Beginner’s watercolour

In this series on watercolour for beginners we have examined the paint, with exercises and small projects that were designed to help you achieve control whilst still using plenty of water and working quickly. What if there is a method that allows you to be carefree and less technical with the paint? Well, there is; it’s called line and wash. All you need to do is draw your subject first with a pen then add the paint. To be honest, the drawing doesn’t have to be that good and the paint can also be a bit scruffy. Paintings done this way are often the better for it.

As you can see from this simple farm composition (, below), all the detail has been created by the ink drawing, although the drawn lines on the building are fairly sketchy. There is the impression of occasional brickwork, and the bushes are just a series of curly squiggles. The track contains a few random stones and rough lines, and the windowpanes are blackened with the pen. The paint was then added in