Project 6: Watercolour Wet on Dry

Unlike Wet on Wet the Wet on Dry technique simply means adding wet paint to a dry surface. If you are adding one layer on top of another layer the first layer must be completely bone dry, this makes this technique very time consuming if you want the paint to dry naturally. You can speed things up by using a hair dryer however you must be careful when drying the paint in case you make the paint move. The wet on Dry Technique produces hard, sharp, crisp marks more suited for detail work. It is also easier to control then the Wet on Wet technique as the paints don’t spread and go everywhere, beginners tend to start with the Wet on Dry technique. Most of the samples of paintbrush strokes I did previously are Wet on Dry.


Wet on Dry Sample One...

Paper: Gerstaecker No 3 @ 200gsm
Paint: Reeves (Tubes)

The paint has been applied on dry paper with a paintbrush either by applying a stroke or by flicking the paintbrush. If paint has been applied on top of paint I have made sure that every layer of paint was dry before applying the next layer.

A lot of the samples not shown online were to do with laying washes on different supprt and brands of watercolour paint also sponges and foambrushes were used.


Wet on Wet Sample Seven...

Paper: Crawford & Black @ 230gsm
Paint: Reeves (Tubes)

I tried a very quick painting which took me around five minutes to complete. This has been done in one colour over layering the below layer to make it darker. All the strokes were wet on dry and all the layers were dried with a hairdryer completely before applying another layer of the same strength paint.