Water Control & Timing
Some great tips this week as well as a cracking offer on some online courses - see further down for details! If there’s one thing that makes watercolour feel unpredictable, it’s this. Picture the scene, you put down a lovely wash… then you start to add in another detail and suddenly the colour starts to run away, spreading into the surrounding paper and creating a cauliflower like shape, with the pigment concentrating at the edges. These are called blooms, back runs, run backs or cauliflowers. They are not always unwanted and can lend some lovely effects when used deliberately, but when you don't want them they are a pain! We've all experienced it, and whilst It can be frustrating, don't worry, this is almost always a timing issue and easily fixed! What’s it all about? Watercolour behaves differently depending on how wet the paper is at the moment you touch it. Most “mystery” problems in skies and big washes come from adding wetter paint (or clean water) onto an area that’s already started to dry. It's this stage of part dryness that is the cause of blooming. Once you learn to spot the stages of wetness, washes become much more controllable. Its all about the Sheen The Sheen is simply the look of the paint and water on the paper. When you lay down a wash, the surface moves through a few simple stages: - Wet / shiny: puddles and a strong shine
- Glossy: still very shiny, but more even
- Satin: a soft sheen (this is often the sweet spot)
- Damp: looks matte but still cool to the touch
- Dry: fully matte and room temperature
Blooms/backruns happen when you introduce more water at the wrong stage — the new water rushes into the still drying paint, picks up the loose pigment that has not yet set (because its not dry enough) and pushes pigment aside and creates that cauliflower edge. What to do instead - some simple guides 1) If it’s shiny, you can still work (gently) When the wash is still shiny, you can usually: - drop in a little more colour,
- soften a transition,
- suggest a cloud shape,
without disturbing what’s underneath. 2) If it’s satin, be deliberate and confident At the satin stage, you can get beautiful soft effects — but you need a lighter touch. This is where a lot of lovely sky transitions happen. 3) If it’s damp, stop fiddling This is the danger zone. If it’s lost its shine but isn’t fully dry yet, it’s very easy to create blooms and hard edges. If you want to adjust something at this point, it’s usually better to: - leave it,
- let it dry,
- then glaze or soften afterwards.
4) Keep your “bead” moving in big washes If you’re doing a larger wash (like a sky), try to keep a small bead of paint moving across the paper. If you keep going back to “fix” edges behind the bead, you’ll often chase drying marks. Fancy giving it a try? - Paint a simple wash rectangle (any colour).
- Watch the surface and note when it changes from shiny → satin.
- Now do two small tests:
- Add a touch of clean water when it’s in the damp stage (just to see the bloom).
- Repeat the wash, but only add anything while it’s still shiny/satin.
Like most things - practice makes perfect, but have fun along the way! If you want a refresher of the basics, or want to see examples of deliberate usage of blooms and water control, then Fiona's courses are for you. Fiona is wonderfully expressive with her watercolour and showcases her water and colour control in all of her videos. You can find them here and for the next 2 weeks (until 8th April) you can get 15% off any of Fiona's online courses on the website! Simply add your desired course to your basket and use code BLOOMING15 when you check out to claim you offer. Please do let me know how you get on if you have a go — you can share it on our Facebook group which you can access using the link below!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/507681213309249/ If you’d like to see a step-by-step demo, you can browse our full video library here:
https://www.terryharrisonart.com/videos/ Happy Painting
Martin
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