For a moment, let’s step back from thinking about watercolor painting and instead ponder how water behaves under all circumstances.

There are three ways that water moves all on its own, in every circumstance, unless a physical barrier stands in its way. We explored Gravity last week in Secret #6, when we were guiding a bead of wet color down the page with the help of Gravity.

There are two more ways water will always move on its own, and these are easy to overlook if you are concentrating elsewhere. Let’s head over to pages 81-83 of my newest book to read all about this fun acronym.

Secret #7 – C.A.G.E. explains everything: Capillary Action – Gravity – Evaporation

Water moves all on its own, and its nature is to disperse, to seek its own level. There are three ways that water will move without any assistance from your brush, and since it will do it whether you like it or not, it’s a good idea to anticipate and befriend these moves.

The acronym C.A.G.E. stands for:

CAPILLARY ACTION: If any part of the outside or inside layers of your paper are damp, the new neighboring water (and pigment it carries) will migrate to join that dampness and spread out. If you fully understand this, you will see why blooms / back runs / “cauliflowers” happen when you paint on an area you thought was dry, but it was still damp inside the paper.

GRAVITY: When you hold your board or sketchbook up at an angle, rather than laying it flat on a table, you access the magical way you can let the watercolor paint itself.

Let’s give it a try together:

Mix up a deep, rich puddle of a strong color like Payne’s Grey or Ultramarine Blue, or a yummy Ultramarine/Burnt Sienna classic blend. Then clean your brush, scoop up a fat brushful of clear water and paint a juicy wash of plain water in a horizontal band about 4 inches wide and 3 inches tall. This will become your stormy sky.

Hold your book in your hand, tilted at about a 45° angle, quickly fill your brush with that strong paint, and make a bold confident swipe right across near the top of the wet area. NO FIDDLING! On pain of death do not let your brush go back into that now scary-looking mess! Watch how it immediately starts to trickle down and blend with the water on the page.

Next, put the brush down and surprise yourself by tipping your book sideways, so the “storm” on your paper flows sideways. The streak will look way too dark, but don’t worry, it will diffuse and lighten as it trickles down and dries.

Now place your book on the table in its original orientation, propped up slightly on a towel or spare book, and let it continue drying. If your paint mixture was outrageously dark, you will have just created a dramatic stormy sky that is pure glistening watercolor at its very best. NO BRUSH COULD HAVE DONE WHAT YOU JUST ALLOWED THE WATER TO DO. Welcome to Gravity.

Now, gently pick up the bottom bead of water with a paper towel or brush, but don’t dry that area too much. To complete your scene, while the bottom of the sky is still a little damp, gently tickle some very dark paint along the sky-bottom, allowing the moisture in the paper to soften the upper edge of this paint line. Again, no fiddling! You and your brush and the water in the paper just created a fresh, painterly distant hillside because you let the water, and Capillary Action, work for you. It’s all about timing!

EVAPORATION: This last letter of the acronym C.A.G.E. is the good news and the bad news of watercolor, and it is where that hidden stopwatch lives. The minute you begin to paint, your beautiful watercolor mixes are drying on the paper, on your brush, on your mixing area, on your pans. Evaporation Happens! And on a windy day in a beautiful plein air setting, you either work fast or radically increase your water content everywhere. It may be safer than juggling flaming batons, but at times it feels about the same. I find drawing relaxing, but as soon as I add the element of water, my focus sharpens, and I head for full-blown exhilaration. Yes!

C.A.G.E. reminds us WE ARE PAINTING WITH WATER. Not watercolor: WATER.

The color is incidental. No one tells you that, and it’s precisely why watercolor has the reputation of being difficult, because it’s so dang watery, right??

There’s only one more secret in this series “The Eight Secrets of Watercolor that No One Ever Tells You,” and that will come next week. But if you just can’t wait, why not grab yourself a copy of the wonderful 140-page book? Links below. You won’t be disappointed.

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***This Secret #7 is from pages 81-83 of the newly expanded Second Edition of my bestseller, “Look at That!”  If you would like to purchase a copy of “Look at That! – SECOND EDITION” be sure to look for the version with the green stripe down the left side of the cover, and the words “SECOND EDITION” in the blue cloud at the top of the cover. The best shortcuts to find this new book are below: simply click on whatever version you prefer.

“Look at That! – SECOND EDITION”

Hardcover — Paperback — eBook

Note: This latest book is available on Amazon and at my local bookstore, Gibson’s, here in Concord NH. Please contact me here if you do not use Amazon and would still like to purchase a paperback or hard cover copy of Look at That! – Second Edition.

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