Beginner Watercolour Techniques – Episode 1
Three tutorial videos from Emma Jane Lefebvre: Beginner Watercolour Techniques – Episode 1,2, and 3 (Note: it’s common to spell water-color as watercolour in Canada and the UK.)
Emma Jane begins by introducing two essential watercolor techniques: gradients and blending. She demonstrates single-color gradients by starting with dark values and gradually lightening them through water control. For dual-color gradients, she shows how to blend two colors smoothly in the middle, creating transitions ideal for scenes like sunsets.
The tutorial covers wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry blending methods. Wet-on-wet allows colors to naturally blend on a wet surface. Wet-on-dry involves applying new color to dried layers and softening edges with a barely damp brush. The instructor emphasizes gentle brush pressure and proper water control to avoid unwanted marks or blooms.
The demonstration includes practical applications like creating leaf shadows and flower petals. She shows multiple approaches to achieve different effects, from soft gradual transitions to more defined shadow lines. Emma repeatedly demonstrates the importance of washing and drying the brush between blending strokes to maintain control over the pigment movement.
The tutorial addresses common beginner challenges, particularly with paper quality and water control. She recommends Academy (Bahong) watercolor paper as an affordable cotton paper option. Emma emphasizes that mastery requires practice and encourages viewers to experiment without pressure for perfection.
Beginner Watercolour Techniques – Episode 2
The second video focuses on two essential watercolor techniques: wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. In wet-on-wet, artists apply wet paint to wet paper, creating soft, blurry effects. Emma Jane shows how to create explosions of color, blended backgrounds, and distant trees by controlling water and pigment amounts. She demonstrates how less water creates finer lines, while more water produces larger, more diffused effects.
Wet-on-dry technique involves applying wet paint to dry paper, producing sharp, in-focus details. Emma demonstrates shows how combining both techniques adds depth to paintings. She paints blurry background flowers using wet-on-wet, then adds detailed foreground elements with wet-on-dry. This layering creates a sense of distance and perspective in the artwork.
Emma emphasizes the importance of timing and water control. She explains how wet pigments will blend when they touch, making it crucial to let layers dry before adding detailed elements. Artists can choose between loose, blended effects or structured, detailed looks by selecting the appropriate technique.
Beginner Watercolour Techniques – Episode 3
Emma Jane teaches advanced watercolor techniques in this final video of her beginner series. She reviews previous lessons on color gradients, blending, and wet-on-wet techniques. She then demonstrates four new effects: salt dropping, water dropping, dry brush, and lifting/blotting.
Salt dropping creates snow-like textures when sprinkled on wet paint. Water dropping produces bloom effects when added to damp surfaces. Dry brush technique uses minimal water to create textured effects for mountains and grass. The lifting/blotting method removes paint to create highlights or fix mistakes.
Emma shows how to apply these techniques practically. She creates cloud effects through blotting with paper towels. She demonstrates how to lift paint while it’s still wet to add highlights to objects. She encourages viewers to practice these techniques, noting that some effects work better with certain papers and paint colors. She ends by reminding beginners that confidence comes with time and practice.
Related Resources and Links
Sometimes it’s helpful to study water color painting examples from great artists of the past. This article provides several interesting examples and a video tutorial about painting clouds and sunsets.
Here are four video tutorials from several watercolor artists demonstrating how to paint snowdrop flowers. See Watercolor Snowdrops.
The Snow White Snowdrop Color is a natural chromatic reference to the historical Werner-Syme color named “Snow White”