Watercolor Painting for Dummies (63 page)

1.
Get a piece of paper 11 inches x 4 inches and transfer the drawing in Figure 13-17 to your watercolor paper.

Chapter 8 tells you how to trace, enlarge, and transfer the drawing onto watercolor paper.

2.
Paint masking fluid over the dark areas of the horses and their reflections — the black areas in the drawing.

I used a masking pen with a super-fine nib. Figure 13-18 shows the masked area as blue, which is the color of this mask. The blue mask is protecting the white paper. (Refer to Chapter 4 for tips on masking.)

3.
Let the mask dry completely.

I let mine dry overnight. Depending on how thick your mask is, it may dry quicker, within 15 to 20 minutes even.

Don’t try to speed the drying process by using a blow-dryer. You’ll just cook the mask into the paper so that it will never come off.

4.
Spray water on your entire palette to activate all your paints.

5.
Dampen the entire paper with clear water, then use a flat brush to paint vertical stripes in this order from left to right: hookers green, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium red, cadmium orange, permanent yellow, cadmium orange, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, and hookers green.

Let the colors flow together and overlap. If the paper dries, spray it with water and tip the paper so the paints blend. Your painting should look something like Figure 13-18 at this point.

6.
Let the paint get dry — bone dry.

Again, keep the blow-dryer far away.

7.
Remove the masking fluid by using a rubber cement pickup to rub it off.

You can get pickups at the same art supply store where you get the masking fluid.

Your painting now looks close to Figure 13-19.

8.
Paint some clear water over the stark white horses and their reflections in the water.

If the white is too bright, you can paint a diluted version of the same color over the top (find more on glazing in Chapter 3). Because water reflections are grayer and less detailed than what they reflect, I worked with the reflections more than the horses. This involved tinkering a bit in the water by lifting some areas and glazing over other areas that I thought were too bright.

9.
Add detail and soften some hard edges.

Use a brush with a good tip for your detail work. Darken the horse shapes using a darker version of the same color (use less water for darker paint). Notice that all the dark areas are on the right side of the horses. This makes it look like light is entering from the left side of the picture, and the consistency in lighting helps create the dramatic illusion.

I picked the horse in the right third of the paper to be the center of interest. I made it the brightest red, gave it the hardest edges, and added the most details.

I used a toothbrush to scrub some of the water reflections to make a variety of edges. Adjust the painting until you like the result; I’m very fond of the result in Figure 13-20.