The Advantages of Painting in Dry Brush Watercolor

Do you like ever wish you could paint as well as you could draw? If you love to do watercolors, but are intimated by heavy flowing watercolor washes and how quickly you must work in this liquid medium, then check out dry brush watercolor.

Dry brush watercolor is an excellent medium for artists who enjoy drawing, but want to add color to their work. Simply put, dry brush watercolor is drawing with paint. Unlike traditional watercolor, dry brush watercolor focuses on details rather than artistic impressions made by working with washes.

Also unlike traditional watercolor, dry brush watercolor uses thin (rather than thick) washes. This means you use less paint, making your expensive watercolor paints go further. Most procedures can be done with only three to five brushes, as opposed to the many brushes you normally use when working with in traditional watercolors. Unlike traditional watercolor where you work wet in wet, dry brush is pulled over completely dry paper, producing marks that are hard-edged (rather than smooth.

Illustrators also use dry brush watercolor. What 's more, it reproduces better than traditional watercolor so you can take more focused pictures of it.

Here are some helpful suggestions to get you started in dry brush watercolor...

Paper----Where you may want to skimp on other materials, you don't want to use inferior paper (although when you first start out, it's fine to use cheaper brands.) However, after you've developed your skills, you don't want to sacrifice good quality. Cheap paper will have your paint just lying on the surface, rather than on the "teeth" of more expensive papers . Better quality watercolor papers are more durable. Watercolor paper comes in "cold-pressed" (with a medium texture) and hot-pressed (which is smooth.) Professional watercolors usually use 300 pounds, 100% cotton paper (which comes in heavy sheets, about 22" x 30"). However, when working in dry-brush watercolor, you can also use hot-pressed papers whereas you can only use cold-pressed when working with the heavy washes of traditional watercolor.

Brushes---Use 100% nylon brushes as they do well and have a variety of sizes such as #1, #3, #5, and #8 for washes, soft stroking, and glazing. Your #1 and #2 longhaired liners will be used for fine hatching, as well as daubing and sketching.

Paints---A few of the colors to get you started include cadmium yellow, cerulean blue, cadmium red, burnt sienna, ivory black, yellow ochre, etc. When you first begin, use the less expensive student brands, but as your progress, you'll want o use professional paints.

When working in dry brush, remember to build thin layers upon thin layers. By giving your work numerous coverings or garnishes, your painting has depth. Just think of dry brushing as doing layer upon layer, or a lacing process. Give your painting/drawing periodic glazes to tie the strokes together. The key is to build your painting up slowly.

Finally, as it traditional watercolor, don't forget to leave plenty of white space. Especially in watercolor, white (or negative space) speaks louder than color. Too often amateur watercolors fail to leave enough white space in their drawings, defeating the purpose of their watercolors.