Wet-into-Wet Watercolour: Working on Saturated Paper

In spring, I decided that this would be the summer when I learn to do wet-in-wet properly. Whatever that means. (My main motivation was my dissatisfaction with my skies–a subject Logan handles so well!) I started the process by reviewing handprint’s notes on the subject, where he mentioned Gail Speckmann’s “ambitious” book, Wet-into-Wet Watecolour. I found and bought a cheap copy of the book, read half of it, found it fascinating, and… got distracted. Mostly by urban sketching.

But I have finally shaken off my distractions, and I am ready to start some serious learning, complete with hands-on attempts! And I will begin with the technique she describes first, and the one that scares me the most, working on a fully saturated sheet of paper.

(The reason I am scared of this technique is because I rarely use it–and, before reading this book, I thought that this meant I rarely do “proper” wet-in-wet painting. But Gail Speckmann describes two other approaches, painting by sections and “the painterly approach”, which are far closer to what I normally do, and which I will cover in future posts. Anyway, this is a very awkward post for me to make!)

Here are a few suggestions from the wet-into-wet chapter:

• When practicing this technique, start small. (The author mentions 11 by 15 inches… I often paint on pieces of 11 by 15 centimeters. So I think I will actually scale up: the water and paint need places to go.)
• Unless you plan to just improvise, she suggests starting with a sketch or a light underpainting using a HIGHLY STAINING colour.
• You can use paints of every dilution, but most of the instructions mention undiluted or juicy paint. Undiluted gets dropped into the most intense areas, which should then left be alone–you should try to keep watery paint from washing over them.
• Preserving whites is important, and can be achieved with frisket or tape (ugh), by blotting (as long as a lifting paint is used!) or just by tilting your board to control paint flow (this sounds like a very advanced technique, though).
• Watch how fast the various parts of the paper are drying and stop touching them once they get to dry. (This is the tricky part, isn’t it?) Rewetting areas that are on the verge of too-dry (with a mister or a brush) is always an option… but this is tricky too, in my experience.
• Tilting your board will give you some control over how the paper dries (higher parts will dry faster) and over how the paint spreads (it will spread downhill, so the top edges will be crisper). You can collect any extra water/paint that flows down to the bottom with a brush, sponge, or cloth. (Note: I tend to tilt even when painting on dry paper, so this is natural to me.)
• “The key… is to put down brushstrokes with a light but decisive touch. I wait for the paint to spread out completely before judging whether it works well.”
• “Soft edges are lovely, but remember to give enough form and definition so the image is not just mush.”

Now let us see how many of these I can keep in mind while painting. (Spoiler alert: about half.) The book suggests using this method on florals or landscapes (what, no cloudscapes?); I have decided to try a landscape.

Hmm. I cannot handle the mush. Time to overwork everything!

So, did I learn anything here? Not sure. I am not unhappy with my paint dilution (there were no unwanted backruns, and the values did not all disappear), but I need to be more deliberate when planning my darks, I think. And when planning my brushstrokes, in general.

I also think I need to use brighter-drying colours, especially for my greens!