Watercolor Painting for Dummies (26 page)
Read Watercolor Painting for Dummies Online
Authors: Colette Pitcher
Tags: #Art, #Techniques, #Watercolor Painting, #General
So where do white and black fit into the color wheel? Surprise! They aren’t considered colors. White is the
reflection
of all color, and black is the
absorption
of all colors. Black and white also help to get tints and shading into your colors, so they’re extremely important even though they aren’t colors per se.
Now that you have the physics of creating colors down, what do you do when you want black and white in your painting? You can buy tubes of black and white paint, but in transparent watercolor painting, you traditionally include white by using the white of the watercolor paper. The best way to achieve white is by carefully painting around the area you want to remain white. Because you must “save” the whites, you need to plan paintings by sketching where white will go. Another way to save white is to use masking fluid. (Chapter 7 talks about planning your painting; Chapter 4 tells you how to use masking fluid and talks more about keeping white in your paintings.)
Of course, you can buy white paint, but it can produce a chalky, dull look that isn’t as nice as the beauty of a glowing transparent watercolor paint. Some watercolor snobs frown on the use of white paint, and some watercolor exhibitions even prohibit its use. But white paint is available, and if it looks good, go ahead and use it.
White looks white because of the darks surrounding it. Sometimes an area that looks white has a lot of color painted in it.
You may think you can use a tube of black paint, but be careful. Black straight out of the tube can be lifeless and look like you punched a hole in your paper. You’re much better off mixing your black from other dark colors. My favorite black formulas include:
Ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for a blue-gray. Add some violet for a transparent blue-gray.
Violet and Payne’s gray for a purpley-gray.
Hookers green and alizarin crimson make a green-black.
To get solid, dark black, you may want to build up the color by layering the paint, allowing the layer to dry before applying the next layer. It’s difficult to get dark blacks on white paper on the first try. Just like painting a room, sometimes you need a second or third coat.
You can also add white or black paint to another color. When you add white, the new color becomes a
tint
of the original color. That’s how red becomes pink, for example. When you add black, you make a
shade
of the original color. That’s how you get maroon from red.
Make a chart of tints and shades. You can use Figure 5-2 as a guide.
1.
Using watercolor paper, grab your pencil and draw a 4-x-1-inch rectangle for each color exploration.
2.
Choose a color and place it in the middle of the rectangle. Rinse your brush.
A flat 1/2-inch brush makes painting these rectangles easy because of its shape.
3.
Paint black on one short end, rinse your brush, and then paint white on the other.
4.
Blend a
gradation
(a slow, smooth transition) from black to the color and from white to the color.
Rinse your brush between colors.
You must blend the colors while they’re still wet. If they dry, you may be able to blend them by rewetting the area with clean water and rubbing with a stiff brush like a bristle brush. Even wetness is the key to blending colors. If you get a dry area while another area is wet, let it all dry. When it’s dry everywhere, rewet evenly and try to blend again. Uneven wetness is dangerous territory. When in doubt, dry it out!
Try to leave some of the center color pure without black or white. Practice making the transitions smooth. (For more blending instructions, review Chapter 3.) When you’re finished, you should have a chart showing the color in a range of tints and shades with the true color in the middle.
You can also paint the color and gradually add water until the color fades to just the white of the paper. Compare the tint you create using white paint and the pigment diluted with water.
5.
Label your color name in pencil, and repeat the exercise with other colors.
Try as many colors as you want to explore. Tint red with white to achieve lovely pink colors. Shade blue with black for the colors of a night sky. Tint and shade all the colors to see what other discoveries you can make. Label the color names you use.
Figure 5-2:
Example of cadmium red tinted and shaded.
Transparent watercolor is what appeals to me. It “glows” from the light that bounces through the paint and is reflected back to the viewer.
You can also buy opaque watercolor called
gouache,
which is pigment with Chinese white added.
Some watercolor pigments can be opaque too. Cadmiums, for example, can be opaque. More water added makes every paint transparent. Both types of watercolor make beautiful results. Each is just a matter of style.
