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Granulating Pigments

So many aspects of watercolor enchant me!


One of these is the beauty of granulating pigments. Pigments act differently in a picture depending on many things; what they are made of, the quality, the binders and the amount of water that the artist uses. The paper is important too!


The beauty of the effects of granulating pigments is well known by artists and one of the things that makes is so wonderful is that although you can't control what the pigment will do on the paper, you can coax different effects and let the water and pigment make the magic you know will come! Here is some information and a few tips on working with granulating pigments for you pleasure and experiments! Enjoy! Here are some techniques to enhance the granulation effect in watercolor painting:

  1. Use rougher paper: A cold press or rough watercolor paper has a very textured surface with high points and low points which encourage granulation because the pigment particles will clump and settle in the low points of the paper texture.

  2. Add more water: One method to force granulation is to add a lot of water to your pigment, then go back and charge the wash with more pigment. This can also add to the pigment forming a sort of outline of pigment which can be beauiful!

  3. Use granulating pigments: Granulating watercolors produce delicate textures because of the characteristics of their pigment particles. If you favor granulating watercolors, look for man-made paint, known as synthetic organic pigments. This type of pigment usually clusters during production, resulting in varied size and shape after getting broken down by milling.

  4. Create your own textures: Try splattering water onto your paint using a hard bristled brush or a spray bottle filled with water. You can also scatter salt or rice onto your paint.

  5. Combine primary colors to make secondary colors and many times you can see the separation of the primaries in addition to the new secondary color that you have made.



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