Watercolour

Liz

Sketches Help to Simplify your Paintings

Watercolor works well when you apply a minimum of brushstrokes and not too many layers of paint. Try not to overwork watercolours, If you mix too many pigments you can end up with murky looking colors. Watercolor is a transparent medium and works well with a minimum of fuss.

Sketching helps you learn to use a minimum of gestures and gain confidence with your brushwork.

Treat your painting a bit like taking snapshots or notes.

When you look at a subject try to reduce it to its basic elements. For example, an apple isn’t an apple, but rather a mixture of shapes of different color and value. If you can dissect your subjects this way your mind will stop naming objects and go a long way to creating attractive compositions.

Try these tips:

Use minimal shapes and lines.
Simplify a subject to its basic parts. You can tighten up a painting later by adding more detail if you want.
Keep materials simple and colours fluid. Leave highlighted areas white to begin with or use masking fluid
Reduce things to big shapes, colors and values (lights and darks). The details are less important than you think.
Ask yourself “what’s the focal point”? Try to capture the essence of the subject. What was it that attracted you to the subject in the first place. That’s probably what you want to try and express.