Tag Archives: Wet-in-wet

Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique #165

August 20, 2026 – 5:37 pm

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ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #164:

Intriguing effects can happen at the boundaries between wet and dry areas! I started with a large puddle of water and then dropped in diluted watercolors with pipettes before tilting the paper back and forth to make the wet paint run. I also added some Winsor & Newton Granulation Medium, which helped create the veining effect. After all the liquid evaporated, I painted the top with a mixture of watercolor and gouache for contrast. I let this layer dry before emphasizing some of the edges with watercolor pencils.

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Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique #161

April 20, 2026 – 10:51 pm

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ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #160:

It’s surprising how little paint and water you need for this technique! After painting the yellow center, I worked on each petal separately. First I wet the petal shape; then I touched a damp brush to undiluted Quinacridone Magenta and quickly applied it in the direction of the petal’s growth, using another damp brush to blend it in and mimic the pansy’s texture. I continued painting with 2 brushes in the same way to finish the first layer of each petal. For the 2nd layer, I put a little undiluted Winsor Violet in a third brush and continued blending the strokes in the same way.

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Mystery Technique

Mystery Technique #154

September 20, 2025 – 7:20 pm

Curious about the techniques used here? You can learn more next month if you’ve signed up for email updates! 

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #153:

Painting water is much easier if you have the right kind of fan brush! The stiffer bristles of oil and acrylic ones work better than those for watercolor, and you can get more varied marks if you give your brush a haircut.

I started this painting with the sky and its reflection in the water, using a wet-in-wet mixture of yellow and rose for the first layer. After this dried, I added a glaze of blue in places. Next I painted the distant island with a thin glaze and let the sky color show through for more depth and luminosity. I added the first layer of the other 2 islands before building up light strokes with this modified fan brush to hint at the water‘s motion and to suggest the islands‘ reflections. I finished by using a damp sponge to apply slightly darker greens on the islands to create the texture of foliage.

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