Kelly - The Art of Watering Colour

Copyright 2015 by Dianne Kelly. 605046

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014922044

Softcover 978-1-4990-3578-0

Hardcover 978-1-4990-3584-1

EBook 978-1-4990-3570-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/26/2015

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Table of Contents

I dedicate this book to my wonderful Husband Ned, and my four children, who have always supported me in this dream of one day publishing my own book.

By Dianne Kelly

The Art of Watering Colour

My journey of techniques to mastering this Magnificent Obsession watercolours.

All illustrations, text and photography by Dianne Kelly.

The art of watering colour

So many students start their journey to becoming watercolourists by just copying another artists work, without really understanding the techniques they are trying to achieve.

Learning to paint in watercolour takes years, filled with absolute highs and lows.

Just when you think youve mastered the technique, youll muck up a painting and all your confidence will go out the window and leave you feeling as though youre back to square one.

I have been through all these frustrating emotions, because Im completely selftaught.

I am forever learning new techniques, through my own experimentation. I find when I have gone off the boil, so to speak, I have to take a little break from painting using formal techniques and, instead, enjoy lots of fun, experimental exercises with the medium. This gives me the chance to find that one particular subject which excites me enough to want to paint it. Falling in love with a new subject seems to reenergise the right side of my brain, with all the associated imaginings about how I can paint this new love in my life. Nine times out of ten, the finished product works out far better than I could have imagined.

Whether this subject is a building, figure, landscape, or flower, I never paint in the same way, as you will see in the following pages.

Over the years, I have learnt so much, and of course, being a teacher, it is up to me to pass onto my students as much as I can.

I love extending them, especially with the different techniques.

I encourage each student to fall in love with the subject, which makes them paint from the heart, with passion. This is the absolute joy of painting in watercolour. When the picture turns into a piece of artwork that a student is proud of, they just cant wipe the smile from their face.

This gives me and my students so much joy.

After learning all the wonderful experimental and traditional techniques that Im about to share with you in this book, I then encourage my students to develop their own style, so theyre not a clone of my work or the work of other students in the class.

So, I invite you to share my journey, as I introduce you to my magnificent obsession, the art of watering colour.

When I decided to write a book about watercolours, I knew in my heart that I wanted each reader to be able to experience the magic of this wonderful medium in a way that would make their journey as exciting and fulfilling as it was for me when I was learning to paint. I think the secret of my success was the fact that I was happy to just experiment and not worry about producing an art showpiece. When I first started, I didnt allow myself to be influenced by any other watercolour artists techniques and this approach allowed me to spontaneously develop my own style along the way. I also started with simpler projects, such as making cards, wrapping papers and so on.

Whilst I thought I was just playing with watercolour, I was actually teaching myself some of the most important mental attitudes needed for success and this enabled me to relax, enjoy the flow of water, and see what happened when the colours ran into each other.

All of a sudden, I found myself creating amazing, magical effects, using the glazing and wet into wet techniques.

As an added bonus, Ive never had to buy cards or wrapping papers since I began to pursue my passion for experimenting with watercolour.

In the following pages, Ill introduce you to all the techniques, exercises and funfilled projects that Ive developed and Ill introduce you to the excitement of the moment when a magical, loose painting appears from the end of your brush.

Have fun, relax and keep practising.

CHAPTER 1
Materials I like to use

This painting of an Echidna was painted with acrylics, however, I added flow medium to turn it into a watercolour consistency, tipping it on different angles while I was painting it. I encouraged the colours to flow into each other, finally adding a touch of detail as it was nearly dry. I used burnt sienna, cobalt blue and, violet

I painted this kookaburra on a dry surface, adding water as I went to help the colours flow into each other. This created a lovely loose painting. I also sprinkled salt on the background when it was semi dry to create some texture. Final details were added in when Mr kookaburra was completely dry.