Watercolor painting belongs to what is referred to as the water media. This kind of art media refers to any paintings that use water as a solvent painting.
For those interested to try out this painting art, there are basic information that one must have a grasp of.
One must have basic knowledge about paints, brushes, papers, brush control and basic techniques.
But for now, the urgent things to know are paints and brushes which would be outlined here.
The Paints. A set of paints usually comprises of colorants, binder, additives, and solvent paints.
The colorants are usually un-organic or organic compounds mixed with water soluble substances that produce the pigments. In order to hold or bind these pigments in a form of a suspension that would fix into the surface, the binder is needed.
Also, the paint may be too dark or too sticky that a solvent paint may be applied to dilute the paint for easy application and hasten drying which in watercolor painting is usually water.
Then to change the durability or gluey to a desired mixture, the additives provide the solution.
The Brushes. There are three main parts of the brush which consists of the hairs or synthetic fibers bundled together called the tuft, the metal bundle that holds the tuft which provides shape, support and protection between the wood handle and the tuft, called the ferrule, and the handle.
In choosing the right brush for watercolor painting, take note of the softness and the density of the brush. It is suggested to use soft brushes with denser tufts because these paints are typically less thick and less gluey than oils or acrylic paints.
Likewise, the best watercolor paint brushes are those which are made from animal hairs of squirrels, mongoose and are sable.
Brushes made from hairs of our animals such as pigs or horses may be used but only for coarse watercolor art works. Nonetheless, technology has allowed many artists to make use of synthetic brushes made of nylon to hold water in the same way as animal brushes do with more strength, texture, durability and affordability.
There are also different forms of brushes such as the rounds, the fans, the flats, the filbert, the mops and the rigger. For general purposes, the rounds are the best picks since these produce as many shapes and lines both narrow and thin.
The flats are best for making wash effects but do make sure you choose those with perfect straight edges.
The fans are basically sort of flat brushes with the fan shape which are best for making textures like irregular lines. The filberts are hybrid of the rounds and the flats which are used for shaped strokes. The mops are excellent for wash and wet painting since these can hold much paint.
The Paper or Surface. The paper has many attributes and among a few are the color, the furnish, the finish, the size, the permanence and the weight. The furnish of the paper generally refers to the content or the material make-up of the paper.
The most common of course are made of cellulose taken from plants such as cotton and those from wood pulp extractions which can be machined extracted or handmade.
The finish of the papers is usually grouped into hot pressed, cold pressed and rough. Cold pressed papers are those dried with the use of absorbent blankets made of felt and have great versatility. The hot pressed papers are those which originally were processed through the cold pressed process but passed to calendaring or heating to give it a un absorbent quality which allows the paint to remain as bright and was colorful in the surface of the paper.
The rough papers are lofting dried papers which are generally of wove texture which make those best for textured paintings with watercolor. The colors of paper are pure white to be yellowish.
Watercolor painting would be great by learning how to make use of the right paint, the right brush and the right paper for a particular watercolor work.
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