Watercolor Paint

Watercolor (or watercolour also known as aquarelle) is a painting technique using paint made of colorants suspended or dissolved in water. Although the grounds used in watercolor painting vary, the most common is paper. more...

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Others include papyrus, bark papers, plastics, leather, fabric, wood, and canvas.

History of watercolor painting

Parastoo Salehi Watercolor painting began with the invention of paper in China shortly after 100 AD. In the 12th century the conquering Moors introduced papermaking to Spain and the technology spread to Italy decades later. Some of the oldest paper manufactures include Fabriano, Italy, opened in 1276, and Arches, France, opened in 1492.

The forerunner of watercolor painting in Europe was buon fresco painting — wall-painting using pigments in a water medium on wet plaster. One well-known example of buon fresco is the Sistine Chapel, begun in 1508 and completed in 1514.

The earliest known use of European watercolor painting is by Italian Renaissance painter Raffaello Santi (1483-1520), who painted full-scale cartoons as precursors for tapestry designs.

In Germany, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) painted watercolors in the 15th century. The first school of watercolor painting in Europe was led by Hans Bol (1534-1593) and was much influenced by Dürer's creations.

Other famous artists have used watercolor painting to supplement their work with oil paint, including van Dyck (1599-1641), Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), and John Constable (1776-1837).

In 18th century Britain, Paul Sandby (1725–1809) was called the father of British watercolor.

Watercolor paint

The broader term for water-based painting media is watermedia. The term watercolor most often to refers to traditional transparent watercolor or gouache (an opaque form of the same paint).

Watercolor paint is made of finely-ground pigment or dye mixed with gum arabic for body, and glycerin or honey for viscosity and to bond the colorant to the painting surface. Unpigmented filler is added to gouache to lend opacity to the paint. Oil of clove is used to prevent mold.

Watercolor paints vary in their transparency, some being less transparent (more covering) than others. The more transparent paints allow the paper (or an undercolor) to show through while others allow less of the undercolor to be seen.

As there is no true transparent white watercolor, the white parts of a watercolor painting are most often areas of the paper "reserved" or left unpainted and allowed to be seen in the finished work. Some white paint might be used to indicate snow on a fence or the foam in the sea, as examples, by using Chinese White or White Gouache. These are not transparent. They are used quite sparingly so as not to lose the light and airy look of the work.

Read more at Wikipedia.org