Ever wonder how some artists get those intriguing, granulating washes in their paintings? It is one of the bits of magic that only watercolor can do and a big reason I love watercolor: it has a spirit all its own. The best way to get that up-close interest and texture is with the DANIEL SMITH PrimaTek Watercolors.

After experimenting with the whole PrimaTek line, a few colors have become essential in my palette, along with primaries. Most important in my line-up is Hematite Genuine. This one color is the best warm neutral ever and will mix nicely with other colors to make the whole mix granulate. Also included in my “must have” Primatek tubes are Màu xanh Maya chính hãng, Hematite Burnt Scarlet, Apatite xanh chính hãng, Rhodonite Chính hãng, Black Tourmaline, cũng như Moonglow – although technically not a mineral-based color, but it separates beautifully into blues and purples.

To get the best performance from these paints, I use them in my initial, very wet washes, and anytime I will be using enough water the paints can flow. After moving and mixing a bit in the wash, the heavier mineral based pigments settle in the textural valleys of the watercolor paper. I let this dry thoroughly before going back into the painting because it is easy to overwork paintings in the first step. I let the spirit of these special watercolors have the time they need to do their magic.

First I placed torn shapes of wax paper down on wet watercolor paper. A few applications of paint were brushed under the edges of the wax paper while everything was wet – encouraging running, blending and wrinkling of the wax paper. This was left to dry thoroughly. I could already see the PrimaTek paints were working beautifully underneath. Other pieces I worked on started with plastic wrap, which also gives lovely granulating textures.

After removing the wax paper, I took this black and white photo. I often do this to better see the existing values of my colors, and to not be distracted by the hue of the colors. From here I made a quick value plan of how to develop this textural start. My goal is to paint minimumally and let the textures, patterns and colors do most of the work.

I did not know how I would develop this painting when I started, but the colors and textures lent themselves well to the winter season here on Lake Superior, where I have lived for 40 years. By March, we look forward to the ice thaw, when other parts of the country look forward to apple blossoms. So, “Spring Thaw” seemed an obvious choice of subject to build on.

Learn more about Kathleen Conover.