# first water painting ... ask for tips



## adamt (Feb 5, 2014)

so its my first one i like dealing with the paints
but for some reason the paper was swirling a bit.. its a water color paper... so what i did wrong???
and second in one point it actually piled a bit... why?


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## meesh (Dec 30, 2013)

I'm not an expert in any way. But it took me a while to learn how to work the water an have it work me less. There's wet on wet techniques and dry brush techniques. It depends which you use. The only thing I'm expert on is that it takes a lot of practice to earn a working relationship with the medium. Nice painting and actually awesome for a first attempt.


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## pencils (Feb 10, 2012)

try working in thin layers and letting the paint dry between layers....watercolor can`t be worked like oil paint. took me a long time, years, to get a handle on how paper and paint react together....you need to find a paper that suits what you working on, there are many weights and types. don`t be afraid to make mistakes, they should all be learning experiences, you will probably want to throw away a lot of pieces at first...I tossed many pf mine, it was probably 25% keepers, 75% tossers for a long time...but thats was OK with me, well, not OK but I didn`t give up and even after 25 years of working with the medium I still get surprised sometimes at what happens on my paper with the work I`m doing now...haven`t done cabins and meadows for ages, just doesn`t turn me on anymore but you know Bob Ross is a great place to start, I know he doesn`t use watercolor but still, some of his techniques and compositions can be shifted over to paper. Best tip I can give anyone starting out is....work every day, there is no teacher better than experience, it`s going to take time and probably cost you some money for materials and one thing I learned a long time ago is not to skimp on materials, I always buy the best I can afford. How are you at drawing? It`s a very good way to understand shading and how to work layered watercolors. Take you time, it takes years, perhaps decades to develop, it ain`t a race. If you can find a good teacher, a classroom atmosphere with feedback from other painters is never a bad thing. Haven`t even touched on finding your palette, thats something that you need to work on too, understanding colors and how they react to one another as well as what happens with watercolors when they dry. Yeah, lots to learn and for me one lifetime isn`t going to be enough to do everything I would like to do but it`s all I got so I work at it.


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## AZACRYLIC (Feb 12, 2014)

It helps to first wet (not soak) the paper and tape it down with a paper tape. It will dry like a drum - paint on it and let dry then cut the work from the board. Also note that there are many weights to the paper -too thin and it can be a problem.
Hope that helps.


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## pencils (Feb 10, 2012)

I use a lot of water so I buy 300 gram paper, the heaviest I can find here. I also use the blue painters masking tape, it comes off easily.


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## daniellemorrison (Dec 23, 2013)

Watercolor paintings are considered a unique way to creatively represent dreams, illusions, emotions, and bright feelings using water-soluble pigments. This medium of art is still very popular nowadays, and therefore we have prepared a list of some really impressive watercolor artworks that will surely inspire you. So get ready to be fascinated by these brilliant and vibrant watercolor paintings and let us know what you think in the comments to this post!


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## pencils (Feb 10, 2012)

what brilliant and vibrant watercolor paintings? sounds like you`re selling something?


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## Oregon Artist (Dec 6, 2013)

My W/c instructor said"Wash first, dress later" meaning don't put on too much color at first you can always add more but you can't paint white over it as in acrylics. Your composition looks good and paper is pretty cheap sometimes you can't save mistakes and should just try over IMO. You are off to a good start!


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