Colin Swinton gave a demonstration of how to create granulating colours in watercolour washes. He showed where to use them, how to graduate colour washes and add dry brush strokes.

Colin recommended using cold pressed watercolour paper (“not” paper). Rough watercolour paper could also be used. Hot pressed paper and stretched “not” paper did not work well.

Of the many colours that granulate, Colin chose some popular ones in combination to demonstrate the effect of granulation and colour separation.
• Burnt sienna and french ultramarine blue.
• Lemon yellow and french ultramarine blue.
• Raw sienna and cerulean blue.
• Cobalt violet and raw sienna.

As a demonstration painting, Colin chose a cottage scene. It was roughly drawn to create interesting shapes. He started with some brown on the cottage.
He then made a wet wash sky using two mixes of blue and encouraged separation by tilting the paper to move the wet washes across the paper, adding dark colours to create more interest.

 

He painted the foreground in yellow and added darker dry brushwork for a textured look.
The cottage was brought forward with the dark green trees and a graduated red across the roof.

.

.
The finished demonstration painting illustrating the techniques of granulation, graduated colours and dragged dry brush

Further examples of Colin Swinton’s watercolour paintings