Basic Watercolor Techniques: Wet on Dry

Watercolor, one of my favorite mediums to use, and that's after trying so many others.

If I do say so myself, I’m also quite knowledgeable about the medium. But after reading the book, Basic Watercolor Techniques by Grey Albert and Rachel Wolf, I realized how ignorant I was on even the most basic techniques. For example, the four most common and basic techniques are; Wet in Wet, Wet on Dry, Drybrush, and Dry on Wet. I knew none of them, or perhaps I didn’t know the name of each technique. Though after trying each one, I was quite confident I could handle the Wet on Dry quite well, which according to Albert and Wolf, it is “Often referred to as the direct method, and is done just the way it sounds: a wet brush full of color is applied to dry paper” (Albert and Wolf 19). 

 The colors I used to start out was: Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, and Burnt Sienna. I started out with Ultramarine Blue first and lightly spread it out on the paper, and then I quickly slathered on Burnt Sienna, which was then followed up by Prussian Blue. I repeated the process until it semi-resembled what was found in the book. 

In the picture, I'm spreading out the Ultramarine Blue, while the other colors are slowly blending together.

After, trying out the Wet on Dry technique, I knew I had to experiment with the other techniques that I found difficult, to help develop my painting skills. Wet on Dry is quite easy to handle with and the safest of all ways to paint (Albert and Wolf 19), and the one I preferred to use since it was easy to manipulate and fun to explore with. Though, Albert and Wolf would beg to differ, to them the Wet on Dry technique, is quite boring and it lacks the excitement of others (Albert and Wolf 19).

The final result was that of mixed hues and something that could be found in a painting as the background or scenery.

So, I used Wet on Dry, which has plenty of uses. What techniques out of the four (Wet in Wet, Wet on Dry, Drybrush, Dry on Wet) do you prefer to use?

Albert, Greg, and Rachel Wolf. Basic Watercolor Techniques. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light Books, 1991. Print.