Watercolour Painting: Graded Wash

Applying a graded wash, first dampen the paper.

Add some strong colour, starting from one edge working back and forth. Slowly the paint becomes more dilute, tilt the paper to allow the water to carry the pigment.

Another way is to paint directly on dry paper e.g. drawing clouds leaving space to create the image, working fairly quickly to avoid the paint from completely drying out.

Observe where the light is coming, mix together complementary colours to produce a grey, and shade in on the opposite of the light. Indicate the light on the other side with another colour and then soften with a clean brush.

Adding water, removing excess water and tilting the paper are some of the techniques that can help soften or define the subject being painted.