Creating textures in watercolor

My class wanted to work on textures so this weeks lesson was how to create various textures in watercolor. The brick wall above is easily achieved by varying the color of each brick and using a light grey wash for the mortar between the bricks. An important step is putting a shadow under each brick. I used a shadow on the left and bottom of each brick for the light coming from the upper right of the picture. I used cobalt blue for the shadow color. Brick comes in different colors, just look around and notice all the different shades there are of brick. Add detail with dry brush and smaller detail with a small round brush. One of the members of the class stated " this is fun!" while painting her wall. I have always enjoyed painting brick too.

The next texture was a metal watering can. The texture was created with salt. While the paint is still wet add some table salt to the area that you want texture and wait for the paint to dry. Do not use a blow dryer, let it air dry, you don't want to blow all the salt away! Once the paint is dry, brush all the salt off and continue painting the bucket. You can glaze over the texture area with more paint and add shadows and detail.

Clay pots was the next texture that I demonstrated using salt. It is not necessary to use salt everywhere just put on select areas of the pots. After the paint is dry continue modeling the clay pots with different colors and values for variety.

I used a Arches watercolor paper that was 140 lb. in a rough texture. I like to use that type of paper when I want texture. Try different paper and you will get interesting results. Consider new ways of painting and your work will improve and you will grow as an artist.

Till next week,
P.J. Cook

Creating Wood Texture In Watercolor Painting

Creating wood texture in watercolor was our lesson for the week. My demonstration started by wetting the paper and laying in a wash of several shades of brown and grey. Letting that dry I fanned out a flat brush that had just a small amount of dark brown paint. By separating the hair into irregular gaps you can create a dry brush effect that works well for wood grain. Lay the brush out flatter than usual and drag the brush across the paper in the direction of the grain. After you have finished the wood grain paint in some knots with dark brown. Then paint some grain lines in the direction of the wood and go around the knots just like you have noticed in a piece of real wood. Paint in the gaps between the planks and let it dry thoroughly. Add any more detail necessary to make it look realistic. My last step was to scrape highlights into the paper with a razor blade. The highlights are visible in my demo painting shown here.
Everyone in the class worked on their own wood texture following along with my demonstration.
Updated blog post on Creating Wood Texture.

I had time to start a painting of a white rose. For the background I started by wetting the paper and putting in a wash in the corners of the paper letting the paint go into the flower in some areas. This is a great way to start a painting because you are getting some value onto the white paper and it suggests the background leaves. I like to paint white flowers with colorful shadows using new gamboge(yellow), cobalt blue and rose madder. Painting each petal at a time I worked wet into wet with those three colors. I added thalo blue to the cobalt for the darkest shadows. I demonstrated painting each color onto the petal using one stroke for each color. This way the colors mix on their own. If you continue brushing the colors will mix together into undesirable colors(brown, sometimes referred to as mud). It takes practice to paint with one stroke but it can be a fun way to see the colors blend on the paper. I will continue the painting of the white rose at the next class.

P.J. Cook