Different types of watercolor brush strokes are easily learned.
Watercolor paint is applied to paper with many different types of brushstrokes. A variety of brushstrokes will combine to produce a visually interesting watercolor painting. Many watercolor pictures are made up of brushstrokes placed over washes or puddles of color smoothed out with large flat or square tipped brushes. Watercolors are also painted by building up layers of strokes painted on top of one another. Practicing individual brushstrokes in exercises improves brush control. Controlled brushwork provides confidence while building up form and texture in completed watercolor paintings.
Instructions
1. Study master watercolor painters to learn different watercolor brush stroke techniques. Look at Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent to see how they apply color in traditional broken dry brush strokes. Practice dry brush strokes by dipping a dry brush in watercolor just enough to wet the tip. Use a pointed round brush or a filbert brush. Drag the brush over dry paper, experimenting with different angles and applying differing amounts of pressure. Jab the brush into the paper and roll it around for a scumbling effect. Use textured, toothy cold pressed paper to accentuate your dry brush strokes.
2. Lay down a large wash area of color. Paint into it with a brush fully loaded with color. Try different types of wet-in-wet strokes and notice how they feather out into the wet flat wash area. Practice brushstrokes over fresh wet washes or areas that are nearly dry. Practice will allow you to learn to control the way the paint flows with this technique. Use hot pressed or smooth paper for wet-in-wet strokes.
3. Paint linear brushstrokes by dragging your brush across the paper with your wrist locked in place and moving your arm back and forth. Use the point or the edge of the brush to vary the width of your strokes. Curve your strokes to match the contours of objects you are painting. Overlap the brush strokes creating cross-hatching to define shaded or textured areas. Practice drawing with your brush strokes to give a painterly look to your finished pictures.
4. Use just the tip of your brush to paint small dots of color in a technique called pointillism. Build up your forms with rhythmic, repeated dabs of paint. Constantly dip the tip of your bush in the watercolor as you paint. Use points of pure color side by side. They will optically mix as you step back and look at them. Refer to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masters to learn this style. Look at the watercolor work of Paul Signac, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Edmund Cross to gain an understanding of pointillism.
5. Practice painting with a wrist-flip stroke when delineating grass in a landscape or for painting hair in a portrait watercolor. Touch the point of the brush onto the paper, then flick your wrist upward to lift the brush tip off the paper. Leave a long, tapered brushstroke to suggest grass or pointed foliage. For multiple lines in your strokes, let the hairs of your brush separate as you paint.
