How to Make Watercolor Washes
- 1). Fill a single depression in your watercolor pallet with 1/2 tsp. watercolor paint. Add 1/2 tsp. water to the paint and mix thoroughly with your brush. If creating a flat wash, this is all you need. For a graded wash, create two more mixtures, one with 3/8 tsp. paint and 1/2 tsp. water and the other with 1/4 tsp. paint and 1/2 tsp. water.
- 2). Dip and swirl a 1 inch flat paintbrush into the darkest paint mixture. Just touch the edge of the brush against the top left corner of a piece of watercolor paper. You may also section off a piece of your paper if you're just practicing.
- 3). Pull your brush horizontally across the paper, applying very little pressure. The stroke should not streak or look uneven. If it does, your brush isn't wet enough. Dip it into some clear water and back into the paint to even out the stroke.
- 4). Continue a flat wash by dipping your brush back into the darkest paint color and making a second stroke overlapping the first. Continue this way to the bottom of the paper.
- 5). Create a graded wash from your first stroke by rinsing your brush in clear water. Dip the brush in the medium paint color that has 3/8 tsp. paint in it. Create two strokes beneath the first with this color, overlapping them all at the edges. The water in the paint should flow and blur any lines between the strokes.
- 6). Finish a graded wash with two strokes of the lightest paint color and a final stroke with clear water. A little of the color will flow into the clear stroke, creating a very fine gradient. Allow the paint to dry overnight.
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