Four Basic Ways to Apply Paint
1. Wet Paint on Dry Paper
2. Dry Paint on Dry Paper
3. Wet Paint on Wet Paper
4. Dry Paint on Wet Paper

Main Characteristics of each:
1 Easiest to control, hard edge quality, good for small calligraphic details, a.k.a. Beginners trap.
2 Also easy to control, good for rough texture, nice effects, easy to over do, a.k.a. Dry-brush.
3 Uncontrollable, beautiful soft diffusions, the essence of watercolor, a.k.a. Wet-in-wet.
4 Hardest to control, rich darks, full range of edge qualities, no mud, a.k.a. Master Stroke.

The first technique is as far as most beginners get before being lured into the control trap. It is sprung like this: You put wet paint on dry paper and it stays where you put it. You start making shapes and people recognize them as trees, mountains, or whatever. You find you can even sign your name this way. Then someone compliments you, or worse they buy it from you, and slam! You’re trapped. Now you must at least repeat that performance and this is the only tool in the toolbox. It gets boring rather quickly, but I’ve seen people stay trapped in it for years.

The second technique is used by the better amateurs. An easy way to distinguish wet paint from dry paint is to see if it runs as you lift your palate to a high angle. Dry paint is about toothpaste consistency on your brush. Try putting that on dry paper and it will only hit the tops of the ridges in the paper while leaving white in the valleys. It makes great rocks or tree bark.

With the third technique we begin to exploit the essence of watercolor that leads to the beautiful soft diffusions that drive the oil and acrylic painters mad. Control is severely limited and the advanced amateurs will use it in spots like sky, water, or within shapes like an apple.

The fourth technique is known as the master stroke because that is what most of the pros do. It takes a little practice to get a hard or rough edge on wet or damp paper, but once you get it, the world of watercolor opens to effects that simply cannot be had by any other means.

I was drawn to watercolor by the fresh, spontaneous, luminescent quality that I saw in some paintings. It took me two years in the trap of the first technique, grappling with mud and hard edges everywhere, before I broke out. The key was the realization that in watercolor, I must first understand the flow of water before I can get the bright rich colors.

I’ll cover all four techniques in my first class which starts on Jan 10, 2009 at the GAA 912-638-8770.