Learning the basic techniques of watercolour is fundamental for beginners
I have spent the last two years dabbling with the medium and still stubbornly referring to myself as a “hobbyist-beginner”. I spent the weekend attending my very first watercolour class.
This is what i learned.
Everybody knows how to bake a standard cake. But there is a real art to baking a delicious, fluffy and light sponge cake.
Even, though i have baked many cakes in my life. Only when i learned to cream the butter and crack the eggs by separating the whites from the yellow did i really master the sponge cake.
And that same analogy can be used with watercolour art.
I’ve painted a few watercolours over the last two years. Some pretty good and some not so good.
But i have never mastered the basic techniques of:
- wet on wet — which allows you to create smooth gradient washes (without any harsh lines)
- wet on dry — which allows you to create texture or build up details.
- Pulling out highlights — when the paint is wet on the paper, you can dab at it to create highlights, perfect for clouds.
- Salt technique- this was possibly the most fun! experimenting with salt and water. the results were unpredictable but so worth the unexpected blooms i achieved.
We then got a chance to combine our newly mastered skills with our own loose field of poppies and an abstract floral composition.
Its not as perfect as the beautiful florals our instructor, Shafeeqa Effendi, creates. But with a little patience and a little practice i am sure we can all improve our skills from novice to artist.
I’d definitely suggest trying out a watercolour workshop in your area, especially as today is the first day of #worldwatercolourmonth
All the best and happy painting!