Starting To Paint In Watercolors
You do not need a big studio to start watercolour painting. Quite the opposite, you can do a small painting while sitting in your favourite chair. You require very little equipment to begin. A few brushes, some tubes of paint, paper, a pot of water, palette and something to rest on and you’re away.
You have none of the smell with watercolours that you get with oils. There’s no messing around with thinning liquids or white spirit to clean your brushes. Simply dipping the brush in water and wiping it with a cloth is enough to clean it. It is the ideal medium to begin painting with.
I keep all my watercolour painting equipment in a box easel. This shuts up when not in use and is placed neatly away, taking little room. When I want to paint, I simply take it out and open the easel. Within minutes, I’m ready to begin.
It’s not expensive to begin watercolour painting. You can get all you need relatively cheaply. It’s also the most portable of the painting mediums. You can easily pack all you need into a small bag and go do some outdoor painting. You can even carry wallet-sized palettes in your pocket to capture scenes from everyday life.
It is also a very quick medium to use. Paintings don’t take long to dry. You can use a small hair dryer to speed the drying process. Compare this with oils which can take days to dry. There’s little mess with watercolours and any spillages can easily be wiped clean. Apart from the practical aspects of starting watercolour painting, there’s also the wonderful artistic effects that can be achieved with this medium.
Watercolours offer the painter a whole range of techniques to experiment with; Slight variations of tone are achieved easily, and can create beautiful effects. You will still have to take some time to learn the techniques. Learning how to do washes, an essential skill of the watercolour artist ,should be your first lesson.
You can easily practice this sat at a table. Once you’ve applied a few washes and studied how adding more water than paint to your brush produces one effect and adding more paint produces another. You will soon begin to appreciate the beauty of this medium. Happy accidents can be very happy with watercolours; and you can achieve beautiful effects when two colours mix on damp paper.
Effects that you can never repeat. If you were thinking of learning to paint then I would strongly recommend you start with watercolours. Perfecting your art is a lifelong process, but learning the basics is quiet simple. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can produce wonderful paintings.
About the Author
Paul is a freelance author and keen watercolor painter. he is the author of the blog Art Product reviewswhere he has some wonderful videos and great advice. call into Art Product reviewsfor two free art books.
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