Why are Watercolors so Difficult?

Artists around the world remark about how difficult watercolor painting is difficult to learn. Artists who are new to the medium may feel it is more challenging because the final product can be hard to control. Watercolor painting consists of mixing water and pigment through a process of glazing. In this process, the artist achieves a style, representation, or desired effect through glazing, wet in wet, wet on dry, or masking. Why do watercolorists using glazing?

Andre Felibien, who moved in the artistic circles of Rome in the 1 640s and who was a friend of Poussin, Guercino, and Cigoli, and probably knew Ga­ lileo, wrote, "When a work is painted to the last degree of perfection, it can be considered from close to [sic] : it has the advantage of appearing stronger and three-dimensional" (4).

Historical Paintings. Getty.edu.

Quite simply — it makes a painting more realistic.

Controlling the medium poses a challenge when water based mediums are used on paper. They bleed, absorb spontaneously into paper, and mix with other colors in uncontrolled ways. Watercolorist become professionals at learning how to control the way paper absorbs color pigmentation.

Watercolors are versatile

Watercolor painting can be done in several different styles called glazing, wet in wet, wet on dry, masking, splatter techniques, and mixed media. There are so many different ways to approach painting with watercolors.

Correcting Mistakes is Impossible

Well, it’s not impossible to correct mess ups, but it’s very hard. You would have to apply a lot of water and dab the colors off before they absorb into the paper. Magic erasers also work in removing color from the paper, but they damage the tooth of the paper. It’s important to remember that these methods can peel the paper or damage a painting badly. Once you paint over an area that you didn’t want to paint over, you’ll have to paint over it more or use mixed media to correct it. Sometimes white colored pencils are used or acrylic/gouache paints.

Watercolors are unpredictable

Wet in wet watercolor painting has the unpredictable element. Water moves spontaneously and absorbs into the paper rapidly. Because water absorbs quickly and moves around the page, watercolor painting can be rather unpredictable. Artists master watercolors by painting by practicing and learning how the water interacts with the paper.

Watercolor mindset means painting in reverse

In some ways, watercolor painting involves painting in reverse. You preserve the white areas of the painting and darken other areas with every layer. With acrylic painting and oil painting, you can change the painting at any time and make an area white again. With watercolor painting, once you have painted over the white areas of paper, you cannot get those areas back. The pigments absorb into the paper. This is why a lot of artists feel watercolor painting means thinking of your process the opposite of other mediums.

Watercolors require quick painters

The water absorbs into the paper quickly. This means you have to make calculated brush strokes before the water dries. Acrylics dry slower, and oils dry the slowest. On an oil painting, you can take a few days and go back to a painting hours later to work on wet paint. With watercolor painting, the water dries very fast.

Watercolors Take Time to Build Color Values

It’s true you can achieve darker colors quicker with other mediums. Because watercolors are transparent, they take longer to build bright colors. Typically watercolors are lighter in value. This is why artists do glazing, the process of building up layers of color on top of each other. You can see how this is done in the following video.

Why Watercolor Paint if it’s so Hard?

All of the reasons above at to the satisfaction behind learning how to paint with watercolors. Watercolor painting gives a lot of joy even though it is a hard medium to learn. Learning to paint is a challenge across all art mediums. The vibrancy and transparency of the medium gives many painters joy. The process is unlike any other artistic medium out there. If you would like to learn watercolor painting, you can begin with this article.