Good morning class! Today we are going to tackle our next assignment. Before I set you free to grow on your own I'm going to try and illustrate what encompasses water color paintings and how to use them.

First off, water color use two things specifically. Water and color. It is important to understand how to properly use both and to understand that if you make a mess it is important to clean it up (in regards to spilled water or paint on the surface area). To avoid messes use only what you need when you need. You don't need a bucket of water or mass amounts of paint, especially when using watercolor.

Water color can be applied in many different forms of art. It is often times used to form thumbnails , which are the ideas on paper before the actual piece is done. Using watercolor allows for an idea of color and where to put it before going in with something like acrylic paint which is harder to cover than watercolor. It can also be applied to different styles and multi media uses which I will go more into further in the presentation.

Along with applications, there are tools and supplies needed to perform well when applied.
Of course paint brushes are needed, but there are specific brushes for water color that allow for the artist to create washes and absorb water more versus a more course brush like an acrylic or oil use brush. Water color brush tend to be softer and can be sable or synthetic.

Like most art forms, water color is open to style and deviation from the norm. Water color can be abstract, realistic, expressionistic, impressionistic, you name it, you do it, it is a style.
Style is such a crucial part to art but especially to water color artists. Working with water color is often classified as the most difficult media to work with it because it can be unpredictable. This unpredictable aspect of the art is what defines the style because it illustrates how the artist will work with the media.

Washes can be defined as the brush stroke that is used when using water color. There are different forms of washes. One starts with the paper being wet then color being added. Another works with the idea of gradation. Starting with strong color then slowly fading the color.
The next slide poses a video that will explain more.

Now that gradations have been explained we can move into the different effects like gradation that can be created.
-salt created a fun effect on water color, it cause the color to disperse.
- alcohol does a similar thing but to a more extreme effect.
- the use of bubbles are my favorite. The bubbles pop on the surface and leave their mark within the paint.

Water color takes patience. Realizing you have to wait for the layer to dry before you do anything else is crucial because if you don't the paint could become over saturated and the paint won't process properly.

With drying comes understanding hard edges and soft edges. Hard edges are created when color settled on the edge of the water. They are nearly impossible to remove. Soft edges are when the color is brought out all the way.

After all layers desired are applied comes the part where implementing detail comes to play. Creating detail uses more pigment than water to get a more defined line. Like eyelashes or freckles.

Layering has been talked about often, but I believe before taking on the idea of layering color the other aspects need to be understood. Layering color means placing color on top of color after each layer drys to create lights a darks, while also producing depth.

In water color it is important not to use the color black in a painting because black is very potent to such light color. Dark colors or even black can be created through layering colors.

Water color is called water color because the pigment is soluble through water. It's a water based paint and it is not the only one. Both tempera and acrylic are both water based paints and can be used along side water color to create texture and variety.
Along with water color there is ink which is water soluble as well but is much more pigmented. Ink is interesting to mix with water color, especially in regards to detail.

The photo pictured is mixed media using marker and water color.

Water color paintings have been around for along time. Sense cave man times, the same use of pigments have been used. Here are some of my favorite old school paintings.
The first is Paul "A Card Player" created in the 1890's.

This one is Van Goghs "Landscape with Cottages" painted in 1890.

New school water color is a term I personally use but it encompasses the idea of growth that water color has gone through with technique and color. Here's a time lapse video of an Italian artist I adore, Agnes Cecile.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uNmEBpcQS_M
This video uses acrylic but in the form of water color. Agnes utilizes watercolor techniques but mixes them with other media.