Common water problems when you paint in watercolor.
3 Common Water Problems when you Paint in Watercolor and How to Fix Them
Of all the problems that occur when you paint in watercolour, issues with water seem to be the most common.
In my YouTube video I address three problems that I have found happen in many of my own paintings.
Three common water problems and how to fix them.
Watercolour blooms
The first problem is when watercolour blooms appear where you don’t want them. If you’ve been following my videos you’ll know that I love watercolour blooms and I place them deliberately in some of my paintings. They are great for adding texture and interest to the painting but there are times when I may not want a watercolour bloom to appear. If they appear where I don’t want them I use a hake brush, completely dry, to gently wipe over the area where the bloom is. They are great for fixing uneven washes as well.
Ugly Dark Edges
The second problem that can happen sometimes are ugly dark lines appearing around the edges of whatever it is you are painting.
This occurs because the area could be too wet and the water on the paper pushes the pigment towards the outer edge where it accumulates. When it dries, the edges have too much pigment on them and they appear darker than the rest of the shape. In the video above I demonstrate how to avoid this and how to fix it or minimise it if it does happen. There’s a tip in the video to help you if you are working on wet paper too.
Water Lines or Tide Lines
The third problem that I find happens a lot when I’m working on wet paper are hard water lines appearing, some artists refer to them as ‘tide lines’. That’s where you’ve wet the paper over an area that has been painted and a line starts to appear along the edge of the water.
On this painting I was working on the little mouse on the right. I had just painted in the first wash on the mouse on the left and I dried it completely. Then I wet the paper because I wanted soft fuzzy edges on the mouse on the right and I wanted the area where the mice touch to be soft and hazy, but I neglected to wet all the paper. You can see the water lines forming around the eyes because I left that area dry for some reason (what was I thinking 😳?) To avoid this from happening I should have wet the entire mouse on the left. Luckily I saw it before it completely dried and I was able to correct it with my brush. Always keep an eye on your washes as they dry and take the water completely over what you are painting or stop the water in an area of clean paper.
I hope the tips in the video are helpful to you.
🧡