Watercolour facts for kids
Watercolor (also spelled watercolour in British English) is a special way of painting. The paints are made from tiny bits of color, called pigments, mixed into a liquid that uses water. The word "watercolor" can mean both the type of paint and the finished picture. Sometimes, watercolor paintings are called aquarelle, which comes from the Latin word for "water."
The most common surface for watercolor painting is watercolor paper. This paper is often made with cotton. Cotton helps the paper have the right texture and stops it from wrinkling too much when it gets wet. Good watercolor paper is usually thick, at least 300 grams per square meter (gsm). Thinner paper is mostly used for quick sketches.
One cool thing about watercolors is that they are usually see-through. This means you can often see the paper underneath the paint. You can make watercolors less see-through by adding a white paint called Chinese white. However, artists who use "true" watercolor usually prefer to keep their paints transparent.
Watercolor painting is a very old art form. In places like China, Korea, and Japan, painting with water-based inks has been popular for a long time. This is often called brush painting. India and Ethiopia also have long traditions of watercolor art. In the past, many Western artists used watercolor for quick sketches before making a "finished" painting with oil paints.
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The Story of Watercolor Painting
Watercolor painting has a very long history. It might even go back to the cave paintings from thousands of years ago! People used watercolors to decorate old books, like in ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages. But its continuous journey as a main art form really began during the Renaissance.
A German artist named Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) is one of the first famous watercolor artists. He painted beautiful pictures of plants, animals, and landscapes. Later, artists like Anthony van Dyck and Claude Lorrain also used watercolors for sketches.
Watercolor has always been very important for drawing plants and animals. During the Renaissance, detailed plant drawings became popular in books. Even today, watercolors are used to illustrate science books and museum displays. This is because they are great at showing clear, colorful details. In the 1800s, artists like John James Audubon created amazing bird illustrations using watercolors.
Watercolor in England
Watercolor painting became very popular in England during the 1700s. Many educated people learned it as a hobby. Mapmakers, soldiers, and engineers found it useful for drawing maps, land, and buildings. Artists often joined trips to explore new places, like the Mediterranean Sea or the New World. They would paint what they discovered.
These trips made people want paintings of famous places. Young, fashionable men on their "Grand Tour" of Italy would buy watercolor souvenirs. An English priest named William Gilpin wrote popular books about his travels in England. He illustrated them with his own watercolors of rivers and old castles. This made watercolors popular for personal travel journals.
Soon, watercolor became known as a special "national art" in England. William Blake used watercolors for his poetry books and illustrations. Other important watercolor artists from this time included Thomas Gainsborough and William Pars.
In the late 1700s and 1800s, more people bought printed books and art for their homes. Watercolors were used to create pictures for these books. Artists like Thomas Rowlandson made popular funny drawings using watercolors.
Three English artists are famous for making watercolor a truly important art form. They are Paul Sandby (often called the "father of English watercolor"), Thomas Girtin, and J. M. W. Turner. Turner especially made watercolor painting incredibly powerful and detailed. He painted hundreds of historical, landscape, and mythological scenes. He would start with big, soft color areas on wet paper, then add more details with layers of paint. This method helped him create many paintings and become very wealthy.
The popularity of watercolors led to the creation of art societies in England. The Society of Painters in Water Colours was founded in 1804. These societies held art shows and helped artists sell their work. They also debated about different watercolor styles, like transparent versus opaque (less see-through) watercolors. The 1800s were a golden age for British watercolor art, with many amazing artists like Turner, Girtin, and David Cox.
New ideas and materials also helped watercolors grow. Better paper and brushes were made just for watercolor. Artists like John Varley and David Cox published "how-to" guides for watercolor painting. Even the famous art critic John Ruskin wrote a watercolor tutorial in 1857.
New chemical discoveries led to many new colors, like bright blues, greens, and yellows. These new pigments made paintings much more colorful.
Watercolor in the United States
Watercolor painting also became popular in the United States in the 1800s. Early artists like John James Audubon used it. Later, the ideas of John Ruskin encouraged artists to use a very detailed watercolor style. The American Society of Painters in Watercolor was started in 1866. Famous American watercolor artists from the late 1800s include Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent.
Watercolor in Europe
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Watercolor was not as popular in other parts of Europe at first. In the 1700s, Italian artists like Marco Ricci used a type of opaque watercolor called gouache. But in the 1800s, the English style of transparent watercolor became more popular in France. Artists like Eugène Delacroix and Honoré Daumier used it. Other European painters who often worked with watercolor included Adolph Menzel in Germany and Stanisław Masłowski in Poland.
In the late 1800s, new bright dyes were invented, but many of them faded quickly in light. This made people worry about how long watercolor paintings would last. Because of this, watercolor painting became less valued for a while. However, some artists continued to use and develop the medium. Paul Cézanne created a unique watercolor style using many layers of pure color.
Watercolor in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Many important artists in the 1900s used watercolor, including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Edward Hopper. In America, artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and John Marin created many watercolor works. American watercolor painting in the 1920s to 1940s often had unique regional styles. For example, the "California Scene" painters loved to paint outdoors, showing their state's varied landscapes.
Even though watercolor became less popular after the 1950s, many artists still use it today. These include Andrew Wyeth, Gerhard Richter, and Francesco Clemente. In Spain, Ceferí Olivé developed a new style that his students followed. In Mexico, artists like Ignacio Barrios are known for their watercolors. The largest watercolor painting in the world is Building 6 Portrait: Interior by American artist Barbara Prey. It is 9 feet tall and 16 feet wide!
How Watercolor Paint is Made
Watercolor paint has four main parts:
- Pigment: These are the tiny colored particles that give the paint its color.
- Binder: This is usually gum arabic. It holds the pigment particles together and helps them stick to the paper.
- Additives: Things like glycerin, ox gall, and honey are added. They help the paint flow smoothly, make it last longer, or change how transparent it is.
- Water: This is the liquid that thins the paint so you can use it with a brush. It evaporates as the paint dries.
The word "watermedia" is a broader term for any paint that uses water as a solvent and can be applied with a brush or pen. This includes watercolors, inks, and modern acrylic paints.
Buying Watercolor Paints
Before the 1700s, artists had to make their own paints. They bought pigments and mixed them with binders like gum arabic. The first commercial paints were hard blocks that artists had to rub with water to get color.
In 1781, William and Thomas Reeves invented the "moist watercolor paint-cake." This was a big help because the cakes dissolved easily when touched with a wet brush.
Today, you can buy watercolor paints in tubes, pans (small dried cakes), or as liquids. Tube paints are like toothpaste and need to be mixed with more water. Pan paints are solid and you wet your brush to pick up the color.
Thanks to modern science, the colors available today are much brighter and last longer. Paint companies buy pigments, mix them with the binder and other ingredients, and then package them. The process of mixing helps make the color flow better when you paint.
Why Watercolors are Transparent
In the 1800s, there was a big debate about whether watercolors should be transparent or opaque (not see-through). Transparent watercolors were highly valued. People used to think that transparent watercolors glowed because light went through the paint, bounced off the paper, and came back through the paint.
However, this isn't quite right. Watercolor paints don't form a solid layer like oil paints. Instead, the pigment particles are scattered across the paper. The transparency comes from being able to see the paper between these tiny particles. Watercolors can look very bright because they have very few fillers that would hide the pigment's true color. The gum binder is mostly absorbed by the paper, which helps the pigment stick well and allows artists to "lift" (remove) color if they want to make a spot lighter.
See also
In Spanish: Acuarela para niños
- Acrylic painting techniques
- History of painting
- Ink wash painting
- Category:Watercolorists
