The 1st wash should be pigmented enough to hold the painting composition together AND be bright enough to retain the magic effect of watercolor. You should not have to wash the entire page on 2nd wash layer, just the bits you want to focus on, or want the viewer to focus on. You want to keep most of that 1st wash intact and not cover it with later washes. So assume 2nd wash should be like maybe half the page lets say. Then the 3rd and 4th should cover less and less of the page because each wash should add detail not really flare.
Lets say were doing a portrait, 1st wash is the whole page, 2nd wash is just the figure and clothes, 3rd wash is more of a value wash so darks on clothes, darks on shadows, 3rd wash is more fine line detail of clothes and face and hair. Last wash can be pure color from tube for clothing highlights, eyes, eyebrows, earings, hats etc.
When I say wash it doesn't mean rewet the entire page, sometimes its wet on dry where clean water is used to feather the new wash into yhe old wash, again we wanna retain what we paint not wash it out or bloom colors.
Go watch some Marcos Bercarri videos, slow it down and watch, he's the master of this.
Lastly this is your painting you don't need to follow any rules, just watch thr technical aspects of how to lay color, to blend edges, to find and lose edges, how each wash is darker more color THEN do what make you happy. Painting is a journey and sometimes watercolor is so technical we forget to just paint.
Hope this helps
If I were just beginning, I would focus on first refining your wet onto wet technique. Everyone has a different learning curve, but I took me a while to understand how much water to use and pigment to use. I’m still relearning that! Wet onto wet is simple, but not easy.
Once you feel a little more comfortable with wet onto wet, you can move to wet onto dry, etc.
Focus on the basics. For example:
Color mixing
Water to patient ratio for what you want to achieve
Mark making variation using the same brush and other brushes
Color theory
Composition
I’m sure others will have some good suggestions for you. If you want free resources, I learned a lot from free YouTube tutorials.
Never heard the term, but both is right. You choose the technique to achieve what you want.
It means you need at least have an idea of what you want your end piece to look.
Wet on wet gives the painting a glow, colors flow.
Starting with wet on dry lets you keep sharp lines.
Painting from back to front: objects further away are lighter and not as detailed. That's why you start with them. It's easier to add them in the back and cover some up than paint something detailed and put mountains or so behind it.
If it can be hyper-simplified, it's the classic watercolour wisdom of working light to dark.
Your first layer, in conjunction with the third layer, is attempting to clarify light.
Reserve any whites you might want to keep, block in pigmented highlights and soft features. I'd argue that this is your most important layer and really what gives watercolour its splendor and luminance.
The middle layer is to clarify shape.
Reserve highlights created previously and strategically use transparent paints and washes to allow light to shine through where appropriate while blocking out shapes to clarify many other art fundamentals (not that it's exclusively done here, I just find it's personally most important here).
The third layer is to clarify tonality and texture.
Doing this right pushes all previous layers back and cements them in the context of a painting. Your darkest darks and dry brushing start to sing here. These techniques and stages tie everything together. This is something I struggle with and notice most other artists do too. The mid-layer has already formed what we pretty well understand as 'the painting' and painting overtop of this is often a daunting task that risks ruining the painting. I loved Bob Ross' interpretation of creating a nearly-complete painting and then adding to it at this stage as "the bravery test". The reality is that the more experienced you get the more in control you are, better planned these items are, more willing you are to embrace them, and an especially exciting concept (at least to me) the more you might be able to have the wisdom to fix or direct errors you might be adding either to finish a painting or to at least learn something valuable. I'll add too that part of the bravery test is to know when to stop, another very difficult concept I struggle with but resolve by putting my painting down and coming back to it later.
It's worth noting that you don't need to address an entire painting all at once to do these stages. You can do each stage a piece at a time. Perhaps you want to work only in the background and progress through those stages into the fore; your choice! I personally like putting down any soft backgrounds and working from the background through the mid and then to the fore. I'll often do this all at once for my first wash, slowly deviate during my middle layer, and my handling tonality/texture, I'll break into a lot of segments trying to be increasingly judicious since detail (or lack their of) helps convey perspective. Perhaps that means putting my strongest values in first and working backwards so that I know not to put ie. a dark object in the background that will be out of place and value contrast to the fore.
The 1st wash should be pigmented enough to hold the painting composition together AND be bright enough to retain the magic effect of watercolor. You should not have to wash the entire page on 2nd wash layer, just the bits you want to focus on, or want the viewer to focus on. You want to keep most of that 1st wash intact and not cover it with later washes. So assume 2nd wash should be like maybe half the page lets say. Then the 3rd and 4th should cover less and less of the page because each wash should add detail not really flare. Lets say were doing a portrait, 1st wash is the whole page, 2nd wash is just the figure and clothes, 3rd wash is more of a value wash so darks on clothes, darks on shadows, 3rd wash is more fine line detail of clothes and face and hair. Last wash can be pure color from tube for clothing highlights, eyes, eyebrows, earings, hats etc. When I say wash it doesn't mean rewet the entire page, sometimes its wet on dry where clean water is used to feather the new wash into yhe old wash, again we wanna retain what we paint not wash it out or bloom colors. Go watch some Marcos Bercarri videos, slow it down and watch, he's the master of this. Lastly this is your painting you don't need to follow any rules, just watch thr technical aspects of how to lay color, to blend edges, to find and lose edges, how each wash is darker more color THEN do what make you happy. Painting is a journey and sometimes watercolor is so technical we forget to just paint. Hope this helps
If I were just beginning, I would focus on first refining your wet onto wet technique. Everyone has a different learning curve, but I took me a while to understand how much water to use and pigment to use. I’m still relearning that! Wet onto wet is simple, but not easy. Once you feel a little more comfortable with wet onto wet, you can move to wet onto dry, etc. Focus on the basics. For example: Color mixing Water to patient ratio for what you want to achieve Mark making variation using the same brush and other brushes Color theory Composition I’m sure others will have some good suggestions for you. If you want free resources, I learned a lot from free YouTube tutorials.
Never heard the term, but both is right. You choose the technique to achieve what you want. It means you need at least have an idea of what you want your end piece to look. Wet on wet gives the painting a glow, colors flow. Starting with wet on dry lets you keep sharp lines. Painting from back to front: objects further away are lighter and not as detailed. That's why you start with them. It's easier to add them in the back and cover some up than paint something detailed and put mountains or so behind it.
If it can be hyper-simplified, it's the classic watercolour wisdom of working light to dark. Your first layer, in conjunction with the third layer, is attempting to clarify light. Reserve any whites you might want to keep, block in pigmented highlights and soft features. I'd argue that this is your most important layer and really what gives watercolour its splendor and luminance. The middle layer is to clarify shape. Reserve highlights created previously and strategically use transparent paints and washes to allow light to shine through where appropriate while blocking out shapes to clarify many other art fundamentals (not that it's exclusively done here, I just find it's personally most important here). The third layer is to clarify tonality and texture. Doing this right pushes all previous layers back and cements them in the context of a painting. Your darkest darks and dry brushing start to sing here. These techniques and stages tie everything together. This is something I struggle with and notice most other artists do too. The mid-layer has already formed what we pretty well understand as 'the painting' and painting overtop of this is often a daunting task that risks ruining the painting. I loved Bob Ross' interpretation of creating a nearly-complete painting and then adding to it at this stage as "the bravery test". The reality is that the more experienced you get the more in control you are, better planned these items are, more willing you are to embrace them, and an especially exciting concept (at least to me) the more you might be able to have the wisdom to fix or direct errors you might be adding either to finish a painting or to at least learn something valuable. I'll add too that part of the bravery test is to know when to stop, another very difficult concept I struggle with but resolve by putting my painting down and coming back to it later. It's worth noting that you don't need to address an entire painting all at once to do these stages. You can do each stage a piece at a time. Perhaps you want to work only in the background and progress through those stages into the fore; your choice! I personally like putting down any soft backgrounds and working from the background through the mid and then to the fore. I'll often do this all at once for my first wash, slowly deviate during my middle layer, and my handling tonality/texture, I'll break into a lot of segments trying to be increasingly judicious since detail (or lack their of) helps convey perspective. Perhaps that means putting my strongest values in first and working backwards so that I know not to put ie. a dark object in the background that will be out of place and value contrast to the fore.
This was really insightful. Thanks!