Leisure Painter — June 2017

anything else you can think of in order to

find out what you like doing best. Is it

when you drop colours randomly onto

wet paper, and the water and pigment are

on the move, when you glaze one colour

over another, or when you add fine

details? Only then will you have a starting

point for how to work with this exciting

medium, but you have to discover this for

yourself.

Different surfaces

When painting in oils you can choose

from a canvas of varied weight, a timber

surface or a smooth board. A

watercolourist has an unlimited variety of

paper, canvas or even a perfectly smooth

plastic to use as their painting surface.

Because the water is a lively medium, it

reacts differently on each surface. On

plastic, the paint runs everywhere. On

paper, the surface varies so much from

smooth to Rough that how the paint

behaves depends on the brand, weight

and texture. You will love some surfaces,

while others you will hate. The smooth

Hot-Pressed papers – my favourite surface

• show granulation, the cleanest colour,
  edge nuances and the finest detail. Rough
  and handmade papers can be so textured
  that objects may look completely
  abstracted. Other papers are already tinted
  in green, blue or cream and even white
  paper varies from pristine white to cream.
  You could spend a lifetime trying all the
  different kinds of papers available. The
  huge variety is a joy for me, because I can
  keep surprising myself by changing brand
  and texture of surface and thus keep

http://www.painters-online.co.uk JUNE 2017 29

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I’m Not Lost!, watercolour on Hot-Pressed paper, 11x15in. (28x38cm). The

Hot-Pressed surface (smooth) is one of my favourite surfaces, because it shows

the slightest granulation of pigment, a unique characteristic of the

watercolour medium.

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Storm Passing, watercolour on Rough paper, 15x22in. (38x56cm). This example

shows how the rough surface allows the brush to move and create broken edges,

which enhance the feeling of the energy of the day and add to the mood. I could

not achieve edges like this on a Hot-Pressed surface. Notice the different hues in

the grey as the blues and burnt sienna mix on the paper.

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