Watercolor Techniques - Staining - Colors

Advertisement

Watercolor Techniques - Staining - Colors

Dark Staining

When a pigment tints the fiber of the paper it is called a staining color.These colors behave like a dye. The staining nature in a pigment is not relevant to other qualities. Opaque, sedimentary or transparent colors can be either staining or nonstaining. The degree of staining quality of a pigment is important to know only if you intend to lift out a color. 

A staining color will show a tint of its hue even after you have tried to wet-scrub and blot off the paint. This behavior remains even if the staining color is mixed with other nonstaining colors.

Dark Staining Colors include:

. All phthalo colors

. Burnt Sienna

. Scarlet Lake

. Sap Green

. Hooker's Green

Watercolor Techniques - Sedimentary - Colors

Advertisement

Watercolor Techniques - Sedimentary - Colors

Sedimentary Colors

Sedimentary, or granulating, colors are made from physically heavy pigments, Because of their weight, sedimentary colors sink into the water like pebbles. On rough or cold-pressed paper, they are first to land in the low, Hollow spots of the paper. On the smooth surface of hot-pressed paper, they settle quickly, but water rivulets create little river-like separations. 

All this behavior translates graphically into texture. A sandpaper like grain is the nature of these pigments. When you mix them in a wet wash with other colors, they will look grainy and may separate, While transparent colors will dissolve in water like tea and stay active as long as the wash is wet. When sedimentary and non-sedimentary colors are mixed, each color is individually visible, for example, Manganese blue, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Phthalo Blue.

Sedimentary colors include :

. Ultramarine Blue

. Raw Sienna

. Raw Umber

. Sepia

. Cobalt Violet

. Viridian Green

. Manganese Blue

Watercolor Techniques - Reflective - Colors

Advertisement

Watercolor Techniques - Reflective - Colors

Reflective colors 

Reflective colors behave the opposite way of the true transparent pigments. The most transparent colors act like stained glass. They let the light penetrate through the wash and reflect from the paper through the color. Reflective colors let a certain amount of light get through to the surface of the white paper, but they are also capable of reflecting light from the surface of the paint.

If painted over a waterproof black line, reflective colors look very transparent while wet, but show a little of their own hue after they dry.

Opaque, semi opaque and reflective colors don't glaze well because they build up to a thick layer. All opaque colors that are light in hue are reflective, but not all reflective colors are opaque. A few reflective colors are considered transparent, yet they reflect light when they are applied in heavy consistency.

Reflective Colors include :

. cobalt Violet

. Cobalt Blue

. Raw Sienna

. Raw Umber

. Viridian Green

. Aureolin Yellow

. Magenta

. Cobalt Green

Watercolor Techniques - Opaque - Colors

Advertisement

Watercolor Techniques - Opaque - Colors

Opaque Colors

Though all Watercolors called transparent are luminous in thin Washes, some have more body than others. These opaque or body colors are capable of covering other dry Washes When they are applied in a thick consistency, even if the dry underwash is dark and the top color is light.

They are not truly opaque, as acrylics are, but are more so than the transparent colors.

Opaque colors include :

- All Cadmium Lemon

- Venetian Red

- Yellow Ochre

- Winsor Emerald 

- Cerulean Blue 

- Naples Yellow

- Olive Green

- Permanent Magenta

Watercolor Techniques - Transparent - Colors

Advertisement

Watercolor Techniques - Transparent - Colors

Transparent Color

These wonderful, glowing, luminous colors that all water colorists love behave similarly to stained glass. They let light penetrate through the wash and reflect from the paper through the color. These are the most suitable colors for glazing (applying a wet wash over a completely dry wash without disturbing the lower layer) because they don't build up when they overlap. These true transparent colors make the most glowing, clear dark's, but some of these pigments are very strong and tend to dominate when they are mixed with other colors.

If you want to use only true transparent colors, you could use liquid watercolors. Unfortunately, most of the watercolors in liquid form are not very permanent, so you need to research their light fastness.

However, even if you find a permanent liquid watercolor brand, you'd still rob yourself of the opportunity to use the excitingly varied nature of your pigments. Artists advice is to use an artist's quality transparent watercolor in the tube made by a reputable company.