Welcome to another post in which I actually follow the World Watercolor Prompt for the day: LOCK! Well, I follow lock if a key is automatically associated with a lock, of course. I do tend to streeeeetch the prompts just a little bit! 

Today’s project started out as something just for me, but as I was painting, I realized – some of YOU might like to paint this as well for YOUR studio. And learn a little something about watercolor painting along the way! So  it’s not only a YouTube speed tutorial for part of it, but I cooked up a little something for you to join in on. More on that after the video!

Tutorial: Wet in wet watercolor (painting a vintage key)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Wet in wet watercolor

One of the most fun moments for me in watercolor is watching paint flow — how one color moves into another, merging and blending, combining the effects of one color with those of its neighbor. It invents all sorts of new colors along the way – and creates a loose-looking watercolor painting, while in control within a specific area.

That’s why I decided on that technique for this piece – the wet areas would be within shapes, a key and some words, and the looseness is there while also the controlled detail within the drawing. Kind of the best of both worlds, right?

Unfettered plans vs play

According to Merriam Webster, the definition of “unfettered” is

Unfettered: not controlled or restricted : free, unrestrained

But didn’t I just say in this painting, the wet in wet techniques are within defined areas? Yes. But, dear reader, dear artist….I know you. I know that freeform unfettered wet in wet freaks people out. (Yes I am one of them!)

So one step towards truly unfettered – no outlines, no definition, just go wild – is getting free and unrestrained within an area we can control.

Did you know you can plan that section of a painting?

Sometimes it’ll be the dress of a person in a painting. Or the canopy of a tree. The rest of the painting can be in different techniques, but you can plan to specifically let colors get loose and blend into each other in one particular area without changing what’s happening elsewhere.

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Newbie painter phase

And when it comes to figuring out the plan for a painting, I know newer artists need a few guardrails around the wildness of watercolor! When I spoke with the painter that I mentioned in the video, he told me the stress he had over watercolor doing what it wanted. As I asked him more about his watercolor experience, I realized he quit watercolor before he’d even done it very long! So he never got out of the “newbie” phase of his work before jumping ship to another medium.

That’s not to say that someone who made the jump to oils from watercolor is doing something bad at all. Some people are built for oils – and his work is lovely! But it’s left him with a feeling that he can “only” paint in a controlled way, that he’s not a good enough artist to be able to watercolor. Even though he’s doing wonderful work, he carries the defeat he experienced when he gave up too soon.

So now it’s a class

As I worked on this piece I thought about my friend. He just needed someone to help him find some controlled ways to let go….and that there are a lot of artists like this out there!

I realized this piece could be a good step for newer painters in how to let watercolor do its thing while ALSO staying under control, I decided to only show part of this painting on YouTube, then walk through it much more slowly, in realtime, in a class. While you don’t need to take the class in order to paint wet in wet, it may well be just what the doctor ordered to help you get looser and to find the joy in wet-in-wet techniques. 

In the course you’ll see all the different ways wet in wet can be layered, tweaked, and even fixed! Because yes I am always doing little repairs! 

The class is also a “snack” course – I began those when I created a few on Artventure years ago, budget-priced courses with less content but really concentrated on one thing. You can see them all here – it’s a great way to be able to learn something new without busting the budget in your art studies!

Unfettered Play: Watercolor

Get a taste of wet in wet watercolor and create an art piece fit for framing in this Artventure “snack” course! Trace the provided art and learn how to control the aspects of watercolor that you can, and let the rest blend and mix right before your eyes.