About Watercoloring
Watercoloring is an art form that is hard to match with other media. It is versatile in a way that most paints are never considered. Watercolors humbly enter the human experience as cakes of paint in a child's art set and can become fine works of art in the hands of a master. This range of flexibility is due to the paint's ingredients ease of usage.
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History
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Watercoloring is historically one of the earliest human media. It was most popular for illustrating early manuscripts in ancient Egypt and during the Middle Ages. During explorations of the new World, explorers would have the lands painted by a watercolor artist. These watercolors would then be mass produced as collector's items among the wealthy.
Today, watercolor is a well-respected medium that is used for painting a wide variety of subjects.
Significance
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Watercolor is made primarily of water and pigment. Binders and additives are also added to the paint to enhance its viscosity, shelf life and adherence to paper and color. Most watercolor artists use paper instead of canvas as their painting foundation. Watercolor paper comes in many weights and textures to accommodate different painting techniques. Thicker weights of paper are chosen so that the paper can accommodate many layers of paint without becoming damaged by the water in the paint.
Benefits
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Because watercolor is made of water, it is water soluble. Other media, such as oil paints, need to be mixed with oils or mineral spirits to get a looser consistency. Watercolor does not. Another benefit of watercoloring is that the paint dries quickly. The artist does not have to wait long before adding layers of paint.
Considerations
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Watercolor artists enjoy this medium because it has a fluidity that cannot be matched by other paints. The artist can drip the paint, add salts for texture or use household items to manipulate it in interesting ways. For example, it is common when watercoloring to use a toothbrush to add texture to a painting. The artist will dip the toothbrush into paint, aim it at the painting and run his thumb along the bristles to make the paint splatter onto the subject. This technique is often used when painting sand or rocks.
Potential
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Because watercolors can become so thin, the paint can be layered in what is called washes. Washes allows previous layers of paint to show through. This adds weight and light to the subjects in the painting that cannot be accomplished with one layer of paint.
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- Photo Credit Alina Bradford
