This watercolour sketch is an exercise in layering colour painted on khadi paper and inspired by Hazel Soan’s book The Essence Of Watercolour. When layering watercolours you have to let one layer dry completely before adding the next (unless you’re going for a wet in wet effect). This takes PATIENCE… ! I’ve found that patience is one of the hardest things to learn with watercolour painting – just letting certain areas of a painting dry completely without touching or fiddling. Hazel Soan is so right when she says in her book (link above) that much of a watercolourist’s life is spent watching paint dry… !
My landscape above is monochromatic but the colour was mixed in the palette first. The colours I mixed together for my landscape were: Prussian Blue, Indigo and Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue – all by Daniel Smith. I’m going to practice layering much more and start experimenting with different colours to develop an idea of how they work together…
Evelyn, watercolors bring about so many surprises, this painting does show your patience. Beautifully done.
Thank you Sharon – yes, I love how watercolour always does such beautiful and sometimes unexpected things…
Patience is hard but you managed. I like the dreamy effect.
Thank you Sandy…
Beautifully serene painting. You are so right with regard to patience. I wrecked an illustration yesterday by layering on a skin tone before the previous layer was adequately dry.
Thank you Laura – patience is hard isn’t it! I’ve ruined paintings too by not waiting long enough before adding more paint…
great job – so much harder than it looks!
Thank you Jodi – it’s all about having the patience to let one layer dry completely before adding another. I need to learn this lesson… !
Too much water and pigment running to the edges is something I viewed as undesirable…. not now!
Thank you Emma – I love the water runs and the back-runs too, they’re part of what make watercolour so beautiful and unique…
Lovely effect. Have you used a watercolour pencil to create the lines or was the line created with a brush?
Thank you Graham – I didn’t use watercolour pencil to create the line, it’s just how the paint dried on the paper. The colour I mixed did have a fair amount of water added to it, so that probably helped to create the line…
Even before I read the text, my first thought was “wonderful layers”. I often let things dry overnight, because the colors also look different when they are dry. I do several at a time, so I’m not just waiting–patience is not my strong suit either. (K)
Thank you Kerfe – I love the effect of layers of watercolour. Starting something else whilst one painting is drying is a great idea – it helps to prevent fiddling with the first one before it’s dry… !
It definitely helps.
lovely transparent layers x
Thank you Sunnyfae…