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Are you wondering how to loosen up your watercolour painting?

You are definitely in the right place because painting in a loose expressive style is my favourite thing to do, so I have lots of tips and ideas to share with you.

Many painters find me because they are looking for a more relaxed way to paint. Very few people (ok no one) asks me how they can paint more tightly.

Tight painting usually stems from our desire to get it ‘right’.

But ‘right’ is subjective.

Right for me, means capturing the essence of a thing. More about the feeling of it, than capturing its precise specifications. If you want to read a bit more about that and what ‘loose painting’ actually means you will enjoy this article here.

Here are my top 7 ideas on how you can achieve a loose and free watercolour style.

1 - Use More Water

When it comes to watercolour. one of the most important aspects is …. uh…the water!

Easy to forget if you are transitioning from painting in something else like oil or acrylic. It is water that makes the pigments in watercolour paint move and behave in that marvellously unpredictable way.

There is a caveat here though.

Because watercolour is transparent, water is also effectively our white paint. It dilutes the pigments allowing more and more of the white paper to show through.

So, too much water can mean you wash the colour right out of your watercolour. But take heart, you can always layer up your watercolour with a subsequent wash or two, once the first one is dry.

It is about balance. I feel an abundant approach is best.

Lots of water.

Lots of pigment.

That is the recipe for all those juicy splashes.

I like to start with a little water on my drawing (not a perfect flat wash of water) but just enough to create some random movement.

I show you exactly how I do this in all of my tutorials, like the Watercolour Tutorial Starter Bundle and the Watercolour Tutorial Beach View Bundle).

I find that starting with a somewhat random splash of water helps you to remember that you are not aiming for illustrative perfection but rather awaiting the happy little accidents.

Of course if you want a really loose first wash you can start with a completely wet page and paint everything in the first layer wet on wet.

(If you are brand new to watercolour and not familiar with these terms, or have found these techniques vexing in the past, you will want to check out Better Beginnings in Watercolour).

2 - Use a Bigger Brush

The next most important practical consideration is your brush I think.

Bigger is better when it comes to loose watercolour painting. The trick is to find a nice round brush that comes to a fine point. You will be surprised at just how much detail you can get out of the very tip of even a really large brush.

The finest mark is made by holding the brush perpendicular to the paper so that only the very fine tip makes contact with the paper. That means that the very same brush that covers huge swathes of your page when you press its juicy belly into the paper can also create the fine, whisper thin details that your painting is asking for.

Poor quality brushes don’t hold their point, or stop holding the point very quickly after a few uses. You can test your brush by dipping it in water and then giving it a good flick. Now check the tip.

The bristles of a good brush will form a neat point when damp. If your brush looks more like a toilet brush when you flick it, it's time for a new one. My preference is a good synthetic brush, like the ones in this set.

You get a range of brushes for a reasonable price, including a good size round and my favourite - the oval wash. This is even bigger than the round and has that lovely fine point.

If you want to see these brushes in action, this article is what you want next.

Most of the time you will be able to use the large brush to quickly block in your colours and shapes. This is fun and fast. These are 2 qualities that help you remember that the priority is the broad essence of the subject, not the minute detail.

3 - Big Shapes

Speaking of those big shapes that your large brush can swiftly capture…. They are very important, so there is a little more to think about here.

There is something of a skill to being able to see the large shapes in an image. It can help to squint your eyes a little. With half closed eyes, your brain will only receive half the information.

Just the important stuff. You will notice that even with your eyes almost closed you can still make out the subject from its form. That’s what you want to capture in the paint. Most of the rest is just white noise.

Let it go.

Don’t forget that you can always add some finer detail later on. You can’t really take detail away once you have painted it in. Watercolour is transparent, remember?

So if in doubt, leave it out.

Then you can take your time and assess whether anything more is needed.

4 - Simplify

Focussing on the big shapes has already got us down the path of simplifying.

Very often simplifying is more than just leaving out fine details on particular objects. Most of the time there is much more you can simplify in an image, such as limiting colours, rearranging complex groupings of objects in your composition, or leaving some things out entirely.

Our human eyes and our clever cameras capture way more information than is necessary in a painting. In fact I think it is this editing out of some of the information that makes a painting valuable.

Each of us is likely to distill the essence of a thing in a different way.

Isn’t it magical to be able to see through the eyes of another? This is the job of an artist. To show those who care to see, the little hidden gems in our everyday world.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. - Hans Hofmann

With this in mind, I like to spend some time thinking about my simplification strategy for each painting before I even get out the watercolour paper. I wrote a bit more about how to simplify a photo for painting here.

And of course you can go through the process step by step with me as I include a painting strategy video in every one of my watercolour tutorials.

5 - Let Go of Expectation

Painting loose starts, like everything else, with your outlook.

Painting is so much more fun if you can let go of needing it to turn out looking exactly like your reference. The tendency to doubt oneself is seldom keener than when we commit brush to paper.

Doubt makes us self conscious and hypercritical. I think that might be the very opposite of fun.

But fun makes the best paintings.

Starting off with the thought that you just want to see what you get when you paint a loose interpretation of your subject is likely to be both more pleasurable and more successful.

6 - Dont Overexplain

The human brain is a fascinating thing. It is a pattern recognising machine, that matches what it sees with its database of past experiences. Looking at art gives it a perfect opportunity to do just that.

This is why a painting can mean something different to every viewer. 

Our brains fill in anything that is perceived to be missing. This is another reason why focussing on big shapes and simplifying works so well. It gives your viewer the opportunity to participate in the image.

A painting is not like a set of those assembly instructions - you need not explain every little thing. Let’s not deprive the viewer of the chance to find their own meaning in your loose, expressive depiction of your subject.

7 - Let the Watercolour do the Work

I always describe watercolour painting as a collaboration with the supplies. In fact my introductory class for beginner watercolour painters (Better Beginnings in Watercolour) was originally titled Watercolour Collaborations.

Because that is exactly what I see the process to be.

A joint effort. It is not all on you.

Let the watercolour do its share of the work.

What that means in practical terms is to do your best not to fuss too much. Place the paint on the page and let it do what it will. Let the paint and water and paper fibres decide how the pigments settle and combine.

This is where watercolour shines. I can’t think of another medium that brings so much life and interest to the art just in and of itself.

So take a breather. You have a helper.

Loosen up and just paint for the fun of it.

Are you on your own painting journey?

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