IMPROVISING WITH WATERCOLOUR –
Charles Williams
Materials
Watercolour paper
Watercolour paints
Selection of brushes
Tissue or paper towels
Homemade paint (optional)
Opaque paint (optional)
Find these items at cassart.co.uk
Setting up
Set up your workstation with three different pieces of paper. You are going to work across all of them in this masterclass.
Creating the First Layers
Start by applying some random marks to each of your pieces of paper in turn using different shades. Use loose strokes at this point. You can also use some loo paper to take marks away randomly as well. When you have done all three have a look at the different marks and see if you can turn any marks into an object or scene. You don’t have to commit at this stage.
Top Tip: Embrace the chaos. It’s all about the unknown!
Varying colour
See if applying a contrasting colour to the background helps you to find an image. If you’re not liking the look of it just put it to one side and give yourself some space from it! You can try this towards the beginning or much later on if you start to lose an image.
Developing the Image
If you see an image start to appear on one of your pieces of paper, try adding some dryer pigment using a rougher brush to bring in some broad details. Use a darker colour with very little water and only add a little bit at this stage.
Top Tip: Don’t worry if you can’t see an image on all your pieces. You might decide only to develop one!
Focusing on dark and light
Even when working from your imagination you still need to consider where the (imaginary) light is coming from and where it is falling on your subject. If you see a figure start to appear begin to define areas where you imagine light and shadow would fall.
Top Tip: For lovely earthy tones you could introduce your own homemade paint. When you mix raw pigment and gum Arabic it creates a rich watercolour. Experiment at home!
Refining your image
Don’t get bogged down in detail as it will slow down your ability to see what the shapes might be telling you. Continue to use quite a thick brush throughout to avoid the temptation. Build up the different elements bit by bit, slowly, slowly and continue to give yourself breaks from the piece by working on the other two.
Top tip: When working from your imagination it’s great to leave it a bit undone to maintain the fresh feeling of the image. You can always go back to it another day or use it as inspiration for a larger image.
You could experiment with adding an opaque colour to add a few more details to the final image. This paint is far harder to remove so be careful to use sparingly.
Top Tip: The key is to embrace the improvisational process, allowing the painting to reveal itself organically. Keep exploring, refining, and trusting the medium to guide the creative journey.