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What is a Watercolour?

​What is a watercolour?
 
A watercolour painting is an image constructed through the combination of water-soluble pigments, a gum Arabic binder and water. Watercolour paints are transparent. The most usual support for a watercolour painting is paper.
As Graham Reynolds explains, ‘To begin with the pigment: this is colour ground or suspended in a water-soluble medium such as gum. The instrument with which the drawing is executed is the brush, and the usual surface is paper. Since the layers of pigment placed on the surface are very thin, light is reflected from the white background through the colour washes to produce the brightness of tone, freshness of colour and luminosity of effect which are the watercolour’s characteristic assets. If a painter, otherwise working with the watercolour’s limitations, desires less transparency and a thicker texture of paint, he can mix his pigment with opaque white, forming gouache or, so-called because it has more ‘body’, bodycolour.’
From Watercolours: A Concise History, 1998
Watercolours are less stable than, for example, oil paintings. Over-exposure to light will fade a watercolour.

John William Chadwick watercolour
Cottages by a Country Lane, John William Chadwick (exh. 1882-1896), watercolour on paper

Our collection of watercolours can be viewed here.

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  • Home
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    • Articles
    • Emmabella's Alphabet Books
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  • Information
    • About Us
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    • Terms and conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • FAQs
    • Art techniques
    • Artists' Biographies
    • Punch Cartoonists' Biographies
  • Contact us