How to dull a "shiny" watercolor?

[Jaxim]

Whenever I paint a very dark black (with watercolor paint on watercolor
paper), I often get a sheen to the paper. There are mediums (i.e. gum
arabic) that can be used to create this sheen, but is there anything
that does the exact opposite? Is there anything that dulls the sheen?

One way of removing the sheen is to remove some of the paint, let it
dry and then paint over the area. But this never really works. The
sheen either comes back or the black isn't dark enough.

[david]

do you paint with a tube of black? if so try mixing your blacks from
other colors. e.g., blues, reds, browns, greens. i am not sure if this
will work for you but others on the ng may have better ideas.
i personally never use straight black because it gives me all kinds of
problems. also by mixing your own darks it will give the darks more depth.

[Thur]

"david" <rick...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:21HQd.2105$74....@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...

Yes, and also there are various blacks like Lamp Black and Ivory Black,
which have differing values when mixed or diluted.

I have found that mixing colours to black gets me to very dark colours,
but much lighter than what can be obtained from a tube.
This may be because I have a limited range of colours anyway.
I have observed too that you can use too much black in a watercolour if
not careful to fit in with the intensity and pallette used.
I have used black where others might have used a black ink pen in complex
shapes requiring emphasis on line, but otherwise rarely.
What is the experience of others?

Thur

[Jaxim]

In order to make black, I usually use two complementary colors instead
of black straight from the tube. But I have experimented with black
straight from the tube, and with obtaining black by mixing colors, and
I get the same result.

If I use too much black, no matter how I obtin black, I get a sheen on
the paper. There are parts of the paper that are not shiny, but I
cannot obtain a consistent non-shiny wash.

Has anyone experienced this first off? And if so, what have you done to
eliminate the sheen? Is it okay to have a sheen to a watercolor
painting?

[sharon barcone]

You can also try a bit of water-based mat medium.

s

"Jaxim" <mr_nic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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[whacko]

Use black goauche instead of the water color black.
Goauche is an opaque watercolor that has a velvety satin
finish. It is blacker than the regular watercolor, and gives
your pictures more depth.
http://freakinout3.tripod.com/page4.htm
http://freakinout3.tripod.com/page4.htm
http://freakinout3.tripod.com/page4.htm
http://freakinout3.tripod.com/page4.htm

"Jaxim" <mr_nic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

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[Jaxim]

After posting this question, I looked through some old issues of the
quarterly magazine "Watercolor", and one of the issues (Winter 2002)
describes how the artist Jennifer Annesley "chooses black gouache for
her darkest values because it yields a velvety matte finish, whereas
she finds black watercolor produces a sheen."

So it appears that this may not just happen to me. I find it curious
that there is very little mention of this problem on the web. Perhaps
others aren't as sensitive about this sheen problem as I am.

[Jaxim]

Can anyone tell me how to remove brush strokes of gouache paint?

So I used ivory black gouache and it works great in my LARGE black
areas; I am able to get a nice even 'matte' wash. But with this
solution to my initial problem brings with it a new problem.

In areas where I need to transition to plain watercolor from many
points, I find it difficult to get an even wash. I'm left with an
uneven wash where I can see my brush strokes. I first tried to treat
the gouache like watercolor and use plain water to make the brush
strokes transition into the rest of the painting, but that only
produces new brush strokes.

I'm pretty proficient when it comes to watercolor, but I fear gouache
is a whole new ballgame that I'm not used to.

Can anyone give me any pointers on how to remove these gouache brush
strokes?

Thanks!

[whacko]

Add water to the black gouache to make it more
workable.
Avoid the globby parts until they are diluted with water.

"Jaxim" <mr_nic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

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[Jaxim]

When I use diluted (Ivory black) gouache it still produces noticeable
brush strokes (at very bright light).

Someone else suggested that I use a spray bottle to wet the entire area
to get rid of the brush strokes. This sort of works so long as the
perimeter of the spray falls upon watercolor and not the gouache. If it
falls upon the gouache and dries, I see the little rings from the
droplets.

I haven't yet perfected this techique. I no longer have brush strokes
in the gouache, but because I originally used a non-staining
watercolor, some of the watercolor washes off (which doesn't look good
when it's all dry).

When I try this technique in the other areas where I need to remove the
brush strokes, I will set my table to be parallel to the ground. This
way, if some of my watercolor is non-staining, it won't wash off
because the non-staining paint will just sit on the even plane until it
dries.

[whacko]

Brush strokes give your work character.
Your probably being too picky about your work.
http://freakinout3.tripod.com

"Jaxim" <mr_nic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

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[Jaxim]

The style of this watercolor painting is very realistic (not loose), so
the brush strokes would be out of place with the rest of the painting.