Got your paints and your brushes? Let’s do this. Here is what we will need to get started:
- Watercolor Paper
- Watercolor Paint
- Masking Tape
- Pallet
- Brushes
- Bowl of Water
- Paper Towels
The first thing we need to do is stretch the paper. Place your paper on your work surface. Use the masking tape to tape off the edges. Next, use a wide brush and wet the entire paper. Let dry. For this example in the video, I am doing a wash or another way to say this is a wet-on-wet technique. This means wet paper and wet paint. I am making a watermelon so I have two types of green and a magenta on my pallet.
To start a wash, wet the paper with your brush. Add water to the paint and make it very watery. While the paper is wet paint your area with the color. The color will bleed, but this is what we want. Next, using a large brush, sweep across the paper covering the entire area. In the example, I blend the two greens and I gradually go from light to dark with the magenta. To remove paint, dry off the brush and touch the brush to paper. Once the wash is complete, let it dry. You did it! Easy right?!
I wanted to use this watermelon wash in my bullet journal. (There is a method to my madness.) As I demonstrate, I cut the watercolor paper to size for the bullet journal. I tape it in place. Then I adhere my Vellum calendar that I colored on top. Finally, I trimmed out the edges with black glitter washi tape. I finished the facing page by inking the design and use colored pencils to fill in the watermelon and sun motif. There you have it, a mini watercolor lesson, a finished paper to use in a bullet journal and we made something unique and beautiful.
Next time, we will go over the other techniques: wet-on-dry, dry-on-dry, and dry-on-wet. We will also use liquid masking, a very useful tool to keep your white areas white.
Please leave any questions you might have, share your paintings, or comments below.
Artfully yours,
Andi
Artful-Living 