Happy Easter everyone! It's Sandy Allnock, and I'm happy to bring you another technique---a toughie!
This technique has many names - graduated wash, graded wash, gradient wash - all the same thing. It's hard to do! I watched a whole lot of videos to see which of so many techniques I thought would be easiest for folks to learn...I picked two, and showed you how to "fix" imperfections a little, too.
LINK: Watch in HD on our YouTube Channel HERE.
Tips with a base of water:
- Wet the surface of the paper with clean water before painting. Make sure there are no pools of water collecting.
- Begin to drop color at the top, wetting the brush slightly more with each pass.
Tips without water underneath:
- Create a pool of the darkest shade first, with enough consistent pigment to pool.
- Add a little water to the brush and paint a second area below the first. Join them.
- Continue to add water in successive strips of color until reaching the end.
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
Thanks so much for popping by - see you next week!
