Debunking 3 Big Myths About Watercolor

by Artists Network Staff

Let’s set the record straight by addressing common misconceptions and falsehoods about how to use watercolors.

By Peggy Macnamara

Ninety-nine percent of the collections of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History are behind the scenes. But on Members night, the third and fourth floors, which are usually closed to the public, are open and full of surprise. The bird lab, where they do taxidermy, and the mammal lab, where they dissect skunks, are mobbed with crowds. It is a fabulous exposé about what goes on behind the scenes at a natural history museum. Bird mounts come from somewhere, as do anthropological collections. Scientific research requires specimens (and a lot of them), packed away in cabinets. On Members nights, these treasures are exposed. It’s all out there for everyone to see and study.

My studio, on the third floor of the Field Museum in the Bird Department, is also behind the scenes. And I get hundreds of visitors on Members nights. I have years of work in my space: birds, mammals, insects, habitats, and collection drawers and cabinets. This past year I overheard the same myths on repeat:

• “Watercolor is the most difficult medium”
• “You can’t change your mind”
• “It is so hard to control” 
• “You must do it quickly to keep it fresh” 
• “My watercolors always get muddy”
• and on and on

None of this is true. So, I am writing a response to these myths here. All mediums have their strengths and weaknesses, but most of watercolor’s supposed weaknesses are actually misconceptions. Let’s start with the biggest one. 

Myth 1: You can’t change, remove, or alter an area of watercolor once it is down.

This is false. I continually remove, adjust, and all-out change the subject matter, as demonstrated below. In the example below, see how I removed the bird and replaced it with plants. Editing is a necessary part of the painting process. It is essential. Ideas develop. They begin as a whisper, then must be encouraged and able to grow.

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After scrubbing out the bird, a hazy imprint was left behind.

Next, I drew in the plant and paint. Titanium white and manganese cover the slight haze of the bird.

How I Make Changes in My Watercolors

First of all, I use good paper, 300-lb Lana hot press. My paper takes almost anything. I scrubbed out the bird above with a brush. I also use Mr. Clean at times. I don’t scrub hard. If there is a bit of an echo of the old image, then I just leave it.  After the area dries completely I draw in a new image and use relatively strong color. After layers and layers, and late cadmiums, I sometimes need to use titanium white with a color to make it opaque.

The longer I paint (now more than 40 years) the more I change things. It seems all I’ve gotten is more critical. If it doesn’t feel right, it goes. Here are a few more examples.

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Here, I softened the ribbon worm on the top left. Then I eliminated the worm to the right of the clam. I changed the legs on the crab and made sand by pouring thick ochre, lemon yellow, and manganese, and then added salt and let it dry.

Myth 2: The medium moves so fast it is hard to control.

The result of this untruth has been the development of watercolor pencils, which actually slow you down and defeat the whole purpose of watercolor!  You can work watercolor with control as well as exuberance. If you use gravity and common sense, then you can control your washes. Your paper, which is on a board, has to be slightly tilted — not lying flat. It won’t run away from you if you control the tilt and how much water you use. While we are at it, let each layer dry before adding the next; you will never get mud. Yes, mud is the result of rushing or working too small, so the wait time seems endless. You will never get mud no matter what color choices you make if you let each layer dry.

The above painting probably has 50 or so layers!

How I Control My Watercolors

Sporting events work because we have referees. This neutral, outside set of eyes enforces a few simple rules. When doing a watercolor you have to be both player and ref. Here are the guidelines:

• Use only 300-lb. paper (your surface will never ripple and images can be removed). Because it takes correction well, you are able to edit as well as build a good piece.
• Let each layer dry completely. Cold to the touch is still wet. 
• Save the cadmiums until the end. They are like saying, “I love you and want to marry you,” which is very hard to take back.  So use them once you are sure.
• And most important, take your time. A watercolor can take days and days. Did you ever see a watercolor on display (or any other painting for that matter) where they listed the medium and date and how long it took? It is not necessarily an asset to do it quickly.
• Now the fresh thing. God help me. Sargent and Homer were fresh because they were solid draughtsman and painters before they played with watercolor. Fresh comes not from doing it fast but from knowing what you can leave out. This comes from slow practice.  Experience gives you the gift of fresh.

Now it’s true, I did things in order. I first learned to draw well, then colored pencils, then watercolor. A strong drawing always helps, and the colored pencil experience is like boot camp. Where a colored pencil piece might take a month, you can do the same piece in watercolor, waiting for each layer to dry in a week. So boot camp produced discipline and patience, which is necessary for any art medium. Now let’s look at what watercolor can do!

Here is the best of both worlds: I get the rich lush color like in the piece above. 

And because sometimes I let the water act like water and paint without brushes, I can create backgrounds like the one above. I just poured paint from cups and let it go and settle.

Myth 3: You can’t go lighter in watercolor.

Don’t get me started about the myth that you can’t go lighter in watercolor. I dripped lemon yellow over the background of the seahorses in the piece above. It’s now both lighter and brighter.

So why use watercolor over acrylic and oil? Watercolor is portable.  I set up in the Field Museum 35 years ago and began painting the collections. The classical architecture of a museum solved the figure ground problem. The usually dead area around the primary subject became a formidable subject in itself. New fresh subject matter is hard to come by. Landscape, still life, and figure have been the dominant subjects forever. By being portable, the concept of studio opens up to a whole new world. I’ve worked in hundreds of museums. No, I don’t ask permission. I simplify my supplies, roll up my paper or even fold it. I find an out-of-the-way location and begin. What is on view at a natural history museum, nature center, or sculpture garden begs to be looked at very slowly, recorded, embellished, and brought into the light.