Know Your Water

Watercolour is a challenging medium and the more you learn the more you realise that there is more to learn.

Recently reading up on tips, I came across two very useful ones worth sharing.

1. Use 2 Water Jars to help keep your brushes as clean as possible – Use one for washing and the other for applying water to your paper or for diluting the paint.  This way you don’t need to keep changing the water as frequently.
2. Use cold water from a pre-boiled kettle – this one I wasn’t aware of but makes perfect sense if you live somewhere with hard water like SE Queensland or Adelaide.  Boiling the water removes the calcium which then means your paint (and in particular gouache) is less likely to flake.

Do you have any other water tips you would suggest for both the learner and experienced watercolour painter?

Article reposted with permission from Arthouse Northside