The goal is for the process to be delicate, with no harsh transitions from one value to the next.Ĩ. Now you have a nice transition from water to concentrated paint. By the time you reach the end of your strip of paint, your watercolor mix should be quite thick and the paint should appear concentrated and as opaque as it can get.ħ. Before picking up more color, remember to rinse and pat your brush on a piece of cloth or paper in between so it’s clean.Ħ. Repeat the process by adding a bit more paint to your initial puddle of water each time. Continue by painting where you left off with the transparent water.ĥ. You want this process to be subtle and work up slowly.Ĥ. Add a tiny bit of pigment into your puddle of water make sure to be mindful of how much paint you are adding. Begin painting your strip (it will look transparent on the paper).ģ. Pick up a bit of water with your brush (no pigment yet) to get you started. I used a medium-sized brush and a bit of green tube watercolor.Ģ. Drop a small puddle of water into your palette and a dab of concentrated paint right next to it. Start with a dry area of watercolor paper. We’ll be using just one color to achieve different values, looking to create a seamless effect, popularly known as “ombré.”ġ. This activity will help you practice building up color from plain water to a saturated paint mix. Interesting textures also appear, which makes wet-on-wet a great technique for adding texture to painted shapes. It’s normal for colors to appear less vibrant once they’ve dried. Once the paint has completely dried, you’ll see that it’s changed even more. This is a beautiful aspect of this technique watercolor dries in mysterious ways.Ħ. See how different it looks? When painting wet-on-wet, we don’t have much control over how our paint reacts. This activity is great for beginning to gauge the amount of water and paint you prefer to use.ĥ. In your second rectangle, just add dabs of paint. In this image, I’m simply sliding my brush from side to side.Ĥ. Pick up moistened paint from your palette and add color to your wet rectangle. The rectangles will be hard to see because there’s no pigment, but if you tilt your head a bit, you will be able to see where you have applied the water.ģ. Start by wetting your brush with plain water and “painting” two rectangles.Ģ. Here’s a simple activity that can help familiarize you with this technique.ġ. Basically, we’re adding wet paint to a wet surface. The wet-on-wet method is typically used for painting landscapes, simple skies, or soft watercolor washes because the effect gives us a nice flowy look that can be applied in different ways.

There are a couple of basic ways to paint with watercolor.

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