Be BRAVE with watercolor

IRENA SPECTOR SHOWS YOU HOW TO RELAX AND PLAY WITH WATERCOLOUR PAINTS, TO CREATE A DYNAMIC URBAN SCENE.

Fear of watercolor is a very common problem for sketchers because watercolor behaves unpredictably and is difficult to manage. Too many adjustments lead to messy and unattractive results. With my technique, I try to overcome the fear and turn my watercolor work into a play, without worrying about precision. I also use watercolor pencils to depict the contours. They partially dissolve in the process of work and this gives the sketch a feeling of lightness and incompleteness.

Step 1: I wet the paper and make the first big washes (wet into wet) using very light colors. This step allows me to overcome the fear of blank paper and allows the watercolor to set the mood.

Step 2: When the paper is still wet, I outline the buildings and the human figures. I don’t try to be very precise, I use a light blue watercolor pencil which allows me to make corrections easily, if needed but, more importantly, this gives a very pleasant feeling while drawing on wet paper.

About Irena

Irena was born in Odessa, Ukraine and graduated the Grekov’s art school in 1988. In 1990 she immigrated to Israel, continuing her art education alongside a degree in medicine, specializing in psychiatry. She combines work as Senior Psychiatrist in Tel Aviv Medical Center with watercolor painting and watercolor instruction activities. She loves watercolor’s transparency, unpredictability and the wat it can capture light effects.

Materials

• Watercolor paints, usually up to 4-5 colors: ultramarine blue, naples yellow, cadmium red, cadmium orange, ceruleun blue

• Watercolor pencils

• White gouache for highlights.

IRENA’S TIPS

• Don’t be afraid of making mistakes – sometimes they can lead to new discoveries. For example you can make a bird from an accidental spot of paint.

• Start with spontaneous splashes of color, especially when you are not sure about what to paint first. The splashes of color will lead you and will give you ideas.

• Enjoy the process, play with the colors and experiment with different color combinations.

Step 3: Next, I wait for the paper to completely dry and then add the second wash to denote the large forms, such as the sky, tree and shadows on the buildings. This time I’m working on dry paper and this allows me to be more precise and to outline the figures. I use a mixture of colors (yellow, ceruleun, ultramarine and cadmium red) and allow them to mix one into another on the paper.

Step 4: Once again it is necessary to wait for the previous layer to dry completely, and only then I start to add details with a smaller brush, such as the shadows of the bicycle and figures, and the colorful clothing.

Step 5: I continue with the details, this time more graphic: the tree, adding further details to describe the figures. I combine a dark watercolor paint mixture (indigo, ultramarine, cadmium red) with a dark watercolor pencil (dark blue, indigo).

Step 6: Finally, I add some accents with a white pencil and white gouache. This has to be very subtle. You can see it at the shoulder area of the figures and in the background (signboards, pointers), for example.