Our tradition of watercolours is derived basically from the British.
According to the 'purist' school, a watercolour landscape is necessarily in transparent colours. For maintaining "transparency', using black or white is strictly forbidden.
Watercolour as an independent genre was brought in vogue by Joseph Turner and John Constable, two British painters of the 18th century. Before their time, watercolours were looked upon essentially as preparatory to painting proper. Then came John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, William Russell Flint who took the art of watercolours to new heights. The golden era of the genre was reached during the days of Edward Siego, Edward Wesson and John Pike.
In the latter half of the 20th century, various styles of watercolour and experiments in various mediums proliferated and culminated in the development of 'modern art'. The scope of watercolours is enlarged and nowadays. the term also includes, in addition to pure transparent watercolours, gouache and other opaque colours and mediums.
Doing watercolours is essentially quite different from painting in oils. Oils being an opaque medium, colours form layers as and when applied. If form or composition is found to be incorrect or a colour scheme has gone wrong, it is possible to mend one's work by simply re-painting just that particular patch. There is absolutely no such chance in watercolours.
In case one requires to apply a new colour on a previous wash, the two often mix. A new, different colour appears, often quite unexpectedly. In the process, the paper surface may get damaged. Painting by watercolours is like shooting an arrow -once shot, it cannot be brought back.
The simplest way of describing watercolours is that these are paints which when mixed with water, dissolve and flow freely. After being applied on paper, they spread easily, and remain there when the water dries out. As far as the 'water soluble' quality goes, gouache are also watercolours. Watercolours then include not only pure watercolours but also gouache etc.
Fluidity which is the main characteristic of watercolours can be a challenge. The natural tendency of the colours to flow freely on paper has to be regulated and blended, to achieve the desired effect - and herein the skill of the watercolour painter is really put to test. The skill of the artist is in trying to win the contest between his mind trying to paint a picture and the colours, which seem to have their own will!
Doing watercolours is essentially to apply washes carefully. When one applies transparent colours one after the other, in layers, one achieves the desired result.
While doing so, one has to keep in mind that being transparent, every colour is affected by the colour previously applied. Thus, if red is added on a yellow wash, orange is obtained. By adding blue to yellow, green is obtained. But if more than two washes are mixed, their freshness is lost and a muddy effect emerges. The skill, therefore, is to achieve the desired result, without overworking and retaining transparency.
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