In the last month, I have had many classes and I have come up with what I believe to be the biggest problem and challenge facing many of my watercolor students. I have taught beginners, all the way up to advanced students and it seems that the biggest challenge I see is that most students don't use enough pigment when painting with
watercolor.
I think some of the reasons for not using enough pigment are:
1. Not using high-quality pigments.
2. Using cake pigments instead of tube pigments.
3. Not squeezing in fresh pigment into your palette.
4.
Squeezing in just a small amount of fresh pigment into your palette.
5. Using dried-up pigment that doesn't reconstitute well.
6. Using too much water when applying pigment to paper.
7. Students not aware when trying to get a really dark value with transparent watercolor over white paper, that it
takes a lot of pigment to block the white paper from shining through the transparent pigment to get a dark value.
8. Students don't realise using more pigment in a wet-into-wet wash helps control the pigment while creating a soft edge.
To overcome the problem of not using enough pigment
I suggest using tube watercolors that come from a high-quality company. If you are using a watercolor that has Ox Gall in it I would recommend squeezing out fresh paint each time you paint if the times between painting are drying up your paint and turning them into hard clumps. I recommend a paint like Holbein because it doesn't have Ox Gall so it doesn't dry hard and Holbein instantly rejuvenates with a touch of water. You get what you pay for so don't be cheap when it comes to your
paints. High-quality paints are highly concentrated with finely ground pigments and don't have as much filler as the cheap paints do.
Squeeze out more paint than you think you are going to use, squeezing out a small amount makes you stingy when picking up the paint and applying it to the paper.
I see many students putting their brush into the water way too
many times. Wet the paper first and then brush thick pigment into the puddle of water and this will allow you to control the pigment more when applying pigment into a wet wash.
Most important is to practice painting wet-into-wet washes using thick amounts of paint. Practice makes perfect!
David
