Painting Techniques
Flow with the water. Let the pigment lead.
Watercolour is a dance between pigment, paper, and water. It rewards patience, softness, and slowing down. Each technique offers a different feeling — some loose and expressive, others detailed and gentle. There’s no right or wrong way to begin, you’ll find your own style. Just start, and let the paint teach you.
Tip: if you prefer, test your stroke or colour on another piece of paper first
Wet-on-Wet
This technique is soft and expressive. You begin by wetting the paper (whole paper or areas), then adding loaded brush of paint into the wet areas. The colour blooms and spreads like fog, smoke, or drifting cloud.
Best for: wash of skies, oceans, seamless blending, broad coverage, distant mountains
Let colours bleed into each other naturally. Resist the urge to control too much
For more pale translucent qualities, add plenty of water with very little colour
Let dry before next detailed layer is applied
Tip: Don’t let water pool when wetting - just make the paper evenly damp - soak up any pooled water
Wet-on-Dry
Paint directly onto dry paper for clean, crisp edges and more control. This is how most detailed watercolour work begins on top of a dry layer. Add water where needed to create the effect and concentration of colour you need.
Best for: outlines, layered colour, animals, and pattern work
Tip: Let one section dry before painting next to it — this avoids accidental bleeding.
Dry-on-Dry
Also called dry brush, this technique uses very little water (never bone dry). Dip just the tip of your brush into concentrated paint and drag it gently across dry paper.
Best for: texture — bark, fur, rough edges, ground, grass
Tip: Load pigment onto the brush but blot it first. This is perfect for creating broken, scratchy marks.
Leave Negative Space & White Areas (work this out first)
In watercolour, white is the paper itself. There’s no ‘white’ paint — only places you choose not to touch. These untouched areas add sparkle, highlight, and breath to your work.
Plan ahead and leave blank space where light hits — on petals, eyes, waves, or reflections.
Lightly sketch your shapes first to remember where to avoid.
You can also use masking fluid to protect white space while painting large areas.
Tip: White space is silence. It’s pause. It lets the rest of your painting sing.
Paint Light to Dark
In watercolour, it’s almost impossible to go backwards — so always begin with your lightest values and build darker tones in gentle layers. This helps you preserve the glow of the paper and create depth without muddying your colours. Plus as you’ll see in the example the lighter colour doesn’t cover the dark well and works best under it.
Tip: If you're unsure, mix your colour lighter than you think and layer slowly. You can always add more.
Painting light to dark is like storytelling — reveal only what’s needed at first, and let the details unfold.
Dilution & Concentration
You control value (light and dark) by adjusting how much water is in your paint.
More water = lighter, more transparent colour.
Less water = deeper, more saturated colour.
Tip: Water is your guide and colour loves a little suggestion. Let it stretch your colours gently — like stories carried by rain.
Glazing & Layering
Glazing means applying transparent layers over dry paint. This adds depth and richness. Always let each layer dry completely first.
Washes
A wash is a smooth, even area of colour. It can be diluted and light, or rich and moody.
Flat wash: one colour across a space (like the sky)
Graded wash: fades from dark to light seamlessly
Variegated wash: blends two or more colours across a space
Tip: Use a large brush for more event effect and tilt your paper slightly and let gravity help you.
Blending
Blending is where watercolour really comes alive. It’s the soft fade between colours, the gentle meeting of one shape and another, the place where control gives way to magic.
There are two main ways to blend in watercolour:
Wet-on-wet blending: Drop two colours into a wet area and let them flow into each other naturally. The water decides the path.
Edge blending: Use a clean, damp brush to soften the edge of a painted shape, letting it bleed softly into the background or another colour.
Blending is about timing. Too wet and everything runs wild. Too dry and the edges stay sharp. There’s a sweet moment in between — that’s where the magic happens.
Tip: Don’t overwork it. Let the paint do what it wants — even if it surprises you. That’s often the most beautiful part.
Tip: Try blending warm and cool versions of the same hue (like ochre yellow with a soft umber) to add dimension and harmony.
Painting Lines & Using the Tip of the Brush
The very tip of your brush is a powerful tool. You can use it to create fine lines, outlines, stems, veins on leaves, and delicate details — all without switching tools.
Use a light touch and hold your brush upright for more control.
Make sure your brush has a good point (a refillable travel brush or round brush with a tapered tip works well).
Load your brush with a slightly thicker paint mix so the colour doesn’t spread too much.
Tip: If youre dragging away your brush it will fall more lightly and thinly on the paper. For a thicker line (ie branch of a tree), press down gently as you’re dragging the brush away
Try painting:
Tree branches with a single sweeping stroke
Leaf veins by dragging the tip gently
Shadows and edge lines on animals or rocks
Soft outlines around petals after the first layer has dried
Painting lines isn’t just about detail — it’s about storytelling. Let each mark be meaningful, not rushed.
Tip: Practice a few flowing lines on scrap paper. Let your hand loosen. Let the line follow your breath.
Painting Leaves
Leaves offer the perfect place to play with technique.
Use wet-on-wet for soft, blended leaves.
Let one dry completely before painting the one next to it.
Paint an elongated ‘C’ and another reversed next to it leaving a narrow spacee in between
Try mixing your greens — add a touch of yellow, blue, or brown for variation.
Use the side of your brush to suggest veins or edges.
Leave small areas white down the middle for light and breath.
Tip: Leaves don’t need to be perfect — just honest. Let them be wild or still, loose or delicate.
Creating Distance
Watercolour is perfect for showing depth in a landscape — soft distant hills, layered mountains, misty backgrounds.
To create the feeling of distance, think in terms of colour, softness, and simplicity.
Here’s how to build that sense of space:
Use cooler and lighter colours for the background (like soft blues, greys, or diluted greens).
Add less detail to things far away — let them stay soft and blurry.
Keep stronger contrast and warmer tones (like reds, browns, and deep greens) for the foreground.
Let the edges blur in the distance. Sharp lines belong to things that are close.
Layer hills or ridges with washes, each one slightly darker and lower than the one behind it.
Tip: Yellow doesn’t travel far on the colour spectrum which is why distant hills appear blue (the yellow in the green has dropped out)
Try painting a mountain scene using just 2 or 3 values of the same colour — soft and pale at the back, stronger in the front.
Distance isn’t just what you see — it’s what you remember fading gently into the sky.
Tip: Let each layer dry before adding the next one in front of it. This prevents colours from bleeding and helps you build space with clarity.
Final Touches
As you come to the end of your painting, slow down even more. This is when you step back, breathe, and notice what your painting might still be asking for.
This is the time for:
Adding the darkest darks — little shadows, edge lines, tiny details that make the rest glow.
Fine outlines or contrast to bring certain areas forward.
A single bold stroke where the eye needs to settle.
Add pen/ink outlines (when painting dry), journalling, labelling etc
Always save your deepest pigments for last. In watercolour, you can’t go lighter — only darker. So add those deep tones once everything else is in place.
You can also:
Use a small brush or the tip of your round brush for careful detail, use your fine tip pen or white tip pen.
Reinforce areas that matter most — a pupil in an eye, the edge of a rock, the curve of a petal.
Add fine lines with waterproof pen or dry brush for texture.
Think of this as the closing of a story — the breath after the last word, the hand resting at the end of a long walk.
Tip: Step away for a few minutes. Come back with fresh eyes and trust your instincts. Sometimes, the best final touch is knowing when to stop.
