The Basics & Common Problems

1 Day 1 - Brush Techniques & Washes The Basics & Common Problems by Dawn Woleslagle Wet-on-Dry Watercolor 1. Load a brush with a color of your choice. 2. Paint directly on a dry panel of watercolor paper or over another watercolor that has already dried. Wet-on-Wet Watercolor (Paper) 1. Load a brush with clean, clear water. 2. Paint the water on a dry panel of watercolor paper to wet it. 3. Load a brush with a color of your choice. 4. Touch the base of your brush to a paper towel to wick away excess water. 5. Paint directly on the wet watercolor paper. Wet-on-Wet Watercolor (Watercolor Charge) 1. Load a brush with a color of your choice. 2. Paint directly on a dry panel of watercolor paper. 3. Load a brush with a second color, taking care to have the same amount of water in the mix as in Step 1. This is key. Wick away excess water with a paper towel, if needed. 4. Paint directly on the dry panel of watercolor paper, overlapping the still wet watercolor from Step 2 to create a blend/third color. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 1

2 Softening a Wet-on-Dry Edge 1. Load a brush with clean, clear water, and wick away the excess water with a paper towel. 2. Starting away from the hard edge you want to soften, paint the clean water up to the hard edge. Make sure to use less water as you approach the pigment s edge; otherwise, the water will force its way into the pigment and create blooms or run-backs. 3. Brush the water over the hard edge, and the pigment will begin to spread into the water-painted area. Supplies: Tips & Tricks to Note When watercolors have the same water-to-pigment ratio, they will blend seamlessly. Remember: Damp is the danger zone in watercolors! Wet paint will always overpower damp paint and create blooms or halos. Controlling your water is the key to creating beautiful watercolors intentionally instead of by happy accident. The pigment will only go where the water will allow it. Remove excess water from your brush by touching the base of your brush to a paper towel. This will wick away the water while leaving the pigment loaded on your brush. Wet-on-wet techniques produce soft edges, while wet-on-dry produces hard edges. It s all about the look you re going for! M Graham & Co Alizarin Crimson Tube Watercolor (DB) M Graham & Co Ultramarine Blue Tube Watercolor (DB) Da Vinci Harbin Kolinsky Size 10 Round Brush (DB) Grumbacher Goldenedge Synthetic Stable 1" Wash Brush (DB) Arches Cold Pressed 140 lb Watercolor Paper (SSS EH) Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 2

3 Pear Notecard by Dawn Woleslagle Card size: 4" x 52" Instructions 1. Score a strip of watercolor paper to create a 4" x 52" top-folding card. Do not fold at this time. Mask off the back of the card, just above the score line. 2. Using a pear die and a t-ruler, measure the size of the die. Using the t-ruler and a pencil, beginning 2" from the top and side of the card, mark where a row of pears should be placed, making each row large enough to accommodate the pear die plus a little white space. 3. Draw full lines across the card, connecting the marks you ve made, to create rows. 4. In each row, trace the pear die multiple times, alternating whether the pear is right side up or upside down. Note: Don t worry about the leaf and stem. You ll be freehand painting those in. 5. Inside the first pear, trace a line of clean, clear water using a round brush. Keep the water inside the pencil line; if you paint over the pencil line, it can be nearly impossible to erase. 6. Load the brush with your lightest color (yellow shown here), and dab the color into the pear shape. Dab a bit less of a darker color (green shown here) in around the first color. Drop in just a dab of a third shade around the edges (red shown here). Tilt your paper to spread the color in whichever direction you want the paper to run. 7. Mix a brown shade by blending your green and red shades. Load the color onto your brush, and draw a thin line at the top of the pear. Drop in a small dab of red on the pear, just below the stem. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 3

4 Supplies: WPlus9 Pears Dies (SSS EH) Grumbacher Goldenedge Synthetic Brush Size 8 (DB) Darice 10 Well Round Paint Palette (SSS EH) T Ruler (SSS EH ) Ranger Bone Folder (SSS) 3M Scotch.75 Inch Blue Painter s Tape (SSS EH) Other: watercolors, pencil, Westcott eraser 8. Mix a yellow-green shade by blending your green and yellow shades. Load the color onto your brush and create a simple leaf, barely touching the stem at the base. 9. Repeat Steps 5 8 to watercolor each pear shape on the notecard, varying the amount of each color on each pear to create diversity. 10. Allow the notecard to dry completely. Remove the mask from the back of the card, and erase your pencil lines. Fold the notecard to finish. Tips & Tricks to Note Once the paper loses its sheen, stop working the paper is getting dry. Allow your project to dry completely, then wet it again, and drop in additional color. Rub the tip of your eraser onto your work surface to clean off any remaining graphite before touching the eraser to your project. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 4

5 Washes & Brush Strokes by Dawn Woleslagle Graduated Background Wash 1. Set a moveable surface at an incline (30 degrees shown), and lay your watercolor paper panel on the surface. Gravity will help the color move. 2. Load a wide, flat brush with the color of your choice. Paint a solid, horizontal line on your panel. 3. Dip your brush in water, and remove the excess water by running the brush over the rim of your container. Paint a solid, horizontal line on your panel, directly below and slightly overlapping the first line. This creates a place for the initial color to go and starts the graduated effect. 4. Repeat Step 3 an additional three times, making sure to remove the excess water each time. You want the same amount of water going down onto the paper with each line. Variegated Background Wash 1. Set a moveable surface at an incline (30 degrees shown), and lay your watercolor paper panel on the surface. Gravity will help the color move. 2. Load a wide, flat brush with the color of your choice. Paint a solid, horizontal line on your panel. 3. Dip your brush in water, and remove the excess water by running the brush over the rim of your container. Paint a solid, horizontal line on your panel, directly below and slightly overlapping the first line. This creates a place for the initial color to go and starts the graduated effect. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 5

6 4. Ensuring that you have the same amount of water on your brush as in Step 2, pick up a second color. Paint a solid, horizontal line on your panel, directly over the line created in Step 3. 5. Repeat Step 3 to create a water line below the second color. Glazed Background Wash 1. This technique results in a three-color graduated wash, with two colors blending in the middle. 2. Create a graduated background wash, following the instructions for that technique. Allow the background to dry completely. 3. Flip the watercolor panel. 4. Create a second graduated background wash in another color, directly over the first wash, with the fading travelling in the opposite direction. Layering Color with Soft Edges 1. Lay down the color of your choice, and allow the color to dry completely. 2. Add a second color to create shading or variation. 3. Use clean, clear water and the tip of your brush to lay down a thin line of water and pull the second color into the water to soften the edges. Simple Round Brush Leaf 1. Select a round brush. 2. Load the brush with color. 3. Press the brush to the paper, drag it down, and lift up. The natural shape of the brush will create a leaf shape. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 6

7 Simple Round Brush Circle 1. Select a round brush. 2. Load the brush with color. 3. Press the brush to the paper, and twirl it. The more you splay the bristles of the brush, the bigger the circle it creates. Simple Flat Brush Lines 1. Select a flat brush. 2. Load the brush with color. 3. Keeping the brush relatively upright, lightly drag the chiseled tip of the brush across your paper. Create thicker lines by pressing the brush into the paper to use the side of the brush in addition to the tip. Use variations on this technique to create patterns and shapes. Simple Flat Brush Texture 1. Select a flat brush. 2. Load the brush with color. 3. Angle the brush on its side and tap it on your paper, moving across the paper as you tap to create textured, uneven lines. Supplies: Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin Round Brush Size 14 (DB) Grumbacher Goldenedge Synthetic Stable 1" Wash Brush (DB) Grumbacher Goldenedge Synthetic Stable 2" Wash Brush (DB) Da Vinci Harbin Kolinsky Size 5 Round Brush (DB) Ranger Artist Brushes (SSS EH ) Other: watercolor paint, watercolor paper Tips & Tricks to Note Background washes (graduated or variegated) are easier using a wet-on-wet technique; however, if you start by learning a wet-on-dry method, then it makes the wet-on-wet version even easier! (But, if you re having trouble, wet your paper, then start). Use a modified graduated wash technique any time you want to layer one color over another with soft edges. Clean, clear water will work magic. Use the natural shape of your brushes to create shapes. Use the tips of round brushes to create thin lines and the flat edge to create bold strokes. Just press, drag, and lift to create a line of varying widths. (Coincidentally these lines look like leaves!) Make as few brushstrokes as possible in order to create cleanly colored lines let the water do the work whenever possible and match the size of your brush to your project to help reduce brushstrokes. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 7

8 Bonjour by Dawn Woleslagle Card size: 4" x 52" Instructions 1. Score a strip of watercolor paper to create a 4" x 52" top-folding card. Do not fold at this time. Mask off the back of the card, just above the score line. 2. Using a ruler and pencil, draw a diagonal line across the center of the card (bottom left corner to upper right corner). Slide the ruler down one ruler width, and draw another line. Continue until you have reached the bottom right corner. Draw additional lines from the center diagonal line up to the upper left corner, following the same ruler width distance. 3. Turn the card, and repeat Step 2, drawing lines in the opposite direction to create a diamond pattern. 4. Using a clean eraser, lightly erase your pencil lines to create a barely visible grid to follow. 5. Using a small, flat brush, mix two different watercolors on your palette (red and yellow shown here). Blend the colors together in two different ratios to create two blended shades on your palette (red-orange and yelloworange shown here). 6. Load your brush with your first blended shade. Paint inside the bottom edge of one diamond by pulling the brush toward you diagonally along one line, and then pulling the color up along the opposite diagonal to create a v. 7. Load your brush with the second blended shade. Paint a smaller v directly above the first. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 8

9 8. Load your brush with the second blended shade. Paint a small diamond above the second v by pulling your brush straight down at an angle. The natural shape of the brush will create the diamond for you. 9. Repeat Steps 6 8 to paint all the diamonds on the card, varying the water-to-pigment ratio to create different intensities of the blended shades and create an interesting background. Tap off the tip of your brush to remove pigment and create lighter shades, if desired. 10. Allow the watercolors to dry completely. Remove the mask from the back of the card, and erase your pencil lines. Fold the card. 11. Stamp a greeting in pink ink on White cardstock ( Bonjour shown here), and die cut with a corresponding die. 12. Tear a piece of White vellum. Create a nest of pink thread. Apply foam adhesive to the back of the greeting die cut, and secure the thread and the die cut to the vellum. 13. Adhere the completed greeting stack to the card. Supplies: Wplus9 Greetings and Salutations Stamps (SSS EH) Wplus9 Greetings and Salutations Dies (SSS EH) Darice 10 Well Round Paint Palette (SSS EH) Ranger Artist Brushes (SSS EH ) Arches Hot Pressed 140 lb Watercolor Paper (SSS EH) 3M Scotch.75 Inch Blue Painters Tape (SSS EH) Other: pencil, eraser, watercolor paints, vellum, pink thread Tips & Tricks to Note To help prevent trapped pencil lines under your watercolors, go over any designs you ve drawn with an eraser before starting to watercolor. This way, the lines are visible enough that you can follow them, but won t be glaringly obvious if you accidentally paint over them. Have two glasses of water at hand when you watercolor: one for rinsing, one for picking up clean water. By varying your water-to-pigment ratio, two shades of watercolor can be used to create an eye-catching background pattern. The more variation in color you can achieve, the more interesting your background will be. Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 9

10 Day 1 Notes: Copyright 2016 Online Card Classes, LLC. All rights reserved. DAY 1 - PAGE 10