by Wendon Blake
By the way, don’t use acrylic gesso for corrections. Although I’ve recommended gesso to paint out a complete picture, so you can start over again, the white tube color goes on more smoothly and is more opaque when you paint out a limited area.
6.
Wet-in-Wet Technique
Of all watercolor techniques, perhaps the most fascinating is wet-in-wet painting. However, wet-in-wet effects are also the hardest of all to control—which may account for the fascination of this method.
The simplest way to define this technique—sometimes called the wet paper method—is that it means applying wet paint on a surface which is already wet. You can sponge or brush clear water over your painting surface, then attack the wet surface with a brushload of color. Or you can cover the painting surface with a wash of color into which you brush still more color.
You can wet down just part of the paper, like a patch of sky or a body of water, and limit the wet-in-wet approach to just this area. On the other hand, some watercolorists soak the entire sheet in a bathtub of clear water, or sponge the entire sheet and paint the entire picture wet-in-wet.
What makes the wet method so difficult is that a brushload of color, applied to a sopping wet surface, generally runs off in some unpredictable direction. On a dry surface, a brushstroke lies more or less where you put it. Up to a point, you can control the flow of paint by tilting the drawing board this way and that way, by pushing the paint around with your brush, by sponging out areas that get out of control, and by blasting the wet surface with a hot air dryer (the kind women use to dry their hair) to accelerate drying when you’ve got the paint where you want it. But the wet paper method is like a wild horse you’ve never quite tamed. Just when you think you’ve got him under control, he throws you from the saddle and races off. The fascination of this method is the perpetual, unrelieved battle between you and the medium.
One of the great knacks to develop when you practice wet-in-wet painting is to spot—and take advantage of—the accidents that always happen along the way. As the paint runs away with itself, it often does miraculous things you could never make it do if you tried. Unexpected colors, tones, and textures appear out of nowhere, and you must know when to leave these alone, when to accentuate them, and sometimes when to build a picture around them.
Wet-in-Wet Painting with Acrylic Mediums
The professional watercolorist knows that one key to controlling wet paper effects is learning to control his paint consistency. He knows that a brushload of very fluid paint will spread a lot further, and a lot faster, on a sopping wet surface than a brushload of thick, gummy paint, only slightly diluted with water. Thus, depending upon the effect that he wants, he sometimes uses paint straight from the tube—undiluted with water—sometimes dilutes his tube paint with just a bit of water, and sometimes dilutes it with a lot of water. He also knows that a wet-in-wet effect will look much lighter when it’s dry, so he always exaggerates the amount of paint that he brushes onto a wet surface.
Having read this far, you already know that one of the great advantages of acrylic watercolor painting is that the various acrylic mediums give you unusual control over paint consistency—far more control than you can get in traditional watercolor painting. In the traditional watercolor technique, all you can add to the paint is water, which will adjust your paint consistency up to a point, but no further. In acrylic painting you not only add water, but you can add various proportions of water and medium so that the brushing consistency of tube paint can be radically altered from moment to moment. In fact, you not only have the liquid matt and gloss mediums, but also the far thicker gel medium, which actually gives more body to your tube color, rather than diluting it.
So then, once you master the use of various acrylic mediums, you should have far more control over wet-in-wet painting effects. You can add pure water to your tube paint for very fluid effects, water and a bit of liquid medium for somewhat less fluid effects, lots of medium and very little water if you don’t want a stroke to flow too far, pure liquid medium to cut down the flow even more, and pure gel medium for paint that hardly moves, even on the wettest surface. Now, let’s try out some of these possibilities.
Controlling Surface Wetness
Before you explore the ways in which acrylic medium can be used to control paint consistency, there’s another control problem which beginning painters often overlook when they first try the wet paper method. Not only must they learn to control the brushing consistency of their color, they must also learn to keep an eye on the wetness of the painting surface.
The professional watercolorist knows that there are varying degrees of surface wetness. When you first flood clear water or a wash of liquid color on your paper, the water rests on the surface for a moment, forming a very thin pool of fluid. Then the water begins to soak in. As the water soaks in, the painting surface becomes less and less shiny, moment by moment. While it’s soaking in, the water is also evaporating, so there’s less and less water on the surface, and less and less water in the surface. Eventually, the shine disappears from the paper altogether, meaning that there’s more water in the surface than on it. Just before the paper dries, there’s a stage when the surface looks dull and dry; all but a tiny bit of moisture has evaporated into the air, but the surface is still just faintly wet. Finally, of course, the surface dries altogether as the last bit of water evaporates.
At each of these stages, paint will behave differently on the surface. At the very beginning, when the water is pooled on the top of the paper like a shallow pond, a brushload of paint is likely to go spilling off in all directions, even if the paint is fairly thick. It’s almost impossible to control your paint flow at this stage. Then, as the water begins to sink into the surface and the pool begins to disappear, a brushload of paint will still flow freely, but its movement won’t be quite so quick and erratic, giving you a bit more control. As the minutes pass, with the water sinking in more deeply and evaporating more rapidly, your paint is less and less likely to disperse and blur; the edges become harder, strokes become more distinct, and paint is inclined to stay where you put it.
As you may have discovered by hard experience, the most dangerous stage is when the shine is completely gone from the paper so that the wash looks dry, but isn’t! This is the stage when only the most experienced watercolorist dares to touch the surface for some final note or special effect. The odds are 100 to 1 that you’ll ruin your picture if you don’t stop painting when the shine disappears from the surface. This is the stage at which the slightest touch of the brush can turn into a gruesome, hard edged fan or blur; when paint gets picked up when you mean to put it down; and when beginners are tempted to give up the wet paper method for life.
To discover for yourself how paint behaves at these various stages of surface wetness, try the following little experiments.
(1) Take a scrap of paper about the size of your hand, and soak it in a sinkful of water until the paper is really saturated and limp. When you take the paper out of the water, hold the little sheet by one corner, so that the excess water drips off. Then, while the sheet is still sopping wet, carry it quickly to your drawing board—which should be flat, not tilted—and apply two strokes of color: one stroke of thick color, straight as it comes from the tube, and one stroke of fairly thin color, well diluted with water.
Emergency by James Carlin, A.W.S., acrylic on 300 lb. watercolor paper, 24”x30”. The wet quality of the picture matches the nature of the subject. Not only is the sea-soaked sand–with its blurred reflections in the foreground and in the middle distance–painted by the wet paper method, but even portions of the figures blur into one another and into the background. The sky was begun wet-in-wet, then adjusted with a few hard edged passages when the underlying color was dry. Without carrying this device too far, Carlin has carefully placed delicate lines on the foreground sand, on the boat, and on the figures, to sharpen an edge here and there.
Point Prim Light by Glenn MacNutt, A.W.S., acrylic o
n gesso coated Masonite, 24”x36”. Although a gesso coated painting surface is less absorbent than watercolor paper, wet-in-wet painting is possible with a lot of practice. This coastal scene shows exceptional control of the wet paper method. The sky is a beautifully controlled wet-in-wet passage with whites deftly wiped out to pick out the edges of clouds and to indicate breaks of light behind the lighthouse. The horizon fuses softly with the sky. The dark mass of the foreground, also painted wet-into-wet, retains a slightly feathery edge where it overlaps the water beyond. Even the figures at the lower right were painted on a wet surface. Only the lighthouse itself has relatively hard edges, since this is the center of interest.
As I’m sure you realize, this is the stage at which the water forms a pool on the painting surface. Observe how the paint rapidly diffuses into the pool. Then tilt the paper slightly and see how the paint literally runs down the surface of the paper.
(2) Take another scrap of paper, about the same size as the first, and sponge or brush clear water over the surface. This sample paper won’t be quite as wet as the paper you soaked in the sink, but there will still be a pool of water on the surface for a short time. With your drawing board level, not tilted, apply the same brushstrokes as you did in the previous exercise. Then tilt the paper once again. The results of both experiments should be more or less the same, with a very subtle difference, because one sheet has been soaked, while the other has been brushed with water.
(3) Brush or sponge clear water on still another scrap of paper, but this time let the water soak in. If you watch the surface very carefully, you’ll be able to detect when the pool begins to disappear and the surface begins to absorb the water. The paper will still be shiny. Now try the same two strokes as before, first with your drawing board level, and then tilt it to study the flow of color. It should flow a bit more slowly. The edges of the stroke will still be soft, but not quite as blurred as they were in the previous two experiments.
(4) If any of the sheets from the previous three experiments are still moist, but the shine has disappeared, draw a brushful of paint, well diluted with water, across the strokes that are nearly dry. Watch what happens when the old strokes and the new stroke meet.
(5) Paint a fluid wash of color, well diluted with water, over the entire surface of another scrap of paper. While the pool of color is still very wet, quickly rinse your brush and flick out the excess water. Squeeze the brush gently to remove a bit more water, then draw a line across the wet wash. The hairs of the brush should soak up some of the wet color and leave a light line across the wash. Rinse the brush and remove the excess water once again, and wait while the wash begins to sink into the paper so the original pool is gone. Now, while the wash is still shiny, soak up some more color with your brush.
Finally, rinse your brush and remove the excess water once again, while you wait for the shine to disappear completely from the paper. Pick up a little clean water on the tip of your brush and make a stroke on the nearly dry surface.
By this time, you should have a better idea of the way paint behaves during the various stages of the drying process. You’ll notice that I told you to use only tube paint and water, no acrylic medium. Now you’re going to try some experiments with acrylic mediums.
Controlling Paint Consistency
For this series of tests you’ll need some more scraps of paper (as usual), about an inch of matt or gloss acrylic medium in a paper cup, a dab of gel medium on your palette, and some fresh water. (Be sure to change your water frequently.)
(1) On your first scrap of paper, sponge or brush the surface with clear water. Pick up a brushload of color diluted with water and some acrylic medium, then draw a stroke across the fresh paper. Quickly pick up a second brushload of paint, diluted almost entirely with acrylic medium, and draw a second stroke on the wet paper. You’ll see that the more medium you add, the less the paint is likely to flow. The medium helps your stroke stay in its place.
If you have lots of scrap paper to spare, it may be worthwhile to try this experiment when your paper is at the pool stage and then again at the next stage when the pool has begun to soak in.
(2) On a second scrap of sopping wet paper apply a stroke of paint which has been carefully blended with gel medium and just a bit of water. See how the thick paint holds its shape. Once again, it should hold its shape better as the pool begins to soak in.
(3) Cover a scrap of paper with a wash of tube color and water, no acrylic medium. With a damp brush and a damp sponge, try wiping away some areas of the wash. While the wash is still shiny, try adding some more color, diluted only with water. Observe how the liquid color responds to being pushed around in this way.
In wet-in-wet painting, the character of the strokes is strongly influenced by the consistency of your paint. Here, a pale wash was applied over the entire surface of a scrap of cold pressed paper. Into this wet wash, three strokes were painted: at the top, tube color diluted only with water, yielding a fluid, soft-edged stroke; in the middle, tube paint, diluted with acrylic medium, yielding a more sharply defined stroke with somewhat more distinct edges; at the bottom, tube color blended with gel, producing a thick paint consistency that yields a strong, well defined stroke. In short, the thicker the paint, the more distinct the stroke.
If you carefully add and subtract color with brushes, sponges, and paper towels, a wet-in-wet wash can produce effects of remarkable subtlety and complexity. This passage, which resembles a stormy sky, began as a wash of middle tone, somewhat like the density of the lower left hand corner. Lighter tones were lifted out with a damp, wadded paper towel and damp bristle brushes. The darker tones were then added to the wet areas with a sable brush; the dark tones merged nicely with the lighter tones. The smaller flecks of light were picked out with the tip of a bristle brush, while the smaller flecks of dark were added with quick touches of the sable brush into the still wet surface.
(4) Now try another wash of liquid color diluted partially with water and partially with acrylic medium. Once again, try picking up color and wiping it away with a moist brush and a moist sponge. At the same time, try adding some fresh color that’s been diluted mainly with acrylic medium. If you have time, try adding even more color that’s been blended with gel medium.
You should discover that this second wash— diluted with water and acrylic medium—has a distinctly different consistency from the wash diluted with water alone, and takes additional treatment with far more ease. Because the paint is just a bit thicker across the entire surface, you have a much greater feeling of control.
(5) Cover another scrap of paper with a wash of color that’s been diluted half and half with medium and water. Let this wash dry. Now choose a different, contrasting color and float a second wash over the first. While this second wash is still shiny, wipe some of it away with a damp brush or sponge, then add some more color thickened with acrylic medium and just a bit of water. Try pushing the second wash around, lifting here, wiping there, adding more color, and then taking it away.
Because the first wash has dried and slightly toughened the paper’s surface, making it a bit less absorbent, the second wash goes on even more easily, and takes even more manipulation. It may also stay wet somewhat longer, giving you more leisure to get the effect you want.
(6) If one of your test sheets has now dried to the stage where the shine is gone and the paper is only faintly moist, see what happens when you go back into this most dangerous of all surfaces. Pick up some paint which has been diluted with acrylic medium alone—and perhaps just a bit of water which remains in the brush—and draw a stroke on the almost dry wash. Then try another stroke of color blended with gel medium and a bit of water. You’ll be surprised to discover that these “afterthoughts” do much less damage than they’d do if you were working without acrylic medium.
In fact, you might want to try rewetting the entire surface with color diluted mainly with acrylic medium and a little water; instead of wrecking the original wash and turning it to mud, you m
ight just succeed in reviving the original wash and fusing it with the fresh wash so that you get a second chance. This doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a try if you think you can save a painting this way.
Now spread out this series of experiments and compare them with the previous series in which you worked only with tube color and water. Study the differences in behavior between wet-in-wet effects using tube color and water alone, tube color diluted with water and acrylic medium, tube color diluted mainly with acrylic medium, and tube color blended with gel. Try to remember these differences when you plan a painting, so that you can decide which blend should go where.
Let me make very clear that I’m not upholding the virtues of acrylic medium and trying to convince you to give up diluting your color with water alone. On the contrary, there will be times when tube color and water are just what you need–particularly when you want extreme fluidity. When you want less fluidity, you’ll add more acrylic medium; right down to the point where you’ll want the very gummy color you get by blending tube color with gel medium. You now have a full range of possibilities from extreme fluidity to extreme “non-fluidity,” if there is such a word. Thus, your control over wet-in-wet effects should be far greater with acrylic than with traditional watercolor.
