking the brush more aggressively each
time you dip, until you're bringing clear water
at the end of the wash. Always use alternating
or back and forth strokes, so that the paint
and water are well mixed as you move down
the page.
You can leave the wash in position, either flat
or tilted, or tilt it upwards from flat position, in
the two step approach. This will enhance the
blurring of the gradient by increased
downward flow of the water. To do this, you
need to manage very cleverly the amount of
liquid on the surface: too much liquid at the
top or sides will flow down the page in uneven
rivulets or curtains, marring the effect. I canonly get this to work by starting flat, then
increasing the tilt as I go (and as the wash
mixture becomes more diluted); this drainsthe water down before puddles can form.
The challenge is getting the successive
mixtures of paint and rinse water in the right
concentrations to make an even gradient from
the darkness you want to the lightness you
want. You are pulling the bead of pure wash
mixture down with each stroke, so you have to
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balance the strength of this mixture by the
amount of water you add with the brush; yet
you can't shift gears quickly to pure water, as
this will create a sharp change in the gradient.
You also have to pace the mixture change
differently, depending on the size of the wash
area. Practice will teach you how to manage
the added water.
When the wash is at a satin or moist
wetness, you can go back up into the washand brush on more wash mixture if the
gradient is not changing fast enough, or to
smooth out visible brushstrokes. If you try this
when the wash is at a shiny wetness, you'll
create a backrun.
You must get the moisture of your brush just
right, neither too wet (it will leave a blossomor backrun in the wash area) nor too dry (it
will soak up paint, leaving a light mark). This
is not hard to adjust: at the right moistness
the brush will leave light, drybrush like marks
that dry immediately on dry test paper. In the
wash, apply the brush very lightly to leavesoft, feathery strokes that resemble the marks
of chalk or pencil. These marks will not
backrun, yet will diffuse just enough to
disappear.
Prewetted Gradient Wash. This proceeds
exactly as for the dry gradient wash, except
that the wash area has been prewetted with
clear water. This eliminates the wash bead, so
that paint diffuses freely down the paper as
you work, and blends the brush strokes more
quickly.
The downward flow of paint makes the
gradient more even down the page, but as adrawback it also makes it easy to run the dark
values too far down the wash area, and doesnot give you a wash bead to work with. As a
result, the flat or two step wash methods work
best for a prewetted gradient wash: the
change from one color to another is adjusted
before water is allowed to move.
Because the paper is already wet, you need to
reduce the amount of liquid you bring to the
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page on each stroke. This somewhat defeats
the purpose of prewetting the page in the first
place, since these less juicy strokes are less
likely to blend evenly. A different kind of
balancing act: and one that judicious brushing
with a moist brush will help to get just right.
Brushed Gradient Wash. This approachthrows pride to the wind and works the wash
downward with explicit brushstrokes, just as if
you were painting in oil or acrylic. Scalloped orcrossed brushstrokes are best, working flat or
tilted, on prewetted paper. This method works
best with heavy pigments.
Starting flat, first use the prewetted method to
get the wash basically in shape top to bottom,
tilting the surface slightly upwards in the two
step method as you work, and finishing with atilt at around 15%. Add extra pure pigment at
the top of the wash if it should be darker, or
wipe away pigment at the bottom if it needs to
be lighter, and finish by wicking up excess
liquid.
Then use a large, completely dry wash or hake
brush to stroke very gently the surface of the
wash to smooth out any irregularities or
blemishes. The surface must have a satin
wetness, and a slow drying time fr