Mediums to add to your paint

 Ox Gall, Blending Medium, Gum Arabic, Glycerine, and Granulating Medium

Ox Gall

This is usually part of the formula for your water color paints. It is safe to use with your watercolor brushes. It is designed to improve the flow of your paints. It is considered a wetting agent, dispersant, and surfactant. 

 Use only 3-8 drops in a cup of your clean water. You will most likely need it on paper that is highly sized or heavy (300 lb) which resists water. Here is the most complete information that I have found on ox gall:

https://www.greenleafblueberry.com/blogs/news/how-to-use-ox-gall-in-watercolor-painting#:~:text=Ox%20gall%20is%20usually%20in,sold%20as%20a%20watercolor%20additive.&text=Ox%20gall%20is%20used%20in,aid%20in%20wetting%20your%20paper.

You should experiment with it for fun. You may decide it is super useful or that you just don't need it at all.

Blending medium

This extends the drying time to give your paints a little more time to blend and reduce the hard lines you get when the paint dries before you have time to blend or soften edges. It can be used with your regular brushes, and is used either slightly diluted with water or by itself to wet your paint. You can also wet the paper with it, then immediately paint on top of it.

Blending Medium is useful in a dry or hot climate, where your paper and paints may tend to dry too quickly. Like in the winter when the heater is on and the air tends to be dry. Or en plein air with hot dry temps. It is also helpful when you just need a little more time to work on an area. There are also some papers that absorb the paints too quickly and don't give you time to blend.

Gum Arabic

Because this is part of your watercolor formula, it is safe to use with your brushes. Dilute with water, dip your brush in it, then pick up the paint. It can enhance the brightness of your color, and slightly increase wetting time. You can also use it if your paints have begun to dry and crack.

https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/watercolor/the-secret-of-gum-arabic/#:~:text=Gum%20arabic%20is%20the%20binder,linseed%20oil%20with%20oil%20paints.

You should not use gum Arabic thickly. It will cause the paints to become brittle.

 Glycerine

This is used in so many products, from make-up to candy. I use it to revitalize paints that have begun to dry and crack. Glycerine is a plasticizer, and makes the paint flexible, and sometimes adds to the glow. It serves the same function as adding honey to paint, and makes it creamy and easy to work with. 

While many paints will dry, if they begin to crack, it means they have lost some of its binder and will not spread or adhere to the paper as well as when they were new. I use a dropper with a tiny bit of glycerine to revive them. The video below compares using honey and Glycerine to improve your paint.

 https://www.google.com/search?q=using+glycerine+in+watercolor&rlz=1CATRIY_enUS1088&oq=using+glycerine+in+watercolor&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRifBdIBCTgyMzNqMGoxNagCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:15fa71bf,vid:YMFxHpUoK3k,st:282

I would also use Glycerine on a cheaper paint that doesn't flow as well as an artist grade paint. 

I have never had Glycerine go bad on me. And it's pretty cheap.

Granulation medium

PAY ATTENTION to this : DO NOT mix your paints that you add granulation to in your palette. You do not want to get it into your other paints, so you need to mix it separately.

Granulation medium is used to cause a non=sedimentary color to granulate. Some paints naturally granulate: burnt sienna, French ultramarine, some other blues. But pthalo blue is smooth and staining, sinking into the grains of the paper. Adding a little granulation to the puddle mixed with paint and water will cause it to separate and create texture. See this Winsor Newton video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zlL8NNQx-I

Christmas Cactus project

Today's project is one I've used before, but not to demonstrate the use of mediums. I like it for newcomers especially because it demonstrates several key watercolor concepts:

    Color mixing and blending

    Wet into wet technique

    granulation

    creating shadow

    lifting

    limited palette

Choose 3 basic primary paints, a yellow, a red, or a blue

(I chose a medium yellow, magenta, and cerulean, with later addition of French Ultramarine)

I used wet into wet techniques on each stem. On the left stem, I just wet it with plain water, then added blue, then yellow, then magenta, with some blue on the bottom, allowing each color to blend into the next.

With the next stem I used blending medium in the water with the paint.

On another stem I used ox gall with the paint.

And on the last I tried some gum Arabic in the water. 

After it dried, I worked on the pot. I created a puddle of paint - burnt orange--and added granulation medium to it. I washed over the entire pot (using a flat brush) with the granulated paint. On the right side I added some French ultramarine (it is self granulating) to create a bit of shadow, while wet. I dried it completely.

When finished I did the table. I made a puddle of red (non-granulating in most circumstances) and added the medium, just a few drops. I painted the table, then added some blue near the pot to create a shadow.

To finish, I wet the dirt area, dropped in burnt umber, then dropped in French, and while wet, I added salt.

I LIFTED the light around the top of the pot edge. Lifted the vein that goes through the centers of the stems. And then I created a small hard dark on the far right blue leaf to separate the two leaves. I also darkened the shadow beneath the pot and added a thin dark shadow 

Watercolor mediums: Masking Fluid & other whites

 Masking Fluid

Water colorists depend on the white of the paper for any whites in the painting. 

This is why I began this series of lessons with preserving the white of the paper. 

Not all, but many artists rely on things like masking fluid to protect the whites. Masking fluid comes in several forms, but most are latex based. They are applied, dried, then painted and removed to reveal the saved whites.

I found this very good article that explains most of the points of applying masking:

https://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/how-to/watercolour/9-tips-for-working-with-masking-fluid/

Jackie Hernandez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKgcnlRnqhA

Here is a wonderful printable guide from Jackie Hernandez.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e18bd7024a1fb747d90ab1f/t/64ac3a2d70c1977e37b3a7fe/1689008686931/Masking+Fluid+Magic.pdf

Another method for preserving whites is wax. You can rub the side of a white crayon or wax over the surface of the paper, and it leaves a sparkle effect which some use to show light on the ocean.

One method which is not mentioned much is using gum Arabic for soft whites, such as a moon, sun, or clouds.( Gum Arabic is one of the main ingredients in your paint. It is usually the binder for watercolors. So you do not need a special designated brush to apply it) You paint the gum Arabic on the area you wish to save, dry it completely, then paint over it lightly. Over-painting or scrubbing will erase it. Once the paint is dry, you go over the area with water on your brush, then dab it off with a tissue. 

Some people use contact paper to protect areas they want to keep white. But this article is mostly about mediums, so I will just include a link about using contact paper.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/317577037081853522

We began by taking small - 4x6 or 5x7 -- rectangles of paper and doing an example of each method. I keep a collection of these cards to remind myself what each medium will do. Left side is practicing with mask; right top is gum Arabic.

In a short project to practice these methods, we drew some mountains on a horizon. Cover the mountains with masking. Apply gum Arabic over clouds and sun, let it dry. You can rub some of the foreground with wax.

When masking was dry, I used my finger to rub some of it off to create a bit of texture.

After everything is dry, make a wash for the sky. (for a sunset, wet the sky, start at the top with cobalt blue, then magenta, then yellow, and allow them to blend)

When the sky is dry, use a damp brush to gently remove and blot the gum Arabic, leaving some soft clouds.

clouds before removing gum arabic

after removing gum arabic--note soft edges on clouds and sun

Final painting after painting in foreground grass and stream, and removing masking fluid.

You can remove masking with the sticky side of tape, your finger, or a rubber cement eraser made especially for this. Regular erasers are useless for this.

There are some way to retrieve any whites that have been lost, either through damaged paper or over painting. One of them is Bleed Proof White. It is a lot like gouache, but you can paint over it after it is dry. For larger areas, you can use watercolor ground, which can cover large mistakes. For tiny details, you can use a white gel pen, white ink, or Posca pens (which are acrylic ink.)

The purpose of this series of blogs is to try different mediums and see if they are useful. It is not to make people go out and purchase a lot of stuff they probably don't need, but to prevent that. To weed out what you will really use on your watercolor journey.

When it comes to masking fluid, though, I do use it often enough to suggest that people have some, but to use it intelligently. It's easy and cheap to keep a little wax or contact paper in my kit. As for gum Arabic, I have some, but I don't use it often because I don't really do a lot of cloudy skies, and there are other ways to create that effect if I choose. Gum Arabic is also used to reconstitute dried up paint, create special effects, or to make your own paint with dry pigment.

Results from Cutting Up

Some results from our cut up paintings

This was a fun class. I wanted to post some of the results because they are each so different.

The main focus of this is to look at your paintings in a different light; then reassemble them using the basic elements of art to create focus and unity. You can use color, line, shape, texture, and movement to create harmony in your collage work. 

                                              

Vicki's: Still working on it, but it's a great start. She's also used some Brush-O too. I think the center of interest is very effective.

Emily's. Working on making purples More dominant. It has a light spring feel, super fun to look at.

Carol hasn't glued hers down yet. She framed each square with some print scrapbook paper. That was a very effective way to create harmony.  Then used a punch to cut hearts out to bring it all together. Perfect for the granddaughter's room.

Francis---I love the moons pulling it all together with repeated shapes and colors. And it's good to cross over the boundary of each square to add more interest.

Mary: Making a "window" effect. More realistic. Not finished yet,

but a great start. And a good way to take some muted colors and

make them into a picture.

Sylvia's: not finished, but it has a wonderful fall feel. Makes me feel like

I'm camping in the woods.

Judy: Tied a lot together with some gold stenciling. Almost done.

Barb did hers at home. The green dominance and the gold make it very unified

and fun to look at.

Mine--I still have some work to tie it together. Prob going to use some bits of collage. But liking it. Got to break up that black square a bit and find some way to connect things without getting too busy.