5 Great Tips for Painting with Watercolors

Last updated 3 months ago

Subtle, fluid, and beautiful, watercolors are a popular art medium for countless great artists. If you’re just starting out, these tips can be an enormous help.

1. Choosing your paper

Since watercolors require a lot more water than other kinds of paint, warping is always a possibility. In order to avoid warping and other undesirable effects, your paper thickness should be over 260 lbs. The three papers that we stock are 90lb, 140lb (most common) and 300lb

Also remember the following:

Machine-made watercolor papers come in three surfaces: rough, hot-pressed or HP, and cold-pressed (or NOT).
Rough watercolor paper has a prominent tooth, or textured surface. This creates a grainy effect as pools of water collect in the indentations in the paper.
Hot-pressed watercolor paper has a fine-grained, smooth surface, with almost no tooth. Paint dries very quickly on it. This makes it ideal for large, even washes of color.
Cold-pressed watercolor paper has a slightly textured surface, somewhere in between rough and hot-pressed paper. It's the paper used most often by watercolor artists.
Watercolor paper differs from manufacturer to manufacturer, so experiment not only with the different kinds of paper but also with various brands of paper.
The thickness of watercolor paper is indicated by its weight, measured either in grams per square metre (gsm) or pounds per ream (lb).
The standard machine weights are 190 gsm (90 lb), 300 gsm (140 lb), 356 gsm (260 lb), and 638 gsm (300 lb). Paper less than 356 gsm (260 lb) should stretched before use, otherwise it's likely to warp.

2. Get the Right Brushes

In order to do everything that you want to do with your watercolor project, you’ll need to get quality brushes of all sizes, including large ones for broad stokes, small ones for minute details, and medium brushes for everything in between.

3. Sketch Your Design

Unlike pencil, watercolors cannot be easily erased once you commit them to paper. In order to make the most of your watercolor project, you may want to lightly sketch out your design before you paint.

4. Be Wary of Bleeding

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of using watercolors is when two watery colors can run together upon meeting. To minimize this effect, you should wait until one of the colors completely dries before you use the other.

5. Remember Less Is More

If you’re new to watercolors, your first instinct will likely be to work with enormous globs of paint in order to get rich, dark colors. However, watercolors are meant to be light, so you’re better off starting out with a little and working your way up from there.

If you’re looking for great watercolor supplies, come by Merion Art & Repro. Whether you need paints, brushes, palettes, paper, or anything else art-related, you’ll find it all here. Call us today at (610) 896-6161 to learn more about our art supplies.