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| Explosive Colour - Watercolour |
As a Watercolorist, you are continually dealing with it when painting: too wet, too dry, too damp, not wet enough, not dry enough. You know what I mean.
So along comes a Blow Dryer. . . .
It seems like the answer. NOW you are the Boss. You can take control. Actually, not so much. Sure you can speed up the drying process so you can keep going BUT at what expense!!
I do a lot of Plein Air work and Outdoor Sketching so actually getting paint to dry isn't a problem there. The wind or sun is happy to dry it up quickly. Some times toooo quickly. But in the studio it is a problem. There is no sun or breeze to help you along.
So what is the problem with the Blow Dryer? ? ? . . .
Let me explain with some Visuals as to what is happening with the 3 most common techniques I use.
(I would like to give credit to Liz Steele and her post Lane Cove Tree Chopped Down and Thinking about Watercolour. She is analytic about painting techniques like me. She has inspired me to create a visual for what is happening in my painting process to better understand when to use or not use a blow dryer.)
The Blended Edge
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| The Blended Edge - the sharp edge of blue outlining the leave needs to fade off into the leaf below |
This is used in the foliage of Explosive Colour to create the leaves in the background. This is done by putting down paint (in the painting it is blue) to draw a leaf. The one side of the painted line is sharp to create the leave but the other side needs to be soft and fade off like a lost edge into the background colour.
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| The Blended Edge: running a wet brush along the edge of slightly damp pigment |
For the blended edge the painted line must be nearly dry (barely damp), then a brush with clear water is brushed along the edge. Some of the water will seep into the pigment edge and draw it out. Sometimes a a second brush of water along the first is done. It helps to draw the water and that bit of pigment further away from the thicker dried pigment. Thus creating that soft, disappearing edge. Drying the pigment before it moves would prevent this from happening.
It does take practice to do the Blended Edge., If there is too much water or the existing pigment is too wet then everything runs into the pigment and a bloom appears. Painting this picture gave me LOTS of practice with this technique!!
Glazing
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| Glazing - painting another colour over an existing colour so the underlying colour shows through |
This is a very common practice in my work. It allows you to add depth to your colours and to change them. In my flower you can see underlying colours showing through my petals and you can see how some of the petals were darken with subtle colour changes.
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| Glazing - The wet paint is brushed over the dry paint, creating its own layer |
When you look at the pigment story with the water, it is easy to understand what is happening and why things can go wrong if the glazing colour is dried quickly.
The first step is to make sure the bottom layer is dry. (a good place to use the blow dryer) The second step is to brush a wet brush with a little pigment on it over the surface. Then let the pigment settle over the surface. (best to let it do it things than dry it quickly) Often glazing requires many layers to bring about the subtle changes that you want.
A SIDE NOTE: When looking at the visual you can see why it is so important to not overwork the area when you do a glazing layer. (technical term is Fiddle with It) Overworking the glazing area cause the water and pigment to mix with the layer below. Not a good thing.
Mixing Colours on Paper
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| Mixing Watercolour on Paper |
''Mixing watercolour on paper can take many forms: dropping wet into wet; dropping wet into damp; and adding wet to the side of damp pigment are the most common. These are all techniques I use a lot. When you think in terms of the tiny little pigments and their dance in the water, the drying process become crucial. Pigments are not all the same weight so some will drop quickly to the paper and settle in between the tooth while others will float about and settle more slowly. This will certainly affect the resulting colour. The wetness and dryness of each pigment also plays a part.
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| Mixing colours on paper: placing wet paint beside a slightly damp pigment |
In the example above I have diagramed the situation of placing a wet colour beside a slightly damp colour. This is something I do often when plein air painting my leaves on a tree. I place one colour down, (For example a dark green) then when it is nearly dry I put a bit of yellow beside it. The edge of the green mixes with the edge of the yellow giving me a lighter yellow green but still leaving me with a yellow area on the leaves and a dark green area. 3 different colours and values with 2 brush strokes. Definitely speeds up the process when Plein Air painting. A blast with the blow dryer would certainly not help this process.
So yes there are times to use a dryer on you work. Making sure your undercoat is dry before glazing is crucial. However, even then you need to wait a bit until the pigments have completed their little dance and settled into the tooth of the paper before using the dryer. But for most other techniques you need to let things dry naturally so that water and pigments can mix and play and settle.
Myself, I seldom use a blow dryer. I move to another area of the painting and work there until things dry; stand back and study things (always a good move); quit for lunch; or work on something else. In the end, using a blow dryer or not is your call. It is all about the effect you are looking for.
Thanks again to Liz Steele for inspiring this blog.
Further Reading:
3 Ways to Mix you Watercolours on Paper - posts includes a video with more explanation and a reference picture to paint along with.
Outdoor Sketching Classes - On Now!!
Outdoor Sketching Classes are 2.5 hr sessions and located in parks in North Surrey and North Langley. Beginners to Advanced are Welcome. Mediums supported: watercolour, pen, pencil, watercolour pencils and coloured pencils. You can sign up to as many sessions as you like. Class Size: Max 3. $50 per session.
Class Dates:
June 9 & 16: 10-12:30pm
July 7 & 28: 10-12:30pm
Aug 4 & 25: 10-12:30pm
Sept 1: 10-12:30pm
You are welcome to contact me for help in organizing your supplies for an Outing.
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