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Watercolors: Tube vs. Pan
Watercolor pans or cakes have been around for centuries with very little change.
Originally starting as hard, brittle pans (or cakes) of color, they were forever changed by W. Winsor and H. C. Newton.
In the 1800's Winsor and Newton added glycerin to the pans which prevented the pans from being so brittle and also increased
their solubility in water. The next change came when watercolors were produced in tubes. To allow the paint to stay
moist within the tube, the pigments were mixed with glycerin, ox gall (bile from the gall bladder of a cow), and gum Arabic
(a natural substance that oozes from the Acacia tree). Most recently, ox gall has been replaced by a synthetic medium - a very good thing. Because oil and acrylic artists use tubes it is a natural transition for them to use the tube watercolors versus the pan.
Watercolor mediums:
Mediums help the watercolorist achieve specific desired effects.
Gum Arabic continues to be used as a medium for watercolors - as a glazing agent, when more drying time is needed,
or to enhance transparency. Gum Arabic also improves the way watercolors stick (or adhere) to a surface, and can also be
used when mixing pigments.
A synthetic version of ox gall is used today to enhance the flow of watercolors and improve the absorption by paper.
Masking liquid (or friskit) is used to prevent paint from being applied to specific areas of a painting. It is recommended
that you do not use a sable brush to apply masking liquid as it can get embedded in the hairs, making your brush unusable.
Use a synthetic brush instead but make sure it is moistened before dipping into the friskit. The friskit is easily erased with a natural rubber pick up, and masking liquid does not damage the surface of your painting and leaves it ready to be painted. Be sure to let the
painting dry completely before removing the friskit - air drying is preferred over a blow dryer. Some artists prefer to use a template to block areas not to be painted. These can be plastic or heavy-weight paper (which is more resistant to liquids) which can be customized and re-used.
Quality in Watercolors
There are two basic categories of watercolors. Artist-quality watercolors tend to contain higher-quality natural pigments combined with synthetics. Student-quality watercolors tend to have lower-quality genuine or synthetic pigments and have fillers to fatten up, or add bulk which will make their flow more like the professional grade paint. As you might guess, artist-quality watercolors are usually the most
expensive because of the higher quality of the ingredients - the best having genuine pigments such as rose madder genuine
or lapis lazuli (used in ultramarine blue). As a note - when 'hue' appears on the label, the pigment is synthetic - such
as in cobalt blue hue.
Be sure to select the best paint for your level or experience. Beginners might opt for the student
quality watercolors as they tend to be more economical and then progress to the professional or artist grade watercolor. |
