When creating a watercolour painting the hope for all artists is to create a wow factor, an impressive element that the viewer is drawn to. This could be accomplished with the type of subject matter used or the overall size of the painting. Maybe it’s the technique and texture used in the painting that can stop you in your tracks to stare longer. Perspective, design and composition, they can also be used with dynamic results to enhance your painting.
My favourite way of creating a wow factor is with colour. Bright, bold, clean colour that just shines off the watercolour paper. There are many factors that play into achieving sparkling colour. The most important are the paints you choose to use. Professional grade watercolour paints are a must. They are chock-o-block full of pigment with very little additives. Pigment is the actual colour of the paint. Student grade paint has comparatively less pigment but more fillers in each tube, so you do pay for what you get.
As I have stated before on my home page, I use a limited palette: a red, a blue, a yellow and mix my secondary colours; oranges, purples and greens from them. You won’t get any muddy colours working this way. When the colours are shared and mixed with each other you get instant harmony in your painting. It’s amazing all the different colours and values you can get from just 3 primary colours. Try it, it’s fun! Create a demo sample sheet of all the colors you made and email me a photo of what you were able to accomplish. My favourite 3 or triad of primary colours are; permanent rose, aureolin yellow and cobalt blue. They are all transparent colours and work so well together. There are tons of other colours of watercolour paints and they come in transparent staining and non staining colours and opaque colours. With all that said watercolour paper plays a huge factor too. We can get into that in another blog. I hope you are inspired to get painting yourself or maybe you will analyze the paintings you see with more of an educated eye. Thank you for visiting my website. Be well!