My Five Steps to Watercolour can be applied to any subject. As a tonal impressionist my work is based on a reduced palette, emphasising light rather than colour. This method can also be applied to painting interiors, which are all about the light source, whether it’s a window, on a wall or overhead and the light subsequently cast through it, or light cast by candles, fireplaces or lamps. Paintings of interiors will have very dark tones because the sun or other light source must be brought into the painting.
The five steps
My first step, composition, is most important in laying down the base work for the painting. Colour choice in the second step can then be what you choose and does not have to be the same as what is in front of you. In the third step the painting is built up in tones. These are different thicknesses of paint, not different colours, although a darker colour like burnt umber can be painted over raw umber to give a darker tone. This is the traditional method of building tone but I practise mixing the paint correctly the first time on the palette to get just the right paint-pluswater ratio and then apply paint to the paper in a confident brushstroke with minimum deliberation and correction. This is called alla prima painting. My fourth step is to give the painting a sense of magic, time and light by using shadow washes or high contrast darks and lights. The last – fifth – step is to pull it all together with the added details of your choice.