What is the watermark in watercolor painting?

Watercolor is a painting method of mixing transparent pigments with water, which is called watercolor for short. Because the color is transparent, one layer of color can cover another layer, which can produce special effects. But too much mixing or covering will make the color dirty and the water will dry quickly. Therefore, watercolor painting is not suitable for large-scale works, but suitable for fresh and lively small paintings such as landscapes.

Watercolor pigments are easy to carry and can also be used as materials for sketching and collection. Compared with other paintings, watercolor painting pays great attention to expression. Its painting methods are usually divided into "dry painting" and "wet painting".

What are the watermarks in watercolor paintings?

When painting watercolors, draw a stroke on the paper first. When the color is not dry, dip the pen in water and click. Because of the difference in humidity and dryness, different patterns will be formed after drying. This is a watermark.

The appearance of water marks may be related to the tension and gravity of water droplets. Water droplets will carry some substances (pigments), which will be pushed to the edge of water droplets, so in a colored area, more pigments will be deposited in the outer edge area, thus forming water marks.

Watermark is one of the characteristics of watercolor painting, and any style of watercolor painting will have watermark. This is the commonness of water marks. However, the water mark on each watercolor painting has its own special organizational form and texture form, which is determined by each painter's different aesthetic experience and painting form. The water mark in watercolor painting records the process and state of color painting. Generally speaking, it is just like the trace of brush strokes in oil painting. Every stroke is a conscious behavior of the painter, and there will be many special situations in the process of painting, such as texture changes on the surface of the watermark. This is the personality of water mark.

How is the watermark drawn?

The watermark was stained with wet paint.

Example:

Wet painting can be divided into wet stacking and wet color collection.

(1) wet overlap:

Wet or partially brush the drawing paper, color it when it is wet, and overlap it when it is wet. Proper control of moisture and time makes the effect natural and mellow, and it is its specialty to express the atmosphere of rain and fog and the interest of moisture, which is beyond the reach of some paintings.

(2) Wet color:

This method is often used for color connection when the neighborhood is not dry, the water color leaks light, the boundary is blurred, and the transition soft color gradient is displayed. When collecting color, the water list should be used evenly, otherwise the water will rush to less places, which will easily lead to unnecessary water stains.

Watercolor painting is mostly a combination of dry painting and wet painting. The picture with wet painting as the main part is dry painting, and the picture with dry painting as the main part also has wet painting. The combination of dry and wet painting is expressive, dense and dry, and interesting.

How to avoid unnecessary water marks?

How to avoid unnecessary water marks, the following are the factors that affect water marks and their solutions:

Situation 1: the ratio of color to water. For the same color, the more water is added, the more obvious the water mark will be.

Case 2: The drying speed may affect the watermark. The faster it dries, the shallower the watermark. If necessary, a hair dryer can be used to alleviate and accelerate the drying of water.

Case 3: When the ratio of water to pigment is the same, the amount of water on the brush will affect the depth of water marks. There is more water on the pen, and the water mark is obvious. If wiped with a dry pen, the watermark can fade or disappear.

Situation 4: Brush. Some natural brushes are very absorbent, so they are easy to get wet when painting, and water marks will appear. You can choose a non-absorbent nylon pen.

Situation 5: the speed of writing. If you draw slowly, there will be more water on the paper, and water marks will appear more easily. On the contrary, if you draw fast, there will be less water on the paper.

Situation 6: Paper problem. Paper has strong water absorption and good diffusion, such as cotton pulp paper, and water marks will be light. Paper with poor water absorption and diffusion (such as wood pulp paper) is easy to produce water marks. Paper with the same material, smooth will be more prone to water marks than rough.

When not dried:

After drying:

Situation 7: Drawing. Water marks are easy to appear when dry coating. When painting wet, first wet the paper and then draw on it. It is difficult to form water droplets, so there will be no water marks.

If water marks have already appeared, the following methods can be adopted: after the coating is completely dried, brush a layer of water again, and then blot it with paper towels, and the water marks will fade. You can also gently wash off the water mark with a pen.

Before scrubbing:

After scrubbing:

Watermark is also an important part of watercolor, and how to grasp it well is the key.