Watercolor Still Life Techniques Made Easy

Author: Gong Liuzhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Gouache is made by mixing mineral powders, vegetable precipitates, chemical pigments, and binders such as thin tree gum, linseed oil, formaldehyde, etc. It has strong covering power and can be applied thickly like oil paint or create blending and wash effects like watercolor. However, thick applications of gouache are prone to cracking, and excessive water can make the colors dull. The appearance of a gouache painting can differ significantly between when it is wet and when it is dry. Generally, wet paint appears darker, while dry paint appears lighter. For example, the change in ochre is quite noticeable. Some colors, like rose red, may even appear slightly darker when dry compared to when wet. Red, yellow, and blue are called the primary colors. These are the fundamental colors from which no other colors can be derived, yet they can be mixed to create any color except white. Some beginners, when painting complex still lifes, tend to focus only on instead of observing the whole, which naturally leads to problems in the painting—color blocks appearing isolated or uncoordinated, even if each color seems correct, there is no unified tone. In summary, the following five issues often appear in paintings: lifeless, blurry, dirty, dull, and powdery. Water plays the role of a diluent in painting, and the amount of water used is one of the key factors in determining the success of a painting. Too much water can result in an unsaturated, dull, and light appearance, while too little water can make the colors dry and difficult to apply, and over time, the painting may crack or peel. Due to the effect of water, gouache painting is divided into dry and wet painting methods. Objects with different inherent colors may produce the same color tendency when under the same brightness and hue of light source color, which is known as the mood or tone in painting. In indoor settings with no obvious light source color, the main color blocks of the cloth can be used to determine the tone of the painting, meaning that the larger color blocks dictate the tone. For a color still-life painting, the tone already exists when arranging the objects. However, some beginners, in an attempt to achieve a unified tone, randomly apply a single color throughout the painting. This not only fails to unify the tone but also disrupts the order of the painting. Therefore, the correct color relationships are the only prerequisite for forming a unified tone.