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Revision as of 00:54, 30 May 2003 by 62.212.110.113 (talk) (+french link)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Generally, watercolors are paints that must be mixed with water prior to application. While the grounds for watercolor painting are varied, the most common is paper. Others, less used, include plastics, leather, fabric, wood, and canvas.
The broader term for water-based painting media is "watermedia". The term "watercolor" still seems most often to refer to traditional transparent watercolor, or gouache, an opaque form of the same paint. These are specific types of watermedia.
Watercolor paint is made of color pigment mixed with gum arabic for body and and glycerin or honey for viscosity. Gouache has an added body of unpigmented filler to lend opacity to the paint, and oil of clove to prevent mold.
Traditionally, watercolor is applied with brushes, but may be mixed with other materials (usually acrylic and collage), and appllied with other implements for experimental approaches. In traditional technique dating from at least the early 20th Century, the white of the paper is the only white used with transparent watercolor. The paint is thinned when applied to allow for lighter passages within the painting. Opaque paint is seldom used for whites, or to "overpaint". This lack of opacity provides watercolor its peculiar characteristics of brightness, "sparkle", freshness, and clarity of color, since the light from a watercolor has passed through the film of paint, and is reflected back to us again through the film.
Technique in watercolor is quite demanding, though not moreso than in other mediums. Maintaining a high quality of value difference and color clarity are typically the most difficult qualities to achieve and maintain.
The medium is equally effective in portraiture, figurative, and abstract work, both objective and non-objective. (Kandinsky produced the first non-objective abstract paintings in transparent watercolor around 1913) It is prized by its proponents as a studio medium for its lack of smell and ease of cleanup, and also as a plein air medium for its portability and quick drying.
Fingerpainting originated in China with watercolor paint.