Watercolor technique in modern painting

Watercolor technique in modern painting

On November 23, the world art community will celebrate the International Watercolor Day, which means there is a great opportunity to talk about this versatile painting technique. Indeed, despite all the complexity and unpredictability, it has been and remains popular with painters, illustrators, designers from different countries and styles.

They began to create drawings using watercolors as early as the 2nd century in China. Paper, wood, silk and other fabrics were painted with watercolors, and then they hung the scrolls on the wall or rolled them into a roll for storage in special cases. Traditional painting of the East is symbolic and allegorical — it is necessary not only to consider, but to understand and decipher the meaning of each pictorial message. Behind an unpretentious at first glance plot — a landscape, a portrait, the image of flowers, birds or animals — there is a deep philosophical statement.

In European painting, this technique began to be used much later than others. The term «watercolor» in the conventional sense is first encountered in the «Treatise on Painting» by Cennino Cennini (1437). Until the 17th century, watercolors were mainly used to decorate church books, making ornaments, miniatures and capital letters. Watercolor painting was also common among amateur artists, members of scientific expeditions, and was used to create topographic plans, drawings and prints. This type of technical painting with watercolors was called «illumination.» Among the academic painters who made a significant contribution to the development of watercolor technique at an early stage, it is worth mentioning the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer, the British master of the romantic landscape William Turner, as well as the French representative of the historical genre Eugene Delacroix.

The possibilities of watercolors were highly appreciated during the heyday of impressionism. Camille Pizarro, Paul Signac, Paul Cezanne loved to paint watercolor sketches in the open air. Especially sensitive to the temperament and «movement of the brush» of the master, watercolor became the ideal expression of his fleeting and elusive impression.

At the end of XX-XXI centuries, the circle of artists who use watercolor technique is rapidly expanding. Beautiful watercolor paintings demonstrate a variety of styles, techniques, subjects. The most current genre is invariably landscape — natural, sea, urban, fantastic. Craftsmen who have perfectly mastered the elements of water and paint create truly atmospheric canvases. It is impossible not to be imbued with melancholy and tranquility, contemplating the rainy metropolises of the Taiwanese artist Lin Ching Che. Looking at the spacious, light and airy paintings of the Japanese artist Abe Toshiyuki, you seem to find yourself in a sunny forest glade for a while. A hot afternoon in the paintings of the Japanese Kant Harusaki will warm you even on the coldest winter day. These artists achieve incredible lightness, transparency and depth of space, using the «wet» watercolor technique («wet», «English» watercolor), when paint is applied to a sheet pre-moistened with water.

The refined Parisian landscapes of the Frenchman Thierry Duval, the serene evening marinas of the Australian Joseph Zbukvich, the lush and dynamic forest landscapes in the paintings of the British Joe Francis Dowden have no less charm. The secret of the hyper-realistic «presence» of these paintings is the use of a watercolor technique called «glaze» («dry»), when the paint is applied layer by layer with transparent strokes, and the bottom layer dries completely each time.

Watercolor works of contemporary landscape painters introduce nature to different countries and continents. Colorful Spanish views in Blanca Alvarez’s drawings, picturesque Finnish nature in Maria Koskinjemi’s paintings, detailed rendering of local color in Michal Jaszewicz’s Polish landscapes — these paintings influence our imagination in different ways, but each of them uses a la prima technique. Drawing in this technique is done in one layer and at a time, the paints are applied directly to the wet surface, thanks to which amazing expression and dynamics are achieved.

Artists working with watercolors often turn to genre painting (genre painting). Scenes from everyday life, painted with watercolors, turn out to be lively and relaxed, as if unexpectedly «snatched» from the fast flow of life. The colorful and emotional images of musicians and dancers in the paintings of American Misha Lenn are filled with movement, energy and festive mood. Chinese artist Liu Yi’s exquisite ballet sketches are the embodiment of the most moving and sublime beauty imaginable on paper. Both creators masterfully use a watercolor technique called «reserve» — the white color predominates in the picture, due to the preservation of individual sections of the paper intact. Highlighting is achieved with wax crayons, scotch tape, removing the paint with a wrung-out brush or scraping out the paint layer.

Among the creations of contemporary watercolor painters, sometimes there is a traditional portrait or still life. For example, the Brazilian artist Eudis Correia loves to paint ordinary passers-by: adults and children, men and women. And the Belarusian artist Yekaterina Zyuzina creates a variety of watercolors in the still life genre — with fruits, flowers or utensils — in which an affection for home comfort is guessed.

But sketching (from the English «quick drawing») is gaining the greatest popularity lately. Watercolors are an excellent tool for fluent sketches of various objects: clothes, cars, architectural structures, plants. For example, the German artist Felix Steinberger creates funny illustrations about his travels. Spanish artist Luis Ruiz Padrón is the author of a book on the architecture of various countries, which includes his colorful watercolor travel sketches. Many fashion designers turn their ideas into watercolor fashion sketches: Manolo Blahnik, Bill Donovan (Christian Dior), Alexis Mackenzie (H&M), Alina Zamanova (McQueen).

The watercolor technique is experiencing a new explosion in popularity today. It appears as an integral component of modern academic painting and is actively used for illustrative and advertising purposes. You can buy watercolor paintings at exhibitions and auctions, or you can buy them in specialized online galleries and stocks. Watercolor images are used in books, magazines, posters; author’s watercolor fonts, patterns and decorative elements adorn the pages of landing pages, sites, blogs.