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Year 10 - Art and design

Experiment with wet media: watercolour

Fine Art

Unit Summary

This is a teacher led unit which introduces to pupils to the skills within their endorsements. Through a series of workshop activities, students experiment with a range of materials and techniques. They develop a range of studies exploring mark making media, print and mixed media.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use masking, glazing and blending techniques to create a layered watercolour painting.

Key Notes

  • Watercolour is transparent, so artists paint the lightest areas first and build up gradually to darker tones.
  • Watercolour allows you to blend colours and tones softly to create smooth gradients and natural-looking colour shifts.
  • Artists can use masking fluid to mask and protect areas of their work to protect or preserve lighter areas.
  • Glazing involves painting thin, transparent layers over dry paint. It adds depth or shadow without covering the details.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • masking: a technique used to block out areas of the paper you want to keep white or light using a barrier that stops paint from soaking into those areas
  • glazing: a technique where a thin, transparent layer of paint is added over a dry wash. It builds up colour and depth without covering the details underneath
  • blotting: the act of gently lifting wet paint from the paper using a tissue, sponge, or dry brush
  • wash: a smooth, even layer of watered-down paint applied across a large area
  • wet-on-wet: a technique where you add wet paint into another area of wet paint. The colours mix and spread naturally on the paper, creating soft edges, blends and interesting effects.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • You can paint over a mistake with a darker colour to fix it.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

Watercolour is transparent, so artists paint the lightest areas first and build up gradually to darker tones. Watercolour allows you to blend colours and tones softly to create smooth gradients and natural-looking colour shifts.

2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'masking'

a technique used to block out areas of the paper you want to keep white or light using a barrier that stops paint from soaking into those areas.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: You can paint over a mistake with a darker colour to fix it. Correction: In watercolour, layering too many dark colours can muddy the painting. It's better to plan ahead, work from light to dark and use clean water and controlled layers to avoid errors.

More Lessons In This Unit

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