allowed to show through the overpainting in places, it acts as a harmonizing element, tying together the colours that are laid over it.
Choosing a ground colour
The colour chosen for a toned ground will depend on the subject, but it is normally a neutral tone somewhere between the lightest and the darkest colours in the painting. The colour should be subtle and unobtrusive, so that it does not overwhelm the colours in the overpainting. Diluted earth colours, such as Venetian red, raw sienna or burnt umber, work very well, as do soft greys and greens.
Transparent and opaque grounds
A toned ground can be either opaque or transparent. With a transparent ground (also known as imprimatura), the paint is heavily diluted and applied as a thin wash. A transparent ground allows light to reflect up through the succeeding colours, thereby retaining their luminosity, and it is used where transparent or semi-transparent colour is to be applied. Opaque toned grounds are used with opaque painting methods, where the light-reflecting qualities of a white ground are not so important.
Applying transparent grounds
Dilute the colour until it is thin, and then apply it with a large decorator’s brush or a lint-free rag. Loose, vigorous strokes give a more lively effect than a flat stain of colour. After a few minutes, you should rub the wash with a clean rag, leaving a transparent stain.
Making opaque grounds
Mix a little tube colour into the white priming or gesso before applying it (see here). Alternatively, you can mix the colour with white paint, dilute it a little, and then brush a thin layer over the priming. Never mix oil paint with an acrylic primer, or vice versa.
Drying times
A toned ground must be dry before you can paint over it. An oil ground takes a day or two to touch-dry; an acrylic ground is dry in minutes. So long as it is applied thinly, you can use acrylic paint for the toned ground and work over it with oils.
Ground colours
Diluted earth colours, such as Venetian red, raw sienna or burnt umber, are subtle and unobtrusive.
Jacqueline Rizvi
Two Apples
Watercolour and body colour on toned paper
17.5 × 22.5cm (7x 9in)
Jacqueline Rizvi rarely works on white paper. The rich, glowing effect of this simple still life is enhanced by the use of toned paper as a base for delicate washes of watercolour and body colour.
| WATERCOLOUR PAPERS | A well-known professor of painting used to say that no artist really succeeds until he or she has found his or her ideal paper. Today there are plenty of excellent watercolour papers on the market to choose from, and it is well worth experimenting in order to find the one that best responds to your working method. |
Paper production
There are three ways of producing watercolour paper: by hand; on a mould machine; and on a fourdrinier machine.
Handmade paper
The very best papers are made of 100 per cent cotton, and are usually made by skilled craftsmen. Handmade papers are lively to use, durable, and have a pleasing irregular texture. They are expensive, but worth the cost.
Mould-made paper
European mills produce watercolour paper on cylinder-mould machines. The paper fibres are formed into sheets with a random distribution, close to that of handmade papers. The paper is durable, extremely stable, and resistant to distortion under a heavy wash.
Machine-made paper
Although inexpensive to produce and to purchase, machine-made papers are less resistant to deterioration, but they may distort when wet. Some papers also have a mechanical, monotonous surface grain.
Choosing paper
Watercolour paper is an excellent surface for acrylics, pencil, ink, gouache and pastel, as well as watercolour. The character of the paper, and its surface texture, play a vital role in the finished picture. Very often it is the choice of paper that is to blame for a painting going wrong, rather than any inadequacy on the part of the artist.
Some papers are superior in quality to others, but it does not necessarily follow that an expensive paper will give you better results. The important thing is to find a paper that is sympathetic to what you want to do. For example, it is no good using an absorbent rag paper if your technique involves repeated scrubbing, lifting out and using masking fluid; the surface will soon become woolly and bruised.
Popular papers are available in local art shops. Specialist art shops stock less common and handmade or foreign papers; some are also available by mailorder direct from the mill or through distributors, who can send sample swatches, price lists and order forms.
Once you have settled on a favourite paper, it pays to buy in quantity. The bigger the order, the more you save.
Paper sizes
Sizes of papers will differ from country to country, and it is still common practice for art suppliers to describe paper in imperial sizes. The following table is a guide to imperial sizes and their metric equivalents.
Medium
22 × 17½in
(559 × 444mm)
Royal
24 × 19in
(610 × 483mm)
Double Crown
30 × 20in
(762 × 508mm)
Imperial
30½ × 22½in
(775 × 572mm)
Double Elephant
40 × 26¼ in
(1016 × 679mm)
Antiquarian
53 × 31in
(1346 × 787mm)
Experimenting with watercolour papers
Try out different textures and makes of watercolour paper until you find one which suits your painting style. As you become more knowledgeable, you will also be able to choose a paper to suit your subject.
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