I used to be frustrated by
watercolor. Following the rules drove me crazy! Plan
carefully....Save the whites.....Put your darks in last. Every
time I tried to paint this way, I ended up with a pale, wishy-washy
watercolor. Years of painting with acrylics led to habits that
seemed impossible to change __ using darks first, covering areas
with opaque paint and freely moving things around. Yet, I kept
coming back to watercolor because of its loose, the way it "bleeds"
and granulates, and, of course its wonderful transparency.
My frustration grew until I finally
threw up my hands in despair and decided "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em."
And that's literally what I did. I "joined them" by using both
acrylic and watercolor in the same painting. This has enabled me
to take advantage of the best of both media.
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FREEDOM AND CHANGE
Combining acrylic
and watercolor in
Glacier Patterns allowed me the freedom and
control I needed for the intricate patterns of this
glacier moraine. I initially developed the design
of the ice by leaving the paper blank and building
layers of watercolor around it. As the painting
progressed, I used opaque acrylic tints to expand the
design into areas previously painted with watercolor.
The two media allowed me to have fluidity and
interesting color blends, yet retain control over the
details.
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As I began to experiment
with putting the media together, some interesting things
occurred. I could "save" areas of free flowing watercolor
when the effect was just right, and I could gain infinite
control by using acrylic when careful detail or corrections and
changes were needed. Both could be gorgeously transparent,
allowing me to layer them without concern as to which should
come first. After awhile, I couldn't tell where the
watercolor ended and the acrylic began __ it looked as if the
same paint was used throughout. This discovery solved the
problems I had with using watercolor by itself, and it has
challenged and encouraged me to grow and continue experimenting.
SEPARATE BUT EQUAL
A highlight of the
acrylic/watercolor combination is that the strength of
each compensates for the other's weakness. For instance,
the values of both media change as they dry. Opaque
acrylic dries darker, while transparent watercolor dries
lighter. When I first began using watercolor, I would work
happily on a wet painting only to discover that when it dried,
it was very pale and had little value contrast. When
trying acrylic on paper, my values would dry much darker than I
planned. I would paint layers and layers of opaque paint
to lighten them, but would end up with stiff edges.
Together, however, the media created the balance of value that I
was after.
Although the media look the same on
paper, they handle differently, so there are some important facts to
remember about how each needs to be treated. First, use different
brushes for watercolor and acrylic, and keep them separated.
Watercolor requires good sable brushes that are flexible, well-made, and
often expensive. Sable brushes will keep their shape when cleaned
and cared for and will last many years. But, acrylic will destroy
a good sable brush in a day, so use inexpensive, synthetic brushes, and
don't be concerned when they are ruined.
Second, use separate palettes for
acrylic and watercolor. For acrylic, disposable paper palettes
work fine (be sure you buy those made for acrylic; the ones for oils
will bubble and buckle). For watercolor, I use a re-sealable
plastic palette with compartments for paint and a large area in the
center for mixing. You can keep acrylic paint moist on the palette
by spraying frequently with water. You'll find that acrylic paint
will dry into hard gobs on the palette by the end of the day and can't
be used again. When watercolor paint dries hard, however, you can
continue to use it indefinitely by spraying with water.
Third, although the media end up
looking similar, remember that watercolor and acrylic react differently
on rag paper. Watercolor is forgiving in its drying time __ it
allows you to float pigment onto a wet surface, and later float more
pigment there or dilute with water. Dry watercolor can can be
re-wet to lighten values or even remove paint entirely from an area.
Acrylic, on the other hand,
just sits right where you put it. It dries almost
instantly, and it is almost impossible to add water to float the
pigment or lighten an area. Even when working on wet
paper, acrylic almost always leave an instant edge. For
this reason, most watercolorists give up on acrylic. But
one way to prevent acrylic from being absorbed into the paper
too quickly is to start with a watercolor underpainting.
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STEP ONE:
Watercolor Washes
The first step is drawing the image lightly in
pencil and loosely applying watercolor to establish
a mid-value base of color. This is a chance to
get in the middle of things and play. I saved
the white of the paper for the largest areas of the
white in the clouds, but on the whole, I used strong
color and worked boldly since I knew I could tone it
down with acrylic if necessary.
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STEP TWO:
Switch to Acrylics
With watercolor, I loosely brushed in the design and
pattern of the fireweed in the bottom third of the
painting. Next, I established the pattern of
light and shadow on the distant mountains. To
give the mountains weight and darker values, I
glazed over them with acrylic washes. I also
gave the valley two light, gray-brown acrylic washes
and began developing the negative space behind the
foreground fireweed.
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STEP THREE:
Focus Attention
Since the focal point of the painting is the middle
valley, I created strong value contrasts with small
acrylic dots. Then, I emphasized the sunlight on the
distant green hill by darkening the surrounding
mountains, and added opaque lights as highlights.
I then went back to watercolor washes to gently
darken the values in the valley.
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STEP FOUR:
Add Gel and Detail
I coated the entire painting with a layer of
transparent gel medium to eliminate the absorbency
of the paper. This allowed me to create fine
detail and hard edges, to enhance the dark values,
and to intensify colors. This is especially
important in the dark negative space between the
leaves and stems and around the edges of the
flowers. At this point, the leaves are still
defined by the first watercolor wash.
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STEP FIVE:
Accent the Highs and Lows
The gel surface
allows for the maximum opacity of the acrylic.
On the surface, I create the lightest lights and
the darkest darks. Here, I darkened the values
of the foreground fireweed and leaves with
short, overlapping strokes of different colors
of acrylic. I unhesitatingly use many colors -
as long as they're the right value, they'll
blend into the rest of the work. To finish
Denali Valley, I added opaque pink and
yellow to the clouds, darkened the blue of the
sky, and washed some darks into the lower haze
above the mountains.
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WATERCOLOR FIRST
For the watercolor underpainting,
the colors on my palette are pretty basic __ warm and cool reds, blues
and yellows, a couple of greens and violets and maybe a new color to
experiment with. I don't get fancy with this because watercolor is just
a base to work from, like a foundation to a house.
With the image penciled lightly on
paper, I apply watercolor loosely to establish the middle values and a
base of color. As step one of "Denali Valley" shows I saved the white
of the paper for the largest light areas in the clouds, but I didn't
worry too much about saving them because I knew I could go over them
later with opaque acrylic. In the underpainting, be bold, use strong
color, work wet-in-wet and maximize the "happy accident" qualities of
watercolor. This is a chance to get in the middle of things and "play."
Next, I set up a palette of
acrylics. Through the years, I've used many brands of acrylic and now
have quite an assortment of sizes and colors. I find Utrecht acrylic
in tubes and jars superior to others in the consistency of the paint and
intensity of the hues (and no other brand can beat the price). Since a
greater part of the painting's development occurs in acrylic, this
palette is wider than that for watercolor. I employ titanium white,
cadmium yellow light and medium, yellow ochre, cadmium red light,
naphthol crimson, acra violet (Liquitex), burnt sienna, burnt umber,
thalo blue, and ultramarine blue. I've always mixed my own acrylic
greens.
Acrylic seems to have a much wider
range of tints and shades than transparent watercolor. A full range of
values can be created by diluting the paint to different degrees with
water, and numerous color variations can be mixed by adding white and
using the paint opaquely or transparently. Since the paint looks much
darker on the paper than it does on the palette, I develop the middle
values using short, broken strokes.
The versatility of acrylic
allows me to develop the painting in two basic ways: I can use
them in transparent layers to gradually build and deepen form,
or I can lighten highlights with opaque acrylic. In "Denali
Valley" I took the first approach, using glazes of both
transparent and opaque acrylic to deepen the values and add form
to the watercolor underpainting. But in "Rhubarb" I used
acrylic primarily for adding highlights. In fact, most of the
sunny spots on the leaves were achieved with layers of opaque
acrylic. The background was changed from a transparent
watercolor wash of dark blue to the warm opaque peach and pink
by painting opaque acrylic over top of the blue. Yet, some of
the original watercolor underpainting still shows through __ you
can see some of its soft bleeds of green and blue in the leaves.
With either method of
working, I make sure that I don't get "hung up" in one area. If
I complete one small area at a time rather than developing the
entire surface to the same level, I tend to lose the painting.
So I gradually adjust all of the values and model the forms,
using whatever painting techniques necessary. I may use
transparent watercolor washes, opaque highlights, stippling,
spattering or direct painting __ any technique that enhances
what I established in the watercolor washes. I boldly use many
colors because I've learned that there's really no right color
__ only the right value. If your values are correct, it won't
matter what color you use.
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ACRYLICS FOR STRENGTH
While watching
for caribou in Alaska, I saw the filmy clouds
lift to reveal the dazzling white peaks of Mount
Drum. To capture this, I applied watercolor
wet-into-wet, leaving the white of the paper for
the filmy clouds. To give the mountain strength
and dominance, I overpainted the watercolor base
with opaque mixtures of white acrylic. This
enhanced the snow patterns and gave
Mt. Drum:North Face a brilliant, strong
source of light.
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WHEN IT ALL GELS
When I'm ready to use smaller
brushes and get down to detail, I coat the entire painting with a layer
of transparent acrylic gel medium. I thin the gel to a milky
consistency with water and apply it in liberal strokes. The painting
will be obscured with this white medium, but it dries within minutes and
becomes completely transparent. The gel eliminates the absorbency of
the paper and enables the development of fine detail and hard edges, and
it enhances the dark values and intensifies the hues. It also allows
for the maximum opacity and value range of the acrylic. Painting on its
slick, smooth surface is a delight for me.
Once the gel medium has been a
applied, I never use watercolor again. When I've placed all details in
acrylic, the painting is finished. Sometimes, I coat the finished
painting with another layer of either matte or gloss gel medium. Matte
medium leaves a dull finish while gloss medium leaves a shiny surface.
If the painting is predominantly dark, I avoid gloss medium because the
subtle values are often obscured in the shiny surface reflection.
Yet another bonus of this
combination is that the paintings are qualified as watercolor
and are eligible for watercolor exhibitions and awards. It
seems that the opportunities for watercolor shows and contests
are endless, so this has opened a new world for me. And I think
that testing the possibilities of this combination of media can
be the start of something new and rewarding for you too.
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RETRIEVING THE LIGHTS
Rhubarb
was the painting that inspired me to combine
watercolor and acrylic. I had planned to
do it all in watercolor until I was muddling
along in the middle and realized I needed more
light in areas I had made quite dark. So I
turned to acrylic to bring back the highlights I
had lost. I also used the opacity of
acrylics to change the background from dark blue
to warm peach and pink. The introduction
of acrylics allowed me to show the bright,
glowing pattern of light among the rich darks of
the shadows.
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