What is Watercolor Painting?

Painting is a form of fine art enjoyed worldwide. It can be created using many mediums like oil paint, acrylic, watercolors, poster colors, etc. Watercolor paintings are one of the most common styles of painting, with good reason.

For beginner painters, watercolor paints are often one of the best mediums. Watercolors are fun, comparatively cheaper than some other mediums, and easier to prepare and work with. Watercolor is also one of the oldest forms of painting. Historians have found that the cave paintings created in the Stone Age Paleolithic period featured ochre and charcoal mixed with water and paints on walls.  

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits and techniques of painting with watercolor paints. Read on to learn more.

What Is the Purpose of Watercolor?

Because it is quicker and cheaper to use, many artists use watercolors as a base or demo version of their actual project. It is sort of a blueprint of the existing project. Watercolors are also the medium of choice for many established fine artists because of the unique textures and qualities they produce. There is a wide range of possibilities when creating a watercolor painting.

Is Watercolor Good for Beginners?

Watercolors are, as their name indicates, water-based and safe paints to work with. Therefore they can be a popular paint medium to teach children or beginners who are interested in painting and drawing. 

Many kindergartens and schools show students how to use watercolor paints first as a means to develop their painting skills. Watercolor is a versatile medium that allows a variety of artwork to be created. 

How Do I Get Good at Watercolor?

Although watercolor paints are easy to work with, the watercolor medium is hard to master at a high level. It requires excellent technique and years of learning to produce a wow-worthy watercolor painting. Watercolor paintings are usually landscapes, portraits, or still life. 

Fundamental Techniques of Watercolor Painting

Watercolor consists of paint pigments mixed with binders (water-soluble) that are usually naturally occurring. These include gum, glucose, glycerine, etc. While working with watercolors, it is essential to know that watercolors are not as opaque as acrylic or other mediums. Therefore watercolor paintings are prone to transparency as they reflect the paper whiteness through them.  

Artists can use different techniques to bring out different textures in a painting, like wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques. Many artists also leave out the white areas of the image untouched to pop the white color of the paper. 

Working With Water

To create beautiful paintings with watercolor paints, it is essential to learn how much water one should use to get the desired pigmentation and opacity through trial and error. As the watercolor paint dries, it gets more transparent. 

Watercolor Paper

Watercolor artworks are usually created on paper. Therefore, paper quality, texture, and thickness are also critical when it comes to watercolor painting. Too much water in your paints when painting on light paper could lead the paper to tear.

Pigments and Gouache

Artists usually add an opaque pigment to watercolors like lead white or body colors, also known as gouache. This method allows artists to create works with less transparency and greater color intensity. 

Watercolor is a fascinating art medium. It is prevalent among artists who use this medium to paint landscapes. When watercolor first emerged, artists used to carry the medium around to draw live paintings of landscapes. It was easier for artists to carry watercolors than to carry heavy oil paints that require oil solvents and additional tools.

Watercolor is a versatile paint medium. It’s great for learning and developing other artistic skills. It’s also non-toxic, making it a popular and safe medium for children’s use.

Watercolor paintings are a great way to express one’s artistic mind. It is not very costly and provides a beautiful finish overall. The critical point is to learn what works for one’s painting idea and to choose the right paper because, in watercolor paintings, paper quality plays an important role. To learn more about how to store watercolor paintings, visit our blog for tips and tricks to keep paintings pristine. 

It can be said that watercolor painting is the most stunning art form of all. All it takes is to hold the brush, know what is in mind and pour it onto the paper. This way, anyone can formulate art worth preserving.

Famous Watercolor Paintings 

Although watercolor paints are popular with beginners, they have also been used to create some of the world’s most famous artworks. Famous watercolor paintings include ‘Föhn im Marc’schen Garten’ by Paul Klee, ‘Sunrise’ by Georgia O’Keeffe, ‘Stonehenge’ by John Constable, ‘Peach Tree in Blossom’ by Vincent van Gogh, ‘Liegender Weiblicher Akttorso’ by Egon Schiele, and many other notable works.

If you’re looking to add watercolor paintings or other original artworks to your collection, you can explore the range of fine artworks online and in our Eden Gallery locations.