MASTERCLASS
11 ADD IN THE FINAL DETAILSFinally I paint a little detail onto the dry stalks
of the aubergine and chilli and add the calyx
to the lemon with a sword brush. At no point
am I using dry paint; as long as you are
painting onto a dry surface, your paint and
water will be contained within the painted
(wet) area. I want to create contrast in colour,
tone, size and mark, and these final details
add a sharper drawn quality to the area.10 DEFINE THE IMAGEThe chilli has now dried with some of its folds
and highlights ’drawn’ by those additions of
water earlier on. I use Alizarin Crimson to find
the shadows and define its shape a little
more, keeping the shadow shapes pretty
crisp, but still using the paint very wet and
dropping more water in where needed.9 BLOT AS YOU GOThe yellow starts to flood into the aubergine
and a little corrective action with a piece of
kitchen towel mops up the unwanted yellow
paint. I then drop water into the lemon to
keep the purple ‘pushed back’. Because of
its mobile nature, watercolour is going to be
unpredictable and throw up unwanted effects
from time to time, which is when kitchen
towel can prove useful.Top tip
TESTING PAINTS ON
SCRAPS OF PAPER
WILL HELP YOU SEE
HOW PIGMENTS
INTERACTArtists & Illustrators 5148 Masterclass.indd 51 10/05/2016 16:03