Candy Dish Lesson 9

Okay! Now it's time to dress up the table a little. First, I used a one-inch flat brush with very soft bristles. I loaded it with clean water and gently pulled a puddle of water over the entire table, including the areas of shadow under the dish painted earlier. The only things I left untouched with water were the actual dish, and the candies both in the dish and on the table.

(Special thanks to Anna, one of my students, for shooting these pictures for me!)

It is extremely important not to put pressure on the brush - use a VERY LIGHT TOUCH!!! The brush should basically just push the water around, not really even touch the paper. The less you can stroke the less wash-out or heavy bleeding of pigments you will have.

If you used very thick, heavy pigments for your shadow areas it will lift a lot. You will notice that lots of color flows into the water. All I can say is that this is a good lesson to keep your pigment applications thin, transparent and use lots of water with each glaze!

Now that the table is covered with a generous amount of water, you should see a shine to it. Some areas may still have measurable puddles. Gently tip your board to be sure the water is absorbing evenly into the paper. While it is still shiny, apply small amounts of French Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Alizarin Crimson by dripping it into the wetted areas. Put your brush down and tip the board to create soft areas of slightly blended color.

Notice that I have added some Winsor Red to the red candies. Use any of the bright, warm reds on your palette for the candy glaze. I have also deepened the yellows with a glaze of New Gamboge and a little Quinicridone Gold.

Scooter and Riley Lesson 20

After looking at this piece I realized that I wanted the background value to be much darker to help draw the viewer's eye to the dogs, my focal point. I mixed some Perylene Green into the mixture that I used for the brown area under the dogs to create a wet, rich color for the background. I applied a wash of clear water to the background then, I dripped color from this mixture into the wet background area.

I used strong color and allowed it to flow around by tipping my board. I didn't want to completely cover the gold in the background, but I wanted the gold to shine through here and there. Once I dripped in some color here and there, especially along the edges of the pillows and over the dark areas at the sides of the painting, I put my brush down and just tipped the board to allow the pigment to soften and flow.

When working wet-in-wet with watercolor, the brush is used to drop in the paint, but water and gravity do most of the work.

Scooter and Riley Lesson 3

I often like to paint the backgrounds of my paintings first. Backgrounds are often the largest washes, and if I mess it up, I do it right from the start. It also helps me to establish a beginning value range.


Here I have mixed New Gamboge, Burnt Sienna, and Quin. Gold in a very big, wet puddle. I applied this mixture as a very wet, juicy, flat wash. I used a one-inch flat and held the brush straight up and down to paint around to top of Scooter's head.

The more you practice handing your brushes, the more efficiently you will find you can use them. Always use the largest brush you can get away with. Avoid the tiny little brushes until you absolutely must use them for the tiny details at the very end of your piece.