Art-Making l Watercolors: How to Bring back Highlights

Students often wonder what to do when the tones of their watercolor paintings get too dark. Since artists generally try to leave the white of the paper as the lightest value in their paintings, it can be frustrating when those areas are mistakenly painted over. We will explore lifting colors to get a lighter tone in earlier sessions, but in this class we will talk about paint called gouache. This is a water-soluble, opaque paint that can be helpful in bringing back highlights that have been lost or mixing with another color to create lighter moments. We will also discuss a tool called resist, or masking fluid, for the painter who wants to preserve those lighter areas from the beginning.