drying times for watercolor wash stages?
the_...@yahoo.com
watercolor washes.
1. apply first wash
2. then wait 24 hours
3. apply 2nd wash?
4. dry 24 hours?
I am doing both wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry.
My question: does watercolor require 24 hours between drying between
any wash stage?
suggestions appreciated
sarp
NightMist
<the_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Generally, if it is a very watery wash I like to give the paper time
to dry.
I do a lot of dry brushing so I am fussy like that.
Really so much depends on what you are using for which.
I would hazard to say that if you are useing a lot of base washes to
let them dry completely before moving on.
I mostly use watercolors for color sketches, but I have been known to
pop the odd waterolor painting out.
I've been down with The Crud for a couple of weeks now, and am
thinking that I will drag out some student paper and a set of pans and
see what happens when I try to paint while hacking my lungs up all
over the painting surface.
Barbara
--
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Mike Mallory
<the_...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1170797527.3...@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
>I would like to get an idea of the drying times necessary between
> watercolor washes.
>
The wetter the wash the longer it will take to dry. But generally a wash
will dry in minutes not hours. Most washes should be dry within 60-90
minutes. Often a wash will be dry within 15 minutes. To test first look at
the paper from an angle and look for a sheen on the paper. If the sheen is
gone it is probably dry. The next test is to touch the paper with the back
of your fingers and see if it feels wet/cool.
As long as you are not using masking fluid you can run a hair dryer over the
paper to speed up the process. Some watercolorists don't like a hair dryer
because they feel that a slower drying wash will allow more subtle blending
of colors to occur. By adding a little rubbing alcohol to the wash water it
will dry quicker. By adding some Winsor Newton "Blending Fluid" the wash
will dry slower. Wetting down the backside of the paper before adding a
wash to the front will slow the drying time.
Different papers will dry at different speeds. There are a lot of variables
and ultimately the timing of when things are done is a never-ending
challenge in watercolor.
Mike Mallory