It is not possible to make all your compositional or tactical choices for ‘Pure Watercolour’ from the beginning. Retaining some flexibility lets you enjoy the process more without getting stressed that you have wrecked your painting. With the ‘Pure Watercolour’ method preserving white paper for extreme high lights is necessary. However, adding lifting out techniques to your repertoire means that you have more possibilities as you travel through to a completed painting. Adding missing highlight details, and shaping the form of components in your painting can be very nicely achieved by lifting out.
By pure watercolour I mean no white paint and no black paint. Whites are the preserved white paper.
Tools first; clean water, a stiff hogs hair brush (best to have a selection of various sizes), and clean kitchen roll. Masking tape also useful (but remove some of its extreme stickiness first, because you do not need to seriously stick it to your watercolour paper as it will damage or lift off colour i.e. loosely stick in position). Use masking tape to get clean edges to shapes. You can also use old watercolour paper or card to define the area you want to lift.
Method; identify the area you wish to lift paint from. Make sure the paint is dry first. Position any masking or scrap paper around the area you wish to lift. Using a barely damp stiff brush begin to ‘scrub’ at the painted area you want to lift. Wash the brush and semi dry with kitchen roll after each time you pass over the area you want to lift, then ‘dab’ the area with kitchen roll. This should start to remove paint – depending on how much paint is on the paper. If you need to lift more paint then wait for the paper to dry, then repeat the scrubbing/dabbing actions. Repeat until you have the result you need. Wait for the area to dry before deciding if you want to keep it as is – or you can glaze over with colour if you think you have overdone it.
It may not be possible to get back to the real white of the paper – depending on the paint you are trying to remove and how many layers. But you can get close with repeated scrubbing and dabbing.
You use Bockingford for your paintings – what qualities do you like about it?
I have used Bockingford CP (NOT) surface 425gsm (200lb) for many years. I always stretch the paper onto wooden boards. With my type of subjects I do not want the paper to warp or cockle, and need my drawing to be accurate (i.e. stay in the position). Additionally, many of the techniques I have developed over the years to enable me to create the illusions of texture and 3D effects on a 2D surface require a paper which is tough enough to withstand some fairly heavy treatment. As outlined above this paper also enables me to apply my lifting out techniques to steer the work in the direction I want it to go. It will withstand a lot of reworking and can take up to 24 layers of wash while still retaining luminosity.
What are some common mistakes to avoid when colour-lifting?
Impatience and not letting the paper area dry before each washing out cycle. Indecision – make sure you practice first – and are clear regarding the area you want to lift out! Good luck!
Watch the video:
Links
View more of David Poxon’s paintings at:
www.instagram.com/davidpoxonwatercolours/
www.facebook.com/davidpoxonwatercolour
To learn more about the International Watercolour Masters exhibition David is curating:
www.internationalwatercolourmasters.com
Read our artist interview with David Poxon.
To find out more about our Bockingford range visit our website.
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