the mechanics of watercolor painting

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The Mechanics of Watercolor Painting An important part of learning to paint is to learn how to mix pleasing neutral tones. In the following activities, we will walk through several methods for create neutral tones in watercolor. MIXING NEUTRALS ACTIVITY SUPPLIES: painting palette, a small or medium round brush, paper towels, scrap watercolor paper, water containers, and the color wheel attachment. STEPS: 1. Mix a puddle of any color from your palette. 2. Pick up an equal amount of the color that sits opposite on the color wheel. 3. If one color dominates the mix, simply add more of the weaker color until you reach a neutral tone. 4. Paint color samples as you tweak the neutral color mix. Complimentary Colors Method

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Page 1: The Mechanics of Watercolor Painting

The Mechanics of Watercolor Painting

An important part of learning to paint is to learn how to mix pleasing neutral tones. In the following activities, we will walk through several methods for create neutral tones in watercolor.

MIXING NEUTRALS ACTIVITY

SUPPLIES: painting palette, a small or medium round brush, paper towels, scrap watercolor paper, water containers, and the color wheel attachment.

STEPS:

1. Mix a puddle of any color from your palette. 2. Pick up an equal amount of the color that sits opposite on the color wheel. 3. If one color dominates the mix, simply add more of the weaker color until you

reach a neutral tone. 4. Paint color samples as you tweak the neutral color mix.

Complimentary Colors Method

Page 2: The Mechanics of Watercolor Painting

1. Select three colors from your paint palette. The colors you pick should be equidistant from one another on the color wheel, such as green, purple, and orange.

2. Mix two of the selected colors together on your palette. Try to keep the amounts of each paint color even unless you find that one color severely dominates.

3. Test your resulting color on a piece of scrap paper. 4. Now add a touch of the third color from your selection. 5. Mix and test your color on scrap paper. 6. Continue to add more of the third color and test until you end up with a neutral

looking color tone.

1. If you have an earth tone in your collection of paints, such as a Sienna, Umber, or Ochre, mix up a puddle of that paint on your palette.

2. Now select one of your blue colors. Mix a small amount into your earth tone mix. 3. Test the resulting color on a piece of scrap paper. 4. Increase the amount of blue incrementally until you have a pleasing neutral. 5. Try the same process using the same earth tone but a different blue.

Triad Color Method

Earth Tone Method

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