Judi Whitton
Whilst perusing an old auction catalogue, I noticed a delightful watercolour with the caption ‘Graphite and watercolour heightened with opaque white on grey wove paper’. My heart leapt with joy at the charming picture and the uncomplicated description which evoked times gone by when ‘understated’ seemed to carry weight in the world of watercolour painting.
In my article ‘Enhance your Watercolours’ (The Artist October 2015), I introduced the use of gouache in traditional watercolour painting. I explained how it can either be mixed with the watercolour paints, can be used as highlights or as glazing, and gave a list of six advantages and nine disadvantages of incorporating it in your palette. I stressed that unpainted paper will always give a crisper white than any white media.