PAINTING: Watercolor Exercise
Name:______________________
LESSON FOCUS:
This lesson focuses on practicing watercolor techniques.
VOCABULARY:
Backruns: Found in watercolor painting, backruns are those dreadful hard-edged shapes
that sometimes creep into a clear wash when the paper dries unevenly and cockles.
Blending: Is a means of achieving soft, melting color gradations by brushing or rubbing
the edge where to tones or colors meet.
Glazing: Glazing is a technique in which thin, transparent washes of color are laid on
successive layers of dried colors, such as many sheets of colored tissue paper.
Graded wash: In watercolor, the purpose of a graded wash is to create an area of color
that moves gradually from dark to light, from light to dark, or from one color to another.
Masking out: Masking out means isolating certain areas of a painting by covering them
up with a paint-resistant surface, so that they can be freely worked over without marking
the surface.
Pan: In painting, the name of the storage container for individual watercolors.
Pigment: A dry insoluble substance, usually pulverized, which when suspended in a
liquid vehicle or medium becomes a paint or ink. Pigments are natural elements or can be
manufactured.
Plastic wrap technique: The use of plastic wrap placed onto a wet wash of watercolor to
produce textures and effects.
Salt technique: The use of salt sprinkled into a wet wash of watercolor or ink to produce
textures and effects.
Variegated wash: With water-based media exciting and unusual effects can be obtained
by laying different colored washes side by side so that the melt into each other wet-inwet.
Wash: Large flat areas of paint, watercolor, or ink that are diluted with water and applied
by brush.
Watercolor: A painting medium consisting of pigments suspended in a solution of water
and gum Arabic; often stored in pans.
Wet-in-wet: Colors are applied over or into each other while they are wet, leaving them
partially mixed on the paper.
PROCEDURE:
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Listen and watch the watercolor presentation.
On a piece of 9”x 12” watercolor paper, divide it into 8 equal sections using a
pencil and a ruler. Each rectangle should measure 3” wide by 4 ½” tall.
Paint the sections in the following order and with the following techniques:
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o Glazing: must be done in layers by letting one layer dry before adding the
second layer.
o Graded wash: mixing from white to a bright color gradually.
o Masking out: using masking tape (don’t press too hard) and then painting
over top of the tape.
o Plastic wrap: use one or more color and press the plastic onto the color
while wet – let dry completely.
o Salt: add salt to a wet wash of color or colors
o Variegated wash: use one or more colors applied next to one another while
wet.
o Blending: blend two colors together smoothly.
o Wet-in-wet: drop color into a wet wash for tie-dye effects.
Once your entire paper is dry, submit.
MATERIALS:
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9”x 12” watercolor paper
Set of watercolor paints
Paper towels
Large water container
Soft brush
Salt
Plastic wrap