do you know how to do watercolor whites?

We will look at several popular ways how to do watercolor whites in our paintings.

Many artists use the white of the watercolor paper, integrated into the painting.

The fish painting below was painted with several watercolor techniques involving the use of the white paper.

White makes our watercolors glow.

White makes our watercolors glow.

the techniques of how to do watercolor whites

Do we use the white paper? How do we keep the paper white? Is there white watercolor paint?

Let's answer these questions with several examples.

a common way to paint watercolor whites

This is the most used technique to paint white watercolor.

The paper makes the white in watercolors.

Notice the Blue Arrow pointing to the light-colored coral.

No white paint was used for painting the coral.

The coral was painted with more water mixed into the paint color.

The white paper is showing through the light layers of paint.

That's the beauty of painting watercolor. The colors literally glow.

the easy way to do watercolor whites

Paint around the white areas.

Paint around the parts we want to be white.

The fish body colors were painted around the white stripes.

After the body was dry, blue shadows were painted across the entire bottom of the fish, including the white stripes.

The body needed to be completely dry, so the blue and orange wouldn't mix and neutralize each other.

scratch or scrap the whites out

The paint may be scratched off.

Instead of painting individual scales, I scratched out lines in a diagonal pattern to simulate the fish scales.

This fish painting was done on Aquabord made by Ampersand. It's my favorite watercolor painting support.

Caution, don't use sharp tools on paper to prevent tearing the paper. Less abrasive tools like an old credit card can be used to scrape out areas without damaging the paper.

** Spots of masking fluid were used to preserve the white paper for highlights on the scales.

After removing the dry masking, the highlights were painted according to their surrounding colors, pale violet, light green, etc.

use masking fluid / frisket

Masking fluid made the water bubbles.

One of my favorite things is painting water scenes with bubbles. 

Just add a spot of masking fluid, let it dry and then paint the water.

After the paint is thoroughly dry, rub the masking fluid off to reveal a white bubble.

Many people use a brush to apply masking fluid. For me, I found it hard to get fine lines with a brush.

I use ball stylus embossing tools to dip into a bottle of fluid. The round metal tips are easy to clean after using the masking. 

paint after the masking is removed

Masking fluid kept the coral clean.

Here, masking fluid was used on the coral fingers before the violet background was painted.

The violet background color did however pile up against the edges of the masking fluid. 

This is a common problem when using masking. To solve the problem, the extra violet could have been sopped up with a thirsty brush.

After the background was dry the masking was removed and the orange coral fingers were painted.

Some of the orange mixed with the violet around their edges making them brown. I didn't bother trying to remove the brown because it helped them look three-dimensional.

how to do watercolor whites more ways

Here are ten common methods of protecting or recovering the white paper.

1. Leaving the white paper unpainted is the easiest way to get white into our watercolor paintings.
2. Masking fluid (also called frisket) is a liquid rubbery type substance that is applied to areas before painting. It is removed when the watercolor paint has dried, thus exposing the white paper.
   
3. Frisket sheets can be cut to shape. Use them to cover large areas. Cut them a tiny bit smaller than the area you are protecting. Then use the liquid frisket to seal down the edges.
4. Artist masking tape may be used. It is good for straight lines like the horizon or a building.
5. Lifting preparation may be applied before painting. Then the paint may be removed down to the white of the paper.
6. Sand paper may be used to remove the paint from the tops of the bumps of watercolor paper for added texture. It may also be used to take all the paint away down to the bare paper.
7. Scratching and scrapping tools are available to use on Aquabord, Claybord and other art panels.
8. A brisk water stream from a spray bottle will wash some paint away. Then blot up the loose paint and water.
9. A damp brush used to lift paint. A stiff brush works the best. Rub the brush to loosen paint and then blot up the loose paint with a paper towel. A bright brush may be used in a straight line to make slender tree trunks or leaf veins in a painted area. 
10. A wax crayon may be used on an area you don't want to paint. The area's color in the final painting will be the color of the crayon.

two popular ways how to paint watercolor whites

The beaches in Florida are wonderful. One time when I was walking the beach I came upon an area with a whole bunch of little coquina shells on the beach. 

See a Utube video of coquina shells.

That sparked my artist's instinct and the result was the painting below. It used a couple of watercolor techniques to preserve the white paper.

Two popular ways to keep watercolor paper white.

The number one way is to paint around the white paper.

That's what I did with the foam on the beach. The sand colors were painted around the foam leaving it white.

After the sand colors were dry, some areas of the foam were softly tinted.

The second popular technique of how to do watercolor white is using masking fluid. 

The coquina shells were protected with frisket while the sand was painted.

After the sand paint was dry, a pick-up eraser was used to remove the masking fluid. It can also be rubbed off with our dry fingers.

Be sure the paint around the masking fluid is dry before rubbing the masking off or you get a mess by moving the paint around.

This tip is from my unfortunate experience of making a mess with wet paint and masking.

do we use white watercolor paint?

There is a Titanium White watercolor paint. It may be mixed with a color to lighten a color, but it makes the colors opaque and chalky looking.

Titanium White watercolor or white gouache, either one can be painted on top of a dry color, but it creates a dull white.

The white paper is always brighter and cleaner looking, than painting white over another color.

What do you think is the best way how to paint watercolor white?

You can see an example of doing it both ways in this butterfly tutorial.

The natural white of the paper provides the brightest, cleanest whites in watercolor painting.

Successful watercolor paintings require planning and techniques to preserve the whites.

The whites add sparkle and vitality to our artwork.