Watercolor Painting on Paper

Watercolors are often the first medium most painters would find themselves dabbling in. A soft, translucent glow surrounds watercolor artworks, with an air of clouding mystery, inviting the spectator to participate and interact with what the artist has brought to paper. In fine art, the word 'watercolor' refers to the artworks where the paint pigments are bound to dissolve in water. Different from gouache artworks that emit an opacity, watercolors use other varieties of additives such as honey, glycerin etc. To enhance plasticity and create other effects. Watercolors are usually applied with sable or squirrel hair brushes on white colored paper or cardboard. In china and japan, water color on paper are considered a universal painting, except that east asian watercolors usually use only black ink. In western lands, european artists used watercolors to decorate illuminated manuscripts and map colors during the middle ages, and to study nature and small sculptures during the rebirth. As western nations began to produce paper in large quantities, the writing system began to develop a new method. The benefits of watercolor lie in its ease of use and speed, in its obvious effects, in its lightness, and in its relative cheapness. Chinese and Japanese artisans often painted on silk and fine handmade paper.

Their art was complemented by an allusion of literature and calligraphy, but the main picture was often a place of contemplation. In India and Persia, opaque gouache paintings by muslim-origined artists depict religious events taken from byzantine art. As paper was considered a luxury in these early times, the traditional western watercolor scene took time to take off. The increase in the availability of paper in the fourteenth century finally allowed the opportunity to paint with watercolor on paper as a work of art. During and after the renaissance, artists such as Albrecht Durer, and Rembrandt used watercolors to type and cast shadows and pieces of wood. In what is now known as the golden age of watercolor painting, the artists of the English landscape art school have transformed a water-based color painting into a delicate and independent artform. In 'pure' watercolor paint, (sometimes called 'English method') no white is used. Instead, the spots or dots of white paper are left unpainted to reflect white objects or reflected light. Color tones and atmospheric effects are achieved by staining the paper when wet with varying degrees of color scheme. Refined as a 'wash', this procedure can also be used to reduce or erase the strokes of each brush, or to create large areas of the same color (e.g. Blue sky). The artist controls the effects of this wash by changing the intensity of color. Jmw Turner, frequently referred to as the greatest English water artist, preferred the addition of white to his paintings and used other methods to create his own unique light effects. Watercolor dries fast and allows for the creation of finer, more detailed works of art. However, exposure to light causes the color to fade, and many works of art have suffered irreversible damage. This is why many watercolor on paper drawings are now kept in low-temperature controlled dark areas for preservation and as they are more likely to be damaged and rot than cloth or wood. With the exception of images of plants or wildlife, which created a unique watercolor culture - it was severely restricted to prepared paintings, or drawings of large designs.