Watercolors for Beginners

"WaterColors"

In making a good watercolor painting, you want a basic but good quality sketch pad, basic paints, some different size brushes, small containers for water, paper towels, and a good spot to paint.

Find a subject. Watercolor painting is all about the object including shape, size, shadow, background, foreground, and sometimes a border. Once you have your subject, albeit, flowers, tree, house, person, boat or whatever else, begin by outlining. Before stroking paint onto the paper, you want to wash the paper with a thin film of water, and let it mostly dry again. I suggest starting with the dominant colors, using a dab of water before dipping into the paint. Smooth strokes for straight lines, and short dabs for dots and short lines. You must stop and allow drying before painting back up to what you just painted. Later you can use a damp brush over those areas where you want to blend colors.

No one can start out as a master water color painter, but begin at the level you are comfortable and don't be afraid to try new mediums and methods. You will certainly improve if you stay with it. I was inspired when I saw a movie star painted a dab and a dribble at a time and finished a painting that looked very primitive to me, but it was priced at $30,000.00. Yes, probably a messy looking mouse painted on a piece of white paper could be worth 5 grand if its connected to someone important. SO, let me set this into perspective with the idea that no one knows you are even an artist until you begin painting. A writer can expand his talents simply by painting illustrations for his own writing. You don't have to become a paid artist right away, and certainly doing it for fun and enjoyment goes a long way. Some people have used their gift of painting to ride out a storm in their lives, or to simply pass the time while recuperating from some illness. Others use their drawings and painting within their career to supplement and illustrate their inventions, designs, and while making rough drafts for projects that someone else may have to turn into a computer program, or into an advertisement, or whatever else you could imagine.

While your watercolors are drying, you can review and change your color palette for the next operation. You will be amazed at how soon your painting takes shape and turns into something you can proudly display. An Idea I had was to take snapshots of my painting, and display them on a website, or like i mentioned as an illustration to my written article, hub or story, along with my initials, copyright symbol and a disclaimer of "do not copy". These are my personal art works, whether they are simply a photo I took, or a painting of mine that I photoed after painting. Its wise to keep the original in your possession, dated, and it becomes your artistic "portfolio".

Oscarlites, M.O. Jones

January 29, 2017