How to convey bright sunlight in watercolour

There are many things that contribute to the attractive and free nature of watercolour, but here we’ll concentrate on the simplest and most basic: how to apply the paint to the paper. If you're just getting started there are plenty of watercolour tutorials to help refine your skills. 

I’ve found the easiest way to make the paint look happy on the paper is to touch the paper once. That is, I know how I want my picture to look straight away, and don’t plan to do any over-painting. I avoid painting anywhere twice, until I have painted everything once. And I don’t correct as I go along either– I wait until the end, when it is easier to judge the passages that haven’t quite gone to plan. Remember, we are all trying to narrow the gap between our vision and the execution of our vision.

This content originally appeared in Paint & Draw Watercolours. Buy it at Magazines Direct here.