About Watercolors

  Watercolors are spontaneous, loose and exciting mediums of painting.  This is the perfect style of painting to use big brushes and quick brush strokes. Most of my paintings can be completed in less than one hour and many times less than 30 minutes. I encourage my workshop students to complete paintings in the same time it takes the watercolor paper to dry (usually within 15 minutes). After five more minutes adding details with a liner brush your painting is completed and ready to mount and exhibit. Most people taking up painting as a hobby do not have hours or days to design and complete a watercolor painting. So this method of watercolor painting is perfect for the busy ever day working artist wanting to complete a painting in his/her spare time.

       Watercolor paintings will look their best when you follow these simple guidelines:

 1.  Always do a value sketch of your intended painting to ensure the design looks good before you start painting.

 2.  Transfer your sketch to your watercolor paper and wet both sides completely.

 3.  Now while the painting is drying apply your paint with fresh brilliant paint that has not been watered down to much. Watercolor paintings will dry much lighter than when you first apply the paint. Apply the watercolor paint darker than you want it to dry. 25 to 30% darker. Each time you scoop up more paint make sure it is pure color and mix it with another color to grey it down some. Mixing your colors on the brush or on the paper is always produces better results than mixing them in your pallet.

 4.  Use symbols for painting objects like trees, houses, rocks, etc. Never try to copy what your looking at in nature. Watercolor paintings are not supposed to look like real live photos. To get the maximum luminosity, color flow and value intensity, paint your symbols with long, quick brush strokes. Don's keep going back in to the area once you've applied watercolor paint. Give the watercolor and paper time to do their magic. As the paper dries the colors will merge into a spontaneous watercolor painting that looks loose and free. Not restricting and labored.

Join international watercolor artists Roy Fuller for a watercolor workshop in the United States and Costa Rica. Roy offers 1, 3 and 5 day watercolor workshops covering the basics of design, color, techniques and artist website optimization techniques for higher search engine rankings.

                                               Roy Fuller Watercolor Workshops

                                                                Next Watercolor Workshop