Dry Brush watercolors techniques

Dry Brush Technique - Proper brush handling and paint consistency is needed in this easily learned watercolor technique. With the dry brush technique, your paper is completely dry. Then apply a fairly dry pigment with very little water to the paper.

The dry brush technique should only be used where you want to draw focus or create texture in your painting. It's always a good idea to use various watercolor brush techniques in a single painting. This results in a more interesting painting.

The brush tip must be wetted but not overcharged with paint, and the paint must be just fluid enough to transfer to the paper with slight pressure and without dissolving the paint layer underneath. The goal is to build up or mix the paint colors with short precise touches that blend to avoid the appearance of pointilism. The cumulative effect is objective, textural and highly controlled, with the strongest possible value contrasts in the medium. Often it is impossible to distinguish a good drybrush watercolor from a color photograph or oil painting, and many drybrush watercolors are varnished or lacquered after they are completed to enhance this resemblance

Watercolor Brushes - Any of your regular watercolor brushes can be used to lift dry watercolor paint. Use clear water with a gentle scrubbing motion, blotting carefully with a drier brush or tissue as you go. Using red sable or other soft hair brushes creates a softer edge but is less effective at loosening the dried paint from the paper. This method offers greater control in the areas you are lightening.

Using your good painting brushes for lifting paint can wear down the fine tips over time. If you've invested money in high quality brushes spend a few more bucks and keep some synthetic watercolor brushes handy for your dry color lifting needs.

Acrylic or Oil painting brushes. The tough and resilient synthetic and natural bristle brushes used in acrylic and oil painting are the more traditional choice for "scrubbing" lights into watercolor paint. The stiffer hairs can quickly scrub an area covered in paint down to the paper surface.

Control is rather coarse using bristle brushes. The soft hair lift "teases" the paint from the paper. This "scrubbing" method is more aggressive and can harm the paper if used with too much enthusiasm.

Spray and Blot - Spraying clear water on an area of yourn painting and blotting it with a paper towel can lighten large areas of a painting by degrees. Using the force of the spray in a "sandblast" manner to force pigment loose and off the paper is effective also.

As you can see, many techniques for removing dry paint can result in damage to your paper surface. When scraping, scrubbing, or picking out highlights with sharp or rough tools it can be easy to make a mistake that won't be easily corrected.

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