We all want that atmospheric light, that luminous glow, that bright sunlight in our watercolor paintings. 

To depict brilliant light, we must push our dark values as well as our light values. We want a full range of tonal values.

The interplay between light and dark is essential. And to push the light in watercolor, we want to paint from light to dark, focusing on specific values in each wash. 

If this sounds complicated, don’t worry. I will break it down for you in this blog! And if you’re just here for the tutorial where I paint from light to dark, click the play button above to watch!

Watercolor Tutorial: Painting from Light to Dark

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Why is it Difficult to Paint from Dark to Light in Watercolor?

In some mediums, it is easy - and even recommended - to paint from dark to light, but this is not the case in watercolor painting. 

Watercolor pigments all have a degree of transparency, which means when you apply the paint onto a surface, the color on the surface will show through. Each pigment has a classification that ranks its transparency, so this quality will vary from color to color.

But, generally speaking, your lightest colors are not going to show up well over your dark colors like they might with acrylics or oil paints. 

Should you paint light or dark first in watercolor?

For both light and dark values to shine in your painting, the best watercolor technique to employ is to paint lighter colors first and build up to your darker colors. This allows for a full range of tonal values in your painting. 

When I paint almost any scene, I address the lightest values (0-3) in the first wash, the mid-tones (4-7) in the second wash, and the darks (8-10) in the third wash. 

This layering of values features those brightest colors and lightest tones while also adding context with the darks. The two - dark and light - work best when they’re contrasting with one another. You have to have both.

It’s worth noting that sometimes watercolor artists break this rule of painting from light to dark. 

In fact, there is a method of painting in watercolor called underpainting where the artist establishes important tonal values (both shadows and highlights) in the first wash. Still, the artists must be cognizant of the transparent nature of watercolor pigments to make sure the initial darks are carefully and thoughtfully applied.  

Watercolor Techniques When We Work from Light to Dark

Here are a few watercolor techniques you should be aware of as you start painting from light to dark:

• Glazing refers to applying more than one layer of paint on top of the other. Most often, an artist lets the paint dry between glazes.

• Lifting is a strategy watercolor artists use to diffuse the color of wet paint. With a slightly wet brush or paper towel, you can lift off some wet paint to reveal the white of the watercolor paper or a color underneath. 

• Negative Painting: is the process of painting space around an object, thus defining the shape of the object. 

Painting the Light Side and the Shadow Side of an Object

An additional watercolor technique that will help you achieve that wide range of tonal value you want is thinking about the light side and the shadow side of an object. Let’s look at that strategy a little closer.

When I paint my first wash, I think all about my lightest values. When I got to this tower here in this watercolor, I thought about how it was interacting with the light source of my painting. 

 Because the light hits this object, It will have what we call a light side and a shadow side. 

I broke down the process of painting this object into two phases. In the first wash, I painted the light side, laying in the light colors and letting them merge on the paper. 

Then, in the second wash, as I concerned myself with the middle values, I applied the shadow side. I glazed over the first wash with the same color red to create the feeling of a shadow. These two work together nicely to build a strong feeling of light in this part of the scene.

Focusing the Light in Your Watercolor Painting 

I knew from the outset of painting this watercolor scene that I wanted the light to be most compelling in the middle ground. This is where I wanted to guide my viewer’s eye. 

Determining this from the start allowed me to make decisions throughout the painting process that would illuminate that part of the painting. So even in the first wash of my painting, I'm thinking about how I can make my focal point vibrant and luminous. 

If you look closely, you’ll see that I cooled down the background of the path just a little bit and I gradually warmed it up as I got closer to the foreground, using more paint to help push the light into the middle ground. 

PICTURE

This was done in the interest of my final wash, but it was a decision I made in the first wash. This is one reason it’s a good idea to approach your painting with a plan and a vision for your the outcome.

Learn the Watercolor Painting Process: Video Tutorial

The video tutorial at the top of this blog goes through a step-by-step process of this painting, demonstrating each decision I made to convey the light in this scene.

If you can learn to develop a plan for your painting and work methodically through each one of those steps, you will be more likely to have a result that you're happy with. The more that you can practice this process and understand what you’re trying to accomplish in each step, the more successful you’ll be. 

For a thorough demonstration that breaks my process down into three steps, watch the full video tutorial! 

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