Transparent Watercolor

Transparent watercolor is a truly amazing and unique medium. It's clean, non-toxic, and environmentally sound, too. Watercolor paper is made from 100% cotton, and most of the paints are made from ground-up earth pigments.

The Magic of Transparent Watercolor

I have chosen transparent watercolor as my medium for animal portraits because of its many qualities which enhance the furry and feathery texture of animals. Although it is a difficult medium by many standards, I have found it to be worth the trouble because of the beautiful effects I can achieve.

Transparent watercolor paintings are often very light and washy when the paints are applied quickly and loosely with big brushes and lots of water. My technique is a little different. I DO begin by blocking in the shape of the animal with a light wash or two, but then I switch to a hair-by-hair approach as more and more layers of paint are added. Each additional layer of paint is a bit darker than the previous layer, and this slow layering of paint is what gives the painting its depth and clarity. A finished portrait may have as many as twenty layers of paint in the darker areas and one or two layers in the lightest areas. White paint is almost never used except for highlights in eyes or whiskers.

The slow, gradual build up of watercolor layers may be very time-consuming, but it is also very rewarding, because the depth and clarity that result make the subject seem three-dimensional and lifelike, velvety and rich. I hope that by studying my paintings you will agree that watercolor is a beautiful medium and is perfectly suited to the portraiture of animals.

A Limited Palette

My palette for painting most animals consists of only about six rather plain colors—payne's gray, ivory black, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue—and an occasional hint of red or sap green. Using these modest colors, I can do almost anything necessary to make an animal portrait come alive.

Thinking Positively and Negatively

Transparent watercolor is indeed that: transparent. The white you see in a transparent watercolor painting is the white of the paper that has been left unpainted. When you look at a white (or very light) spot on the painting, you are looking at the pure, 100% cotton watercolor paper's surface with little or no paint on it. In all cases, these areas were intentionally left unpainted. The watercolor artist needs to perceive his/her subject in both negative and positive at the same time, and must consciously paint around areas that are meant to remain white or light.

No White Paint

In purist transparent watercolor paintings, white paint is generally forbidden. In fact, there is no such thing as white transparent watercolor paint! White paint is by its very nature OPAQUE, not transparent; it covers up what's under it. But it also permanently changes the surface of the area covered, and its overuse can be very noticeable and unattractive. In my transparent watercolors of animals, I occasionally use opaque white paint in the final stage of painting to achieve tiny highlights in eyes or whiskers, and nothing else.