Five Common Watercolour Mistakes — and How to Avoid Them

In over fifteen years of running watercolour workshops I've seen the same five problems come up again and again. Not because people lack talent, but because nobody told them these specific things. Here they are.

1. Using too little water

This is the most common mistake. Watercolour needs water — a lot more than you think. When the paint is too stiff it goes on chalky and opaque, sits on the surface instead of flowing, and dries patchy. Load your brush generously. If you're not slightly nervous about how much water is on your paper, you probably haven't used enough.

2. Overworking wet paint

Once a wash is down and beginning to dry, leave it alone. Going back in with a brush while the paint is at a halfway-dry state picks up the pigment, disturbs the surface, and causes rough patches and tidemarks that are almost impossible to fix. Make your mark, step back, and wait. Dry time is working time.

3. Using cheap paper

I mentioned this in the beginner's guide, but it bears repeating because the effect is dramatic. Cheap paper is the single biggest obstacle for beginners. It buckles badly, the surface breaks down under re-working, and colours look dull. Upgrade your paper before you upgrade your paints or brushes.

4. Mixing on the paper instead of the palette

Dropping two wet colours onto the paper and expecting them to mix neatly almost never works the way people intend. Wet-on-wet mixing has its place (intentional blooms, soft atmospheric effects), but for a specific mixed colour, do it in the palette first.

5. Giving up too early

Wet watercolour looks wrong. Almost always, while it's wet, it looks too pale, too harsh, too messy. Experienced painters know to wait — the paint shifts and settles as it dries, soft edges appear, colours deepen slightly. What looks like a mistake when wet is often perfectly fine when dry. Give it the chance to show you what it's doing before you decide it's ruined.

The single thing I say more than anything else in my workshops: just a piece of paper. You can always do another one.