Hazel Soan - Secrets of Watercolour Success

Pavement Caf
36 46 cm (14 18 in)

The idea for this book came to me during my role as an art expert on the television programme Watercolour Challenge. The artist entrants all had totally different styles and worked in various ways, yet there was a thread that ran through their memorable paintings that was not found in mastery of technique alone. Trying to analyse this link was informative.

Successful watercolours are born out of something beyond the ability to handle the materials it is the artists attitude that seems to make or break a watercolour. This disposition can be developed through a number of principles, which, I believe, are the secrets of watercolour success. Many are probably known to you, but are often overlooked or forgotten in the desire to paint or to capture likeness. This book draws them together with the aim that they become instinctive in your approach to painting.

The medium of watercolour is intrinsically beautiful and yet so often the freshness and translucency of the colours are crushed by overworking or over-control the palette of watercolour paints may even look more attractive than the finished painting! If we could relinquish some of that control and allow the colours to glow and the brush to move, the results would be glorious shimmering watercolour.

I used to think lots of practice was the secret to watercolour success, but over the last couple of years I have watched my mother learn to paint in watercolour. She paints sporadically, but diligently, and has made great strides in the course of a few paintings. She engages the principles outlined in this book and thinks before she brings her brush to the paper or mixes her colours in the palette.

You may have been painting in watercolour for a while, maybe even years, but despite all that time and practice you just cannot break through into making the watercolours you wish and which you feel you are capable of doing. The secrets unravelled in this book will enable you to discover and release your true artistic potential in watercolour.

Venetian Shutters
38 51 cm (15 20 in)

Even though this painting is quite colourful, it only employs four colours. The coral colour of the stucco is a mixture of Aureolin and Cadmium Red, and this red and Permanent Rose were used for the geraniums. Prussian Blue mixed with Aureolin makes the foliage and shutter greens. I used Saunders Waterford Not paper for this painting.

Creation, not imitation

Painting involves the act of creating rather than simply imitating what is in front of you. A watercolour painting may look like, and be inspired by, its subject, but it is a new creation that must stand alone independent of the inspiration from which it was born. You must put the painting before the subject you may choose watercolour to paint a flower, for example, but the character and appearance of the watercolour must take precedence over the likeness to the flower.

A picture isnt a mirror which reflects what I lived through in making it, said Henri Matisse (1869-1954), but a powerful and highly expressive object which is as new to me as to anyone else.

Once you grasp that your watercolour is more important than its verisimilitude to the subject you will be liberated to make glorious watercolour paintings. Put the watercolour first and it will live on as its own creation long after the flower has faded.

Coconut Palm, Mauritius
46 33 cm (18 13 in)

The coconut palm was the inspiration for, and excuse to paint, this watercolour. How far it resembles the original tree is irrelevant if the watercolour works. I used Arches rough paper for this painting.

The challenge

This book deals with the attitude of the artist towards painting rather than the development and acquiring of technique. Non-painters often comment on how relaxing watercolour painting must be, but little do they realize what is going on in the head of the artist the concentration, the judgements, the decisions, the moments of panic, the moments of reprieve, and the ecstatic bliss experienced when the painting works.

Watercolour is an exacting and challenging medium. That is why it is so thrilling. It demands 100 per cent concentration. It takes courage to put that colour down in the right place at the right time and in the right strength.

The aim of this book is to give you the confidence to do just that. You may waste some paper in the process, but you will not waste time, a far more precious component. In fact, you will find that you can arrive at successful watercolours much quicker than you expected, probably with fewer brushstrokes and, it is hoped, with less angst.

I love lots of light to paint by, so sitting by a window high in the landscape is a perfect place for me to paint.

Desert Strut
76 100 cm (30 39 in)

This is a large painting. Working at this size means you have to be prepared to use big brushes and plenty of pigment good practice for building confidence on the smaller scale.

About this book

The secrets of watercolour success are manifold, so I have divided them up into chapters. The principles are co-dependent even though they are expressed in sequence in the book. Throughout the book you will also find:

Explore Further exercises to encourage you to take action

Studio Tips to aid your painting

Projects to help you put the thinking into practice and build your confidence

Demonstrations of paintings shown stage by stage to enable you to follow the chain of thought through the development of a painting

Food for Thought features that suggest an idea to think about that might stretch you or open up other directions or explorations.