Do You Know the 4 Key Properties of Watercolor Paint?

While there’s nothing wrong with experimenting with watercolor paints, knowing their qualities and characteristics (and how they effect your chitraakala) can help you create purposeful, compelling compositions. Read on to learn the basics watercolor properties before you start your next masterpiece.

THE BEAUTY OF WATERCOLOR LIES IN ITS UNIQUE QUALITIES.

There are 4 basic characteristics of watercolor paints every artist should know about.

1. TRANSPARENCY AND OPACITY

Watercolor paints fall into one of four transparency categories:

• Transparent
• Semi-transparent
• Semi-opaque
• Opaque

Transparent watercolors allow the light to come through and reflect from the white paper, which makes the colors glow. Opaque watercolors, on the other hand, block the light from shining through, so they look thicker and somewhat cloudy. Semi-opaque and semi-transparent are somewhere in-between.

 TRANSPARENCY TEST

To find out where your paints fall on the spectrum of transparent to opaque, you can do a simple test. Draw a bold line with a black permanent marker; then stroke the color over that line. Opaque colors will be visible on the black line, while transparent colors will not appear.

Opaque and transparent paints

As you can see from the picture, the first three colours (on the left) is opaque, and last one (on the right) is transparent.

Transparency Test

       2. STAINING AND NON-STAINING PAINTS

Staining watercolors immediately penetrate the fibers of the paper and stain it, so it’s difficult or impossible to lift the color off.

Non-staining watercolors, on the contrary, settle on the surface of the paper, and can be easily rewet and lifted when dry.

STAINING TEST

To test your watercolors for staining quality, paint a patch of color and let it dry. Then, try to scrape off some of the paint with a stiff, wet brush. The amount of pigment that remains will tell you about the paint’s staining quality.

In the image below, the left patch is painted — a staining pigment. Even after trying to lift the pigment with a wet brush, some of the pigment remains.

On the right-hand side, you see  — a non-staining pigment. After lifting some of the pigment with a wet brush, you can see the white of the paper again.

Staining Test

       3. GRANULATING QUALITY

Depending on the pigment, the particles in the paint can be heavy or light. Watercolor paints with heavier particles tend to separate from the water and collect in the tooth of the paper.

Granulation Test 

I’m a big fan of granulating paints, because it adds interest and texture to a chitraakala.

      4. FUGITIVE AND NON-FUGITIVE PAINTS

The longevity of your work depends on the lightfastness of your watercolor paints. A non-fugitive paint (or one with a good lightfastness rating) will not fade over time. A fugitive paint (or one with poor lightfastness) will fade quickly, so it’s best to avoid them.

The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) established a standardized system that grades lightfastness on a scale from I – Excellent Lightfastness to III – Not Sufficiently Lightfast. Watercolors with an ASTM rating of I or II are considered non-fugitive, while paints with a rating of III are fugitive. The lightfastness rating of the paint can usually be found on the label.