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Here's a watercolor technique for painting interesting textures by dropping clean water onto your painting as paint dries.

History of the Watercolor Industry Origins and Original Recipes Watercolor came to western artists in the late 1400s. Artists had to formulate, prepare and grind their own watercolor paint and tended to keep their secret recipes and methods to themselves. In the 18th century the first paint manufacturers set up shop in major european cities. They not only provided the basic pigments, resins and oils but found a market for ready made color pastes and other artist equipment. A famous example is an "herbal extract" shop in Paris that prepared the colors for Jean Baptiste Chardin when the artist's failing...

Maybe our cutest painting idea yet! Follow professional painter and professional instructor, Isabella Kung, as she teaches you how to paint an adorable bunny rabbit step by step.

The Stuff of Paint Watercolor: What it is. Traditional transparent watercolor is finely ground pigment in a water-soluble binder such as gum arabic. Gum arabic is water-soluble gum produced by a species of the acacia tree and is available in crystalline form or in prepared solutions. The gum arabic crystals or granules are transparent when pure, but less highly refined varieties can be yellowish to honey colored. Gum arabic is also used in inks, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and confections (it's non-toxic and tasteless). Other binders used for watercolor paint have included Tragacanth, a gum optained from various asian shrubs, and fish...

Discover the origins of watercolor paint and learn about its evolution over time. From ancient civilizations to modern-day artists, watercolor painting has a rich history that continues to captivate art lovers around the world. Find out who invented watercolor paint and how it became a beloved and timeless medium.

Hope you're in the mood to pick up some new watercolor techniques because today we'll be adding new tips to your arsenal! Following these essential do's and don'ts of watercolor can bring your watercolor painting skills to the next level.

Popular Compositional Themes As a pastime, watercolor legend Edgar Whitney inventoried and cataloged successful painting compositions. He weighed the primary visual masses by size and value as well as arrangement and came up with six visual themes that most successful paintings appear to fall into. As an aid for composing paintings, these themes were passed on to his students, including Tony Couch, who wrote about them in his book: Watecolor: You Can Do It!. What we have here are the symbols of first impressions of paintings. The vague shapes and values that first attract your eyes to interesting paintings have...

Flinging paint may be the most fun watercolor technique. Here's how to do it in a controlled (or uncontrolled) manner.