Making Art: Phase One; With Watercolors, Dyes & Pastels (Exercises)

For an Introduction and Table Of Contents to this series, go to

Making Art: A Course In Allowing Your Creativity To Flourish; Introduction

For a description of the meaning of Phase One, go to:

Making Art: Phase One; Preparing Fertile Ground

For a list and description of materials, go to 

Making Art: Phase One; With Watercolors, Dyes And Pastels (Materials)

This is a piece at the completion of Phase One, but
how do you know when Phase One is completed, why
 is it not "finished", and where does it go from here?

Let's Create Some Fertile Ground!
In these exercises, you will be transforming that sterile, blank, white page or canvas into fertile ground for your creativity. Think of actual soil, and the plants that might grow from it: the richer the soil, the healthier the wheat.  The pickier the plant...well, just think of an orchid, and you get the intent of this phase.


Do not attempt to finish or control your pieces, by any means, in this stage. This is the first of at least three phases in the series, so lucky you won't have to worry about perfection, completion, or any audience but yourself right now.

You should work quickly and instinctively, trying to keep intelligent criticism out of it and to quite simply, just go with the flow.


Understand that this should get messy, so if you are not comfortable making a mess, use a drop cloth. However, it's not possible to make mistakes in Phase One, so don't worry! There will be plenty of time for worry in later phases, so just have fun with this one...

With soaked areas, pools of water, and dry spots.

One, Two, Three, Repeat!

1. First,  choose one of your papers of any size. 


Wet your paper by squeezing water from a sponge or brush directly onto your active surface (this will be the term used from now on to indicate the current paper, canvas, etc. in front of you), in a random way.

Let the water run and be absorbed where it will, and don't try to wet the entire active surface completely or uniformly. 

Paint will flow differently, according to the wetness of the paper. Soaked
areas, pools of water, and dry places make it more interesting!

From one large pool, pigment was randomly added, then
then the page was tilted to encourage the flow of pooled
water into a stream of color through the dry paper.

2. Now, randomly select two colors from your watercolor paints. Don't look, just grab one in each hand and accept your fate!

Squeeze a small amount of paint from each tube directly onto the active surface. Move color around the surface using a wet, dripping, color-loaded brush or sponge.

Pull the paint around in strokes. Squeeze or shake the brush or sponge out over the active surface, letting color fall where it will.

Add new colors, blindly as before.

You may end up with color combinations you dislike at first, but trust
the process for now. Accept "ugly" results and relinquish control.

After leaving this painting to dry on a
slightly tilted table, I found this wonderful
slow drip the next day, that I never expected.

3. Let the paint swirl and eddy where it will. You may turn your paper or bend it slightly to encourage interesting flows, but try not to get attached to any "goal."

4. Repeat, with variations. Variation is key. These steps are infinitely modifiable to suit your instinct at the moment. Read on for some of my own suggestions to keep the process rolling, and keep the creativity flowing.


Watch, Learn, And Encourage
As you work, watch how the colors blend and mix, and how the differing wetness of your paper grabs the color and sends it outward. See how the dry barriers encourage streams and drips.

Notice where colors blend to make new combinations, and where they stay separate, forming natural striations.

The best part of this process is the surprise the paint has in store for you.
You will likely see shapes, colors and patterns that you never would have
planned, but which you find quite beautiful and somehow perfect.

Even water coverage means softer edges between color.

Repeat, With Variations

Even though I offer pictures as visual aids, there is no way for your work to look anything like mine, and you should not try to do so! Let your actions be led by the materials themselves. Following, are some good techniques to try, for maximum randomness and variety:

Modify techniques in the above steps.

• Instead of wetting your paper randomly like last time, this time blot the water evenly over the paper with a sponge or brush, and allow the paper to absorb the water before beginning.
• If last time, you started with bright white, cold press, 300lb watercolor paper, next time use a lighter, softer, buff colored paper.
• If, your first active surface was paper, next time use canvas. 
• If, last time, your canvas was small, next time start with a large one.
• If, last time, you squeezed the paint directly onto the active surface, next time use one of your canvases or papers as a palette.



The smaller canvas here was first used as a paint palette,
then as a stamp, and later will become an active surface itself.

The paint on the left was applied on very wet paper, and it
blends and flows effortlessly. The paint on the right was
applied to a primed canvas that won't absorb water, and so
the paint forms harsh lines, bubbles up, and reveals the
texture of the canvas beneath.

Canvas behaves differently than paper,
with watercolor painting and stamping.

Take advantage of variable surfaces.

• Your unprimed paper will accept water and paint very differently from your primed canvases. Don't try to force either to behave as you would prefer, but use the resulting differences in paint quality as part of the piece.
• Leave bubbled up paint on primed canvas to dry, and see what happens. You can set a good amount of pooled water to dry, somewhere safe from bumping or otherwise being molested. The resulting implied texture can look exceptional next to other paint treatments later.



Fine powder gets activated immediately by the
water, and clumps of powder can be activated later. 

• Thick, 300lb watercolor paper will hold its shape much better than thinner paper, not made for watercolors. Don't worry about what you need now; you may need warped, crazy paper in the future!

Widen your color palette.

• You will be using a good amount of paint throughout the session, and you should continue to grab tubes, randomly, to add to the mix. I caution choosing your colors with any intention, as this usually leads to your trying to control the session, and the result will be less impromptu and more same old.
• Try introducing powdered fabric dye to wet areas, and see what happens. Fabric dye can be especially fun, when it is re-activated later, unexpectedly.
• Use your soft pastels to add color in a different way. Try drawing with them in both wet and dry areas, crushing them, or rolling them on the active surface. Cylindrical pastels will give different results from square and powdered pastels. Pastels rolled in enough water will become pasty and produce yet another effect.

Fabric dye sprinkled directly onto a wet, active surface.

Pastels applied in wet, already painted areas can be mixed in new ways.

Square pastels dragged and rolled on wet paper produce
curiously organic and geometric patterns here.

The paint from the active surface drips onto wet paper that
readily accepts pigment.

Activate many surfaces at once.

• As you let your paint drip down the active surface, let it fall on other papers or canvases. Use both wet and dry catching surfaces, and both blank and already activated surfaces.
• Where colors and water pool, use other waiting surfaces to soak them up. Smash them together, and stack them up; who knows what you will find, when you pull them apart!
• Use your canvas "palette" as another active surface. Smash it or stamp it with other surfaces, and use it as an active surface in it's own right, beginning with Step 1, above.

The dry smaller paper is being used to soak up clotted color,
stamp it repeatedly on the active surface, and will now
become an active surface itself. Its smaller size dramatically
changes the look of the patterns in the stamp.

This paper is soaking up color and changing the active
surface, by introducing a composition line that will be
apparent with the subtracted color.

The strange landscape formations here were formed by stamping or
soaking with another paper, off-set to leave the compositional line.

Experiment with your materials.

• Use your materials in the way that feels right to you, paying attention to how they work together naturally; my instructions are only suggestions.
• Try new things all along the way. Use paint colors you would never normally put together, and brushes you are unfamiliar with. Use materials in ways they may not have been "intended", like a sponge as a stamp,  a canvas as a napkin, and a napkin as a brush.

This small canvas was grabbed to quickly catch some dripping paint, yet
there is a funny little cow figure emerging that I really like; I think I'll keep it!

A sponge can accumulate interesting colors and patters, and
can be used as a pattern stamp.

Things Will Change!

This intricate rock formation was formed
when one of my other paintings, left to
dry overnight, drained off onto the table,
and was soaked up by a happy accident.

I warn you not to try to control your imagery yet, because that's an important part of the process but also because...you really can't control the paint when you work like this! As large, wet areas dry, they will change, so don't get too attached.

Also, since you are using watercolor materials, though they dry quickly, they will always remain active because when you later paint over them or next to them, adding water, they will come alive again! Don't try to plan for this, you can't. Just have fun and watch what happens.

In Phase Three, I will show you how to harness that wild paint and make your imagery permanent and protected. But, don't worry about that yet.

The heavy paint built up here will likely be activated again later, to blend
with whatever paint I am using then, and forcing me to adapt my plans.

How Do You Know When To Stop?

You're not trying to finish anything, so how do you know when to stop? If you start feeling too attached, or start trying to control the piece, toss is aside and grab a new active surface.

You know when a piece has left Phase One when you are excited to work on it more later. Done, leave it for Phase Two. I suggest accumulating a wide variety of color harmonies, textures and spacial arrangements for optimum range of choice in Phase Two; at least 20-30 pieces. See the captions below, as to why I think the following are fertile ground.

Never would I have chosen these garish colors on purpose, but I am
starting to like them. There is a bubbling humor, almost circus-like,
being obliterated by the cloud of smoke rolling in.

Subtle and smokey, with only vague suggestions of form, this space will
be perfect for pencil or pen and ink later.

The muted reds and blues, within the textured neutrals are
crying out for me to do something with that space. The
bright green in the lower corner is vaguely plantlike, in the
rich brown "soil" clot. The rest of the space seems
quite ethereal next to it.

Only a few sparse lines and globs, the placement is almost structural,
as armature or power lines, or could be easily used as such.

Hhhhmmmm...don't know why, just like 'em. Don't over-think it, remember
you'll need lots and lots for Phase Two.

Yet, don't wait for every active surface to become "interesting" or "promising". You never know what imagery you will need on any given day in the future, so you can't really know what might have promise later, in this moment now. Don't give up on the duds! Just save them for later and see what happens. You may just need that dud one day.

Not my favorites, but sometimes ugliness can really spur you on! The
one in the bottom left was so disturbing to me that I started working
on it in Phase Two almost immediately!

Please Share!

Above all, this blog is about making art and talking about it, so please share your ideas and your own examples by commenting and leaving a link to your work.