A painting with a strong focal point compels viewers, intrigues art connoisseurs, and keeps people engaged longer. The students that I've had who really zero in on the concept of the "main idea" see huge progress in their watercolor learning. 

Keep reading to learn the 3 painting techniques that will drive this same growth in your watercolor skills.   

How to Focus on the Main Idea as You Paint

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What is a Focal Point in Art?

First, what is the main idea of a painting and why do we need it?

The focal point - or main idea -  of a watercolor is the area of the painting where the most interest lies. It's the part of your watercolor that you want your viewer's eye to be drawn to. In many ways, it is the central point of intrigue that the rest of the painting relates back to or supports in some way. 

The main idea allows the artist the opportunity to convey a meaning, message, or simply to render a certain aspect of a scene that captures their attention. In most cases, the main idea I choose for a painting can be summed up by answering the question: why do I want to paint this scene?  

The focus of your painting is whatever you want it to be, but it's important that you choose this main idea before you begin to paint. 

Studying a Watercolor Artist Who Gets it Right

Often the best way to learn new painting techniques is to study the work of master watercolor artists. This is a primary method I've used to refine and grow my skillset, and I continue to study the work of other artists because they inspire and challenge me. 

One of the artists I come back to again and again is British watercolorist, Trevor Chamberlain. 

What I love most about Trevor Chamberlain is the clarity in his work. He has a clear idea of what is most important in his painting, and he's able to communicate to his viewers why he chose the scene he did. He doesn't distract or create competing areas of interests that take away from his main idea, and he knows how to put just enough detail in his paintings to get the point across.  

Let's explore some watercolor strategies that will help us do the same. 

 3 Watercolor Techniques that Highlight your Main Idea

1. Do Less.

Usually when I have advice, it's about how to do more of something specific. In this instance, I'm actually asking you to do less.

What does that mean exactly: less brushstrokes, less detail, less attention - especially on the edges of your painting.

So if you zoom in on an area of a Chamberlain painting like this, for instance, what is this?

You don't really know what this is until you zoom back out.

And now you can see it in its context. With the rest of the scene, you'll notice that this scene isn't labored over. He doesn't give the same amount of attention to every part of his painting. He doesn't have the same degree of control or the same number of brushstrokes on the edges of his painting as he does in the middle, where the main idea of the scene is.

Sometimes less is more. Remember - all parts of the painting should work to emphasize the focal point, so that means that some areas will be less detailed and precise as others. 

2. Determine Your Main Idea (and keep it top of mind).

Before you wet your paper or mix your paint, you choose your scene. As you study your scene, ask yourself: What is most compelling about this subject? Why have I chosen this scene?

Are you drawn to the way light hits a surface, the ripples in water, the sense of distance, or something completely different? Articulate the reason you want to paint the scene before you do anything else. This is the painting's main idea, and if you lose sight of it in the painting process, so will your viewer.

So how do you give that area more attention than the other parts? Well, let's take a look at one of Trevor's paintings. 

Chamberlain directs interest to the focal point of his painting with: 

• high contrast,
• sharp, hard edges, and
• high saturation.

In many of his paintings, the main idea is expressed where the lightest area of the painting meets the darkest area of the painting. He reserves this this contrast and texture for these key areas of the scene. Notice he doesn't do this all over the scene. You've probably heard me say this before, but if you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.

So use these same tools to emphasize the main point of your scene.

It's not as if the rest of the painting isn't important, but we don't want it to have the same emphasis, the same amount of importance as the main idea of your painting so all of it works together to tell the same story. You don't want areas of your painting competing with each other or leading your viewers' attention from one detail to the next, and then out of the painting. You want them to be guided around your painting, and always back to the central idea.

So, like I said before - define your main idea (focal point) right away and keep your eye on that aspect of the scene the whole way through. 

3. Leave Some Mystery in Your Watercolor Painting.

It is so tempting that we get involved really deeply in every area that we're painting. It's natural to want to paint every leaf on the tree, every brick in the building. When you are looking at that part of your subject, focusing in on that area, it can feel like the main subject of the painting - but it isn't.

So once we have established what that main idea is, we want to keep it in mind throughout the painting process and leave the other areas of your scene loose. The other areas of the painting are where we should definitely leave some mystery. And you can even paint loosely in focal area.

We don't have to add a copious amount of detail to everything. Sometimes this actually takes away from the painting and makes it less compelling. 

Take a look at how Chamberlain handles the figures in this painting.

Do you see how loose they are? Notice how he's created a sort of "key" for his audience. There is one main figure that is clearly a person, and all of sudden these other markings are translated easily into figures. 

I think this is one of the coolest things we can do as artists. We are telling the viewer what these shapes are, but also inviting them into the experience. We're leaving room for them to engage with the painting. 

Focal Points Keep Viewers Engaged

 Art comes in so many forms, and there are some artists who have multiple focal points. There are artists who are hyper-realistic and add detail in every part of their scene. 

The watercolor art that really keeps my attention and inspires me, though, are the works like Chamberlain's that leave some mystery, invite me into an experience, and bring clarity to a particular, intriguing idea. This is what I strive for and what I teach my students.

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