Watercolor can be described of as water added with color or pigments. The use of water added with pigments goes back to the caveman. There is no exact date of when the caveman starts to use watercolor but it was sure very long ago before us. These Primitive men used pigments mixed with water to create cave paintings by applying the paint with fingers, sticks, and bones. After that, the ancient Egyptians used water-based paints to decorate the walls of temples and tombs and created some of the first works on paper, made of papyrus.
Who is a watercolor artist you like?
I like Van Gogh's watercolor painting, the Langlois Bridge at Arles. So my preferred artist is Van Gogh. His skills in outlining and adding details with the water and the bridge. His skills in making the clouds with his techniques and many more.
The techniques for watercolor and your strengths and weaknesses with this media.
In class, we learned around 14 techniques.
1. Flat wash
2. Wet on Wet
3. Graded wash
4. Wax resist
5. Dry brush
6. 3 colors graded
7. Sgraffito
8. Dabbing with tissue
9. Wet on dry
10. Straw
11. Salt
12. Spattering
13. Alcohol
14. Stamping
My worst one will be the alcohol because I cannot make the paint spread out from the alcohol but it will mix together leaving a little alcohol line but not good enough to be seen without paying very close attention.
My favorite technique is the graded wash because the change in value is very appealing and looks very good in my perspective and I think that I have done a good job.
Interesting facts/trivia/info about watercolor
wWater color is not hard to make. You can make your own watercolor by 1. A pile of pure ground pigment on a glass palette. 2. Add gum arabic. 3. Add water. 4. Mix with a spatula. Adding a few drops of rubbing alcohol helps the pigments disperse. 5. The result resembles watercolor from tubes. 6. The resulting watercolor paint applied to watercolor paper using a paintbrush.
