Paint a Watercolor Wash

Watercolor paintings were discovered in cave paintings of Paleolithic Europe, and have been used to illustrate ancient manuscripts. Painting with watercolors may be easy to do, however, watercolors are not a forgiving medium. You may want to learn watercolor wash techniques, such as flat, graded and blended washes, when painting with watercolors.

Steps

1. Stretch your watercolor paper. When painting watercolor washes, you need to prepare the paper.
   • Soak a sheet of watercolor paper in cold water for 2 minutes.
   • Remove the paper from the water and place it on a flat drawing board. Smooth the paper out with a sponge. Watercolor wash techniques won't work if the paper is too wet.
   • Tape the paper around all the edges firmly to the board, and let it dry.
2. Select a large watercolor brush that holds plenty of paint and covers a large area. When painting watercolor washes, you need to cover the entire paper.
3. Choose the background color you want and put a large amount on your palette. To paint with watercolors, you'll need to add enough water to obtain your desired hue.
4. Draw a large square lightly on the paper with a pencil. This may help you learn control with watercolor wash techniques.
5. Dampen your paper by dipping your brush in water and lightly sweeping it across the paper.
6. Dunk your brush in the watercolor paint you prepared. When painting watercolor washes, start at the top of the page with a broad, horizontal stroke to the other side. Practice keeping the brushstrokes even and within the square.
7. Load your brush with more paint and then move down the paper, 1 brush line at a time. When you paint with watercolors, you may overlap the previous stroke. When you reach the bottom, let the paper dry.

Graded Wash

1. Dip your brush in the prepared paint. The graded wash is a watercolor wash technique that produces a background with varying monotone hues.
2. Apply the paint with 1 brush stroke across the top of the square. Continue going down until you fill the entire square.
3. Add water to each brush stroke to lighten the color, or put in more pigment to darken the hue. To paint with watercolors, you need to learn how to create different contrasts with 1 color.

Blended Wash

1. Wet the entire paper by dipping your brush in water and lightly stroking it across the page.
2. Select the colors you desire for a blended wash. With watercolor wash techniques, you could try red and orange to depict a sunset.
3. Immerse your brush in one color, and then drag it back and forth across the paper. Add a new color without cleaning your brush. This will create a soft transition between the hues when painting watercolor washes.
4. Spread different amounts of pigment and water to the wet paper to create a pattern or design.
5. Finished.

Tips

• When you paint with watercolors, try using different types of brushes to make various textures.
• Experiment with an assortment of watercolor papers to create different tones and textures.

Things You'll Need

• Watercolor paper
• Water
• Flat drawing board
• Sponge
• Tape
• Watercolor brushes
• Watercolor paints
• Watercolor palette
• Pencil

Related Articles

• Paint With Watercolors as a Novice
• Paint a Picture With Both Crayon and Watercolor
• Put Together Equipment for Watercolour Painting
• Acrylic Paint

Sources and Citations

• http://www.watercolorpainting.com/watercolor-tutorials.htm
• http://www.watercolorpaintingandprojects.com/techniques/wash.html
• http://www.watercolorpainting.com/watercolorpainting/flatwash.htm

See also

• Paint Fine Art Miniatures in Watercolor
• Paint a Hummingbird in Watercolor
• Do a Watercolor of a Beach with Sailboats
• Paint With Gouache
• Use Watercolor Pencils
• Approach Watercolor Painting As a Beginner
• Paint With Watercolors as a Novice
• Paint With Watercolors
• Acrylic Paint
• Choose Artists' Watercolor Paper

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• Paint With Watercolors
• Paint With Watercolors as a Novice