How do I start watercolour painting?

Watercolour has a reputation for being difficult because it cannot be corrected the way other paints can. The technique is really about managing water: how wet the paper is, how wet the brush is, and how the two meet.

What you'll need

• 300gsm cold-pressed watercolour paper
• A small pan set or six tubes
• One round brush, size 8 or 10
• Two jars of water and kitchen roll

Step by step

1. Buy the paper first.300gsm, cold pressed, ideally cotton. Cheap thin paper buckles, tears and will not let the paint move, and it makes competent painting impossible. This is where the money goes.
2. Start with a small palette.Six colours — a warm and cool version of each primary — mix almost anything. A large set encourages using colours straight from the pan rather than mixing.
3. Get one good brush.A round brush in size 8 or 10 with a decent point does most of the work, from a broad wash on its belly to a fine line on its tip.
4. Learn to control the water.Practise on scrap: paint on dry paper for hard edges, on damp paper for soft ones, and with a nearly dry brush for texture. This is the actual craft.
5. Work light to dark.Watercolour is transparent and there is no white paint. Every light area has to be planned and left alone from the start, because you cannot put light back over dark.
6. Leave the paper white for highlights.The brightest thing in a watercolour is untouched paper. Decide where those are before you start and paint around them.
7. Lay a flat wash.Tilt the board slightly, load the brush, and work in overlapping horizontal strokes downwards, keeping a bead of wet paint at the bottom edge. Never go back into a wash that has started to dry.
8. Let layers dry completely.Painting into a half-dry layer produces cauliflower-shaped blooms. Wait, or use a hairdryer, but do not touch a wash while it is setting.
9. Mix more than you think you need.Running out mid-wash means mixing again and never matching it. Mixed colour is cheap; a ruined wash is not.
10. Stretch or tape the paper.Tape it to a board on all four edges, or use a block. Even heavy paper cockles when wet, and it flattens as it dries if held.
11. Accept the accidents.Watercolour does things you did not intend, and the good ones are often the best part of the painting. Fighting for total control produces tight, lifeless work.

Tips

• Spend on paper before paint. It is the single biggest factor in whether watercolour works.
• There is no white paint. Plan and protect your lights from the first stroke.
• Never go back into a wash that has begun to dry.

Common mistakes

• Using cheap thin paper — It buckles into ridges that pool the paint, absorbs unevenly and tears when worked. Almost everyone who concludes they cannot do watercolour was using the wrong paper.
• Trying to add highlights at the end — Watercolour is transparent, so light cannot be laid over dark. White gouache can rescue small details, but the plan has to start with which areas stay untouched.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask