Notes on Wet-On-Wet

Watercolor Painting is one of those hobbies where the gap between beginners and experts is mostly time, not talent. Almost anyone who keeps sketching for two or three seasons becomes competent. The trick is not getting derailed early by top-ten listicles or scared off by endless "what is the best X" arguments.

This site is a small attempt to flatten the early learning curve. The first thing worth getting right is colour mixing. After that, working on first subjects for a few weeks pays off more than buying anything new. The pages here go through both, with occasional digressions.

Paper Choice

Paper Choice is the part of watercolor painting that gives the most trouble to newcomers, and also the part that improves the fastest with deliberate attention. A few weeks spent on paper choice carefully — rather than rushing to the next thing — usually outperforms months of unfocused practice. The improvement is not glamorous and rarely shows up in a finished result anyone else would notice, but it is what separates a frustrating hobby from a satisfying one.

The rule of thumb: if something feels off and you cannot say why, the answer is almost certainly in paper choice. Slow down, observe, and only change one variable at a time. Keep brief notes if you can. After a few sessions you will start spotting patterns that were invisible at the start, and paper choice will stop being a problem.

First Subjects

First Subjects is the part of watercolor painting that gives the most trouble to newcomers, and also the part that improves the fastest with deliberate attention. A few weeks spent on first subjects carefully — rather than rushing to the next thing — usually outperforms months of unfocused practice. The improvement is not glamorous and rarely shows up in a finished result anyone else would notice, but it is what separates a frustrating hobby from a satisfying one.

The rule of thumb: if something feels off and you cannot say why, the answer is almost certainly in first subjects. Slow down, observe, and only change one variable at a time. Keep brief notes if you can. After a few sessions you will start spotting patterns that were invisible at the start, and first subjects will stop being a problem.

Colour Mixing

A useful exercise: write down everything you currently do for colour mixing from memory, without looking anything up. Then do the same thing tomorrow without referring to today's notes. The differences between the two lists tell you which parts of your colour mixing routine are reflexive and which are still being figured out. The reflexive parts are where habits have set; the inconsistent parts are where deliberate attention will pay off.

Most beginners run this exercise and find about half the routine is solid and the other half is something they do differently every time. That is normal — and a clear map of where to focus next. Approach colour mixing with that map in mind for a few weeks and the inconsistent half will steady up.

Common Mistakes

Common Mistakes is the area of watercolor painting where habits form fastest, both good and bad. After three or four sessions of doing common mistakes a particular way, your hands stop thinking about it and the pattern becomes automatic. Re-learning a bad habit later takes weeks. It is worth being a bit careful at the start, even if it slows you down.

The way to be careful is not to be perfect; it is to be consistent. Pick one approach to common mistakes and stick with it for ten sessions before changing anything. If something is not working after ten sessions, then experiment. Switching after every session is the surest way to never get good at any approach.

That covers the basics. Beyond this, watercolor painting opens up in different directions for different people — some go deep on common mistakes, some on paper choice, some discover an area not covered here at all. All of those are fine. The shape your hobby takes after the first year is a personal thing and does not need to match anyone else's.