How To Plan Your Watercolor Washes 2

PLANNING WASH SEQUENCES AND MANAGING EDGES
Video 2 - The Planning Process

This is the second in a series of videos where I will show you how I paint a complex scene in watercolour - the River Arun in Sussex. As the series progresses, you will see the painting develop from start to finish, demonstrating how important it is to plan your wash sequences and learn techniques to help you manage the edges of shapes and elements in any watercolour painting.

In this video, I spend time discussing the scene I will be painting, posing the following questions that help me plan my wash sequences:

1) Where are my lightest lights and here are my darkest darks?
2) How will I preserve these?
3) Will I need to make a tonal value study?
4) What are likely to be the 'problem areas.'
5) Where do I want to describe crisp edges?
6) Where do I want to soften of lose some edges?
7) Where can I use a negative painting technique, or will I need to use other methods (masking, lifting out.)

I then provide a simple demonstration of the three types of wash techniques that I will be using throughout the painting:

1) Wet-on-dry
2) Wet-on-wet
3) Wet-to-wet