Hello friends! It's Sandy Allnock here with another in our watercolor series!!
Today I wanted to explore basic flat washes. While they look easy - they can be difficult! After lots of practice, I'm sharing a few of my tips with you in the video below.
LINK: Watch in HD on our YouTube Channel HERE.
Tips:
- Mix enough paint for the entire wash to an even consistency (pigment vs water ratio), and load the brush evenly so it doesn’t carry extra water.
- Try to use as large a brush (flat, mop, or round brush) as is comfortable for the size of the wash. This can help limit making more strokes than necessary.For really large washes, a flat or mop brush works great - but for many of our cards, a #8 will be more than adequate.
- Start in one corner and keep leading edges wet while working. Otherwise they'll dry out before you finish!
Pinnable reference guide
I recommend starting yourself a pin board with tips you find all over the web on watercolor techniques - I'll be sharing lots of them here, but there are already so many out there too! Each week I'll provide a new graphic to add to your collection for quick reference!
Make your own swatches of the techniques along with me! You can store them any way you want - on a ring like I've shown below, or in a pocket page with 2x2 swatches. Or heck, make them whatever size you want! I've stamped an image on mine rather than just doing a square - because I find I get more real-world practice by doing more than a shape. Use these tip labels for the back and attach them onto the back of your swatches: Download Watercolor Swatch Labels NOTE: Labels that fit this template will arrive at the Ellen Hutson store this coming week; we'll have a link for you next week if you'd like to wait to print them out!
Thanks so much for joining me - see you next week!
