Painting Tips
OK........now let's get down to some painting tips to get you
started and that will hopefully help make for a fun and enjoyable painting
experience:
 Mix more paint than what you think you'll need.
It can be a true pain causing unnecessary frustration if not enough is mixed
when you need it and it can cause a painting to be ruined by an area drying out
before you can get more paint to it.
For
large washes, have your color mixes ready before you start to paint.
Porcelain
or ceramic surfaces make for a fantastic palette for mixing watercolors. No
staining and very little beading of paint/water, if any. And it's easy
cleaning. You can find expensive porcelain palettes right down to individual 2"
round shallow dishes from most major art suppliers. But you are not limited to
purchasing specialized dishes for painting. Go to a yard sale and see what you
can find. Any shallow porcelain or ceramic dish will work just fine.
Allow
your pigments to mix on paper rather than on the palette. OK to mingle or
slightly mix multiple colors on the palette but allowing your pigments to mix or
blend together on paper results in some beautiful variations you can't get when
mixed on palette.
Don't
fiddle or mess about too much when mixing ....... regardless of where you decide
to mix more than one color together (paper or palette). You will undoubtedly
end up with mud or a lifeless color.
Paint
oodles of doodles (or cameos as I call them). They can be relaxing AND fun.
Keep
a scrap piece of paper handy (same type and brand as you're actually going to
paint on) to test your pigment wetness, value, color, etc. This will save you a
few unnecessary boo boos on your actual painting surface.
To
keep your paint from going wild or causing a back-run / blossom when painting
wet in wet, make sure the pigment/water on your brush is a bit dryer than what's
on paper. Dab your brush onto a tissue, if necessary, to get rid of excess
moisture.
Collect
simple objects like coffee stirring sticks and cut-up credit cards. Objects
like this are great for bruising and scraping techniques. You don't have to run
out and buy anything special. I do find a double ended stylus to be a big plus
in my collection of tools. I can achieve super fine lines as in leaf and petal
veins using the stylus.
Water
pot - any container will work but as a suggestion, save your plastic Folgers
coffee can. The larger holds a lot of water saving trips for clean water and
has that molded handle for easy grip. Or keep two of the smaller cans.......one
for clean water and one for cleaning your brush. Keep their lids to cover when
not painting to keep your family cat from thinking it's feline kool-aid.
Please Note: If you have cats, I highly recommend you also cover your
palette or paint dishes. I made the mistake of not doing so and had cat paw
prints all over my desk and laptop where she was trying to get at my water.
Thank goodness I didn't have my prized painting-in-progress out to be walked
across.
Get
to know your tools. Play with your brushes to see what they can do......what
different type marks each are capable of making holding it in various ways.
Play with various collected items like your cut up credit cards and sticks.
These are just two examples.
Study
your pigments when mixing to learn how they behave in water and with other
pigments. Some pigments go through a chemical reaction when put together. One
such example is Light Red and French Ultramarine Blue.
Know
your pigment characteristics. Are they staining or do they lift off the paper
easily. Do they granulate (some pigments have natural minerals that separate
while drying giving you a granulated appearance.) Take note if transparent or
opaque.
Make
and maintain color charts. This can be fun with the proper attitude and
definitely a great resource to have on hand. This includes pigment charts,
value charts, and color wheel charts.
Get
a feel for paint consistencies trying out different amounts of water. Learning
to properly use various consistencies at any given time comes with practice,
trial and error.
Although
you can mix any green with blues and yellows, Sap Green is a nice base color for
all your work. You can add yellows and blues to this color as well.
Keep
notes so you can fall back on them to help in remembering what you did with a
particular work session or painting passage you really liked. Keep notes of
where you feel you went wrong and possible reasons.
Sponge-on-Stick.
This is something I came up with tearing household sponges into small pieces and
using Loew Cornell's SpongIt Sticks to attach it to. I tore off both foam tips
on a double ended SpongIt stick and attached a piece of household sponge to one
end. I used a small knife to make a hole or score into a "wet" sponge. Using
my nails, I picked and pulled off tiny bits of sponge to give it some
texturing.
By cutting into a wet sponge, the stick appears to hold the sponge in place
better. You can always wrap fishing line or wire to hold the sponge in place if
you find it moves around or slips off. Not sure I'd recommend gluing it in
place as the glue might not hold up to repeated wetting.
The other end provides a scraping tool - two tools in one.
Keep checking back occasionally as I hope to
continue adding tips that might be of interest.
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