Watercolor: Salvaging your mistakes | Canson® (2024)

FAQs

How do you correct mistakes in watercolor painting? ›

You can use a paper towel or a sponge to correct small mistakes in watercolour painting. Use a dry or damp towel to lift up the paint and water. If the colour doesn't completely lift, you can add more clean water and keep pressing with your paper towel or sponge until it lifts up.

There are two fundamental techniques in watercolor painting. You can't escape them… they are: Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. Together, these techniques form a golden rule that is unique to watercolors, and highlights the broad range of possibilities in watercolor painting.

Because watercolour pigment is transparent when thinned with water, every preceding layer remains visible. Beginners might struggle with unintentionally darkening the tonal values of the painted areas as they add successive layers. Too many layers will take away the transparency and luminosity is lost.

Weaknesses of watercolor paints

Firstly, watercolors can be unpredictable. Their fluid nature often results in the colors bleeding into each other, creating unexpected effects.

5 Pro Tips

When working with watercolor paints, you want to begin with the lighter colors and then work towards the darker ones. We do this because in watercolors, the white comes from the paper, not the paints. So due to the transparency of the paints, your light colors wont “pop” when painted over darker colors.

Wet on dry is when you apply paint to a dry surface. You'd then allow each layer to dry before adding subsequent layers or details. This approach offers more control over the artwork. And if you seek precision and fine details in your paintings, this technique may be your favorite.

Acrylic paints are more vibrant and opaque than watercolor paints. They're also more versatile, easier for beginners, more durable, have a longer working time, and are more durable.

There are 2 basic watercolor techniques that will be fundamental to your practice—wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. In this tutorial, I cover what these terms mean, when to use each of the two techniques, and how to do it successfully.

There is no damage to the painting by rolling it alone or with a front and back “cover” of newsprint or plastic wrap. Rolling the watercolor painting depends on the paper weight and size, but even full sheet 300-pound papers can be rolled and inserted in larger diameter mailing tubes.

Watercolour is the hardest medium to master because it can be very difficult to fix mistakes. The transparent nature of watercolour means that mistakes show through the layers. As such, you cannot easily erase or paint over the errors in the same way that you would with opaque mediums such as acrylic or oil.

Is gouache more expensive than watercolor? ›

Some brands use only pigments

This makes gouache more expensive than watercolor or acrylics.

If you're worried about your watercolour painting smudging or fading over time, you can use a fixative to protect it further. Spray a light coat of fixative over your painting before sealing it with a sealer. This will help ensure that the colours stay vibrant and prevent any smudging or bleeding of the colours.

You can fix overworked paint by making sure that your watercolour layers are dry before you add a new layer of paint. This will prevent the pigments from mixing and producing muddy colours. As well, you can add darker pigment over your mistakes to hide and conceal them.