En painting, it is now generally considered that watercolor work is done on blank paper, with at most a placement slightly traced in crayon. This does not exclude that artists can lift colored sketches on the pattern, before performing the actual watercolor on blank paper.

When a brush stroke, we apply the watercolor on the support, the pigments are found first in suspension in the aqueous medium. They are then gradually deposited in the hollows of the rough edges of the paper just like sediment carried by a swollen river. As long as the paper remains wet, pigments still float in the liquid. It is always possible to intervene if the layer of pigments already deposited is not disturbed.

We usually describe two techniques that can be combined in the same job:

• The dry technique is the oldest. Its principle is to gently spread the very diluted paint on the support so as to let the background color show through. Once the first tones are set and after complete drying, we are interested in the elements of more and more precise details by using less diluted colors and taking care to go from the lightest tones to the darkest. The work progresses in successive layers and ends with some darker highlights which give the work presence and character.
• The technique in the wet, more dynamic, requires the prior humidification of the support. It allows the artist to obtain surfaces with very intense colors, to merge the colors and to remove the paint without damaging the support. The effects are numerous: melted, degraded, monochrome, etc. It takes a long time to learn because it requires a good mastery of the water cycle on paper. It is in fact the degree of humidity of the paper that dictates to the painter the most opportune moment to intervene (Morelle 2013).

In all cases, the color of the watercolor tarnishes quite noticeably on drying (Morelle 2013, p. 22). The disappearance of water changes the path of light rays, and colors lose their brilliance. The artist takes this into account. A similar phenomenon can occur if, the finished work, we apply a varnish fixative or protector.

Source: Extract from articles Wikipedia.

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