At the request of plastic art, watercolor is the name with which a technique characterized by the use of colors dissolved in water.
Pictorial technique that consists of using color dissolved in water
It should be noted that the colors used when diluted in water turn out to be mostly transparent, this being the most distinctive characteristic of this artistic procedure.
Even being so translucent it is possible to see the white background in which they have been captured, which also ends up acting in the scene as another simile tonality.
How is the technique
The watercolor technique involves the application of semi-transparent layers that are superimposed to achieve darker colors, that is, it is painted from light to dark, not painting the white color, and leaving the white of the paper for that color.
There are several techniques for painting with watercolors, one of the currents being the use of wet paper, which is called wet watercolor.
It consists of wetting the paper that is going to be used to paint and then the brush is loaded with color and the brushstrokes are given in a horizontal direction, gently, and tilting the paper so that the color runs and achieve a gradient effect .
Once the first coat has dried, other brush strokes can be superimposed.
It is important to mention to those who follow this technique that it is important that the paper dries well before applying color again because otherwise the colors will mix, an unwanted result by the way.
And the other widespread technique is to use dry paper, which is known as dry watercolor and whose main difference is that the paper on which you work is dry.
You can also mix both techniques.
On the other hand, color overlays add great value to your creation, however, when overlaying, the warmest color should be applied first.
If we proceed the other way around, applying the cold color we will obtain a different result, being that the cold color ends up overshadowing the warm one and makes it dirty.
Van Gogh, a watercolor artist
The Dutch painter Vincent Willem van Gogh is undoubtedly one of the most notable references in watercolor.
This 19th-century artist was an emblem of Post-Impressionism and left a remarkable legacy of watercolors.
Composition of the watercolors and history
Watercolors are composed of grouped pigments, either from honey or gum arabic.
Gum arabic consists of bio molecules from the resin of trees known as Acacia Seyal and Acacia Senegal, and that it is the result of a natural healing process that takes place in them and that has the mission of closing wounds and in this way avoiding the entry of germs.
The resin has an amber color and can be collected once it dries.
It is an ancient substance that was used by the Egyptians for the preparation of cosmetic products and perfumes and in their well-known mummification process.
The application of watercolor in layers is extremely frequent to thereby gain brilliance.
In one of the places in the world where watercolor has become a hyper popular technique is in the Japan, watercolor with ink being known as Sumi-e.
The use of the technique is also millenary since it appeared approximately in the year 100 BC, at the time of the appearance of the paper.
Its immediate antecedent is the cool, which uses pigments with water on the plaster, being a faithful exponent of this the fresco painted in the Sistine Chapel.
On Europe, watercolor was used for the first time by the Italian painter Raffaello Santi.
On the other hand, to that artistic work that is made either on paper or cardboard and that presents the aforementioned characteristics, it is called as watercolor.
And to the colors used to carry out the watercolor technique, likewise, they are called through the word that occupies us.
