Double Dipping
Loading a brush with multiple colours
After a challenging exercise last week, this one is playful and creative. I’ve always admired the calligraphic approach to watercolour and am in awe of the many masters, both ancient and contemporary, who practice this style.
One of their signature techniques is loading the brush with multiple colours and creating expressive marks in a single stroke. The colours blend where they meet, giving each mark a natural gradient and unique appearance.
This doesn’t just work with calligraphy brushes, standard round and flat brushes do the job just as well. So if you don’t own a Chinese calligraphy brush, don’t stress. You’ll be able to pull this off with whatever you’ve got.
Exercises
We’re using a calligraphy or round brush in the first exercise, and a flat brush in the second.
Video demos of the exercises are below.
Exercise 1: Expressive Marks
Prepare a strong mix of a light colour, like yellow. It needs to flow, but also carry a lot of pigment. Aim for a double cream consistency.
Have a darker colour ready as well, but this one needs to be even thicker. You can lift it straight out of the pan if your pigments are soft.
Load your brush completely with the lighter colour. Roll it so the pigment is soaked into all the hairs.
Then dip just the tip of your brush into the darker colour.
Now experiment with marks: press the brush down, drag it, lift it. Roll it, paint sideways. See how many different two-colour marks you can make.
Once you’ve got the hang of it, paint a flower, a fish, or a chicken (my favourite).
Exercise 2: Flat Brush Barn
We’re picking up the flat brush for this one. You can load it with two colours, or even go for three. You could also use a colour scheme. For analogous: yellow, Burnt Sienna, and magenta work well together.
