Hi it's Anna Mason, and in this video I'd like to give you an overview of the watercolour
method I've used to create all of my realistic and vibrant
looking watercolour paintings. People are often surprised that they're actually watercolours
because they associate watercolour with more watery, pale and fluid styles. But watercolours
can be used in a much more controlled way to achieve realism and really dark colours.
To understand my method let's first go back to basics and think about how watercolours
work. When mixed with even a little water they're
translucent and so when they're applied to white paper we can use the white of the paper
visible through, to create our lightest tones or values in our paintings. In fact it makes
creating these lightest tones easy. But the downside to translucency is that it if you
try to apply a lighter colour on top of a darker one, you will still be able to see
through to the darker colour underneath. Combine this with the fact that watercolours
often can't be wiped off the paper because they stain it and you have the reason why
watercolours are considered tricky to use. If you paint an area darker than you meant
to, you're in trouble. That's especially a problem when you're looking
to achieve realism, because with realism it really matters that you get your subject's
tonal or value range spot on. So if you've tried watercolours before then you may have
even found them stressful. Luckily I've never found them stressful and
I really think that's due to the method I use. I developed it myself and it works to
offset the negative aspects of watercolours' transparency as well as addressing another
complication we experience when we paint. And that complication is the fact that the
way we perceive a tone is dependent on the tones we see around it.
What this means for us when we're painting is that we won't be able to judge whether
we have the greys in our petals the right tone before the darker leaves are painted
too. But we can't get the leaves right until the
petals are as dark as they should be. So, in short, we need to gradually build up
our painting bit by bit, assessing our tones as we go.
To allow for this I begin by working on the lightest tones within a painting, so with
a pale watery mix. This also serves to map out what colours should go where. And if you
do make a mistake at this stage and place paint in the wrong area, you're much more
likely to be able to wipe that paint off with some damp kitchen paper because the paint
isn't very dark. Then I work on the a few key areas of the
darkest tones within the image, to establish the upper and lower limits of a painting's
tonal range - which really helps when it comes to working on the midtones.
Once they're darkened, I can go back to the lightest tones and adjust them, then the dark
tones again and so on - building up layers of paint until everywhere is as dark as it
needs to be. But crucial to working in layers is that your layer underneath must be dry
before you apply the next one. This stops the colours from muddying and bleeding into
one another on the paper and crucially it keeps us completely in control of the marks
we're making. And to keep colours clear and vibrant when
working in layers. we need lots of the white paper to be visible through the layers - so
we need to use watercolour paints that are defined as 'transparent'.
So that's the overview for you. If you've struggled with watercolours before, and you'd
like to achieve more realism in your work, then I'd like to invite you to try painting
this way. It places you firmly in control and allows you to relax into the flow of painting
without the stress, because painting is meant to be fun!
If you've enjoyed this video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and I'd love it if you'd
share this video with your friends. And if you'd like to try the method out right
now, you can take one of my tried and tested video classes for free, at AnnaMasonArt.com
where you'll find even more resources to help you pick up your brush and paint the way you've
always wanted to. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon.