Thursday 19 November 2015

Exploring the wet-on-wet technique

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

As part of our homework for a watercolour workshop I did a few years ago, this is a wet-on-wet practice in which I have also tried to explore all the other important points to consider when painting, like composition, tonal value, light source, etc.

Here I haven't done any sketching beforehand, but I did do quite a bit of planning in my mind about the trees and the foliage and as the colours started flowing on the wet paper, it slowly started taking shape. Just a couple of dark values and using the existing highlights and the water scene with overhanging foliage emerged. That is why watercolours and the wet-on-wet technique is so exciting - you're never quite sure of the outcome and some control is completely lost to the colours forming their own picture.
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Using wet-on-wet for casting the shadows in the water

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