Watercolour is a Master medium, it is the quickness of the medium and the way the pigment reacts on your paper to your emotional relationship with your subject. You need to choose where you will put each stroke of colour and then let it enchant your audience. Watercolour is certifiably not a medium to be completely controlled, and obviously, that is the plain beauty of its quality.
It is a translucent method used for many reasons: in the classroom, botanical drawings, for illustrations, as studies, and for Artworks.
Watercolour paint is produced using coloured pigments scattered in a suspension that binds the colour and enables it to stick to a surface when dry. The commercial watercolour paints, the binder is either common gum arabic, honey or manufactured glycol. Each maker has their own particular suspension synthesis, called the backbone composition. While watercolour paint is water-solvent, because of the water-solvent binder. On the other hand, pigments, don't break up in water. The major difference between studio grade and artist quality paint is the amount of pigment used in making the paint. Some of the student paints the quality of the pigment and binder may be of poorer quality. The artist-grade paints contain more pigments.
Watercolours have the ability to dissolve or to portray forms and have an unanticipated way of direction! Let’s check out how these watercolours get this amazing quality that helps artists achieve their goals.
Pigments:
Pigments do not dissolve in water and they are chemical compounds with colour attributes. In Watercolours, colour is provided by pigments. These pigments are similar to those used for other purposes like printing inks, textiles or cosmetics. However, the proportion of pigments in watercolours can vary from 10% to 50%. Pigments are used by professional quality tube and pan watercolours.
Below are some details of the proportion of pigments to the vehicle in tube watercolours for a finely divided, strongly tinting pigment:
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Phthalocyanines, red quinacridones, dioxazine violet or alizarin crimson – Less than 10% to around 20%
Prussian blue, carbon black, the "raw" (un-calcinated) black and red iron oxides, zinc or titanium white, yellow quinacridones, benzimidazolones and most other synthetic organic pigments – From 20% to 30%
Yellow iron oxides, viridian, ultramarine blue, ultramarine violet and the finer grained cobalt pigments (blue, cerulean, turquoise, green) – 30% to 40%
Weakly tinting cadmium yellows, cobalt violet and "burnt" (calcinated) red and yellow iron oxides – 40% to 50%
Cadmium orange, the cadmium reds, manganese violet and manganese blue – more than 50%
Nowadays, most natural organic pigments have been replaced with synthetic ones. For more details about pigments, you can read our previous blog ‘Pigments: From Caves to Canvas’.
Binder:
Pigment particles are scattered through processing in a fluid vehicle that comprises fundamentally (around 65% of vehicle volume) of a transparent binder. Pigment particles are carried by the binder in the form of a viscous liquid so it can be taken in a brush and pigments can stick to the paper or canvas. It produces a bright colour by holding the particles of pigments on a paper place. Add more water to gum Arabic and apply it as a varnish or best coat to dried paint to decrease surface dispersing and give the paint a more profound, more extravagant colour.
The binder normally decides the name of a medium — linseed oil for oil paints, acrylic polymer emulsion for acrylic paints, egg white or yolk for egg gum-based paint. Watercolours are named rather for their dissolvable (water) and verifiably have utilized an assortment of gums, starches or animal binders.
Due to the increased rates of gum Arabic, many industrialists now use alternative binders. These have provided very satisfactory watercolours! In 1953, a patented recipe was made out of 85 % water-soluble component, 4% stearyl alcohol, waxy polyethylene glycol, 6% polyhydric alcohol and 5% water by volume.
Brightener :
Adding brighteners to watercolours increases the chroma or lightness of your finished artwork. However, adding too much of it can give a white cast to your work. Sometimes, as pigments and brighteners have the same particle size and specific gravity, it also can compromise the lightfastness as they cannot be divided from pigment once mixed with water. A trusted method to check paint formulations is by doing a tinting test. It helps you know the quality and measure of pigment used in the paint by diluting it in water or titanium dioxide.
Plasticizers :
Adding Plasticizers to watercolours helps in stopping the paint from getting hard. The common plasticizers used by manufacturers is glycerin. The gum arabic is mixed with a carbohydrate plasticizer, usually 20% or less of vehicle volume. It also helps in resolving issues like cracking or flacking, preventing the paints from getting dark, leathery or shiny.
Humectant :
Using Glycerin and gum Arabic can dry out the paint in the tube or pan. That is why another component is required so that it can retain water from the surrounding and act as a humectant. They also increased the drying time of the paint which gives you an ability to have fun with the paints and create effects before they dry out. However, it can increase the staining of paints. Honey and corn syrup are some common humectants used in watercolours.
Fillers :
Fillers are used to thicken the paint and standardize the consistency of pigment and vehicle mixtures belonging to the same line. They are also used to subdue intensely tinting pigments or to reduce the ratio of expensive pigments in the paint. Most commonly used filler is dextrin.
To maintain the thickness and consistency of the paints, Fillers are used in watercolour paints. It is also used to reduce the proportion of costly pigments or use to subdue intensely tinting pigments. Dextrin - a clear, gelatinous processed wheat or cornstarch – is a commonly used Filler.
Water :
Last but not the least, this is an equally important component of watercolour paints. This amazing component gives life to your art. It consists of 15% by volume of water. Paints are fabricated with more water in the vehicle, as this diminishes the consistency of the vehicle and decreases the measure of labour and electricity important to process the paint. This water generally lost through dissipation amid processing, yet additionally subsequent to processing when the paint is left to sit and age or settle. A few shades or fillers ingest water gradually, resulting into expansion: these are the paints that explode from the tube when it is first opened, in light of the fact that they were not matured enough before packing.
Watercolour painting is about the lucidity and sparkle that you can accomplish with it which isn't conceivable with different types of art. Certain hues get things done with different hues when placed down and numerous things occur on dry and wet surfaces that you can't explain in words. It is only after a good experience of years, painting with this glorious medium that you establish an understanding of its fine characteristics. In the hands of an ace watercolourist, its beauties are unleashed and the delight of the brushwork, shading, and emotion are a visual satisfaction to the eye!
