Negative Watercolour Monochromatic Painting

We started our Arts Award programme with the technique - Negative watercolour painting.

A negative painting is a technique where you paint the background around an image first. As a result, the background has darker colors, thus increasing the depth of the image.

The painting was not just a negative painting but also a monochromatic painting which means painting with only one colour.

This time I introduced the topic of Biodiversity and how mangrove forests play an important part in sustaining high biodiversity. We created a mangrove forest in a negative monochromatic watercolour painting.

How to do a Negative painting

Materials required

• Watercolours - Sap green, Prussian blue

• Watercolour paper

• Brushes - 10,4,2

• Palette, pencil, water container, eraser

1. Draw your desired picture. I decided to draw a mangrove forest as we were learning about Biodiversity . I always like combining some science topics into my art lessons.

2. Dilute your Sap green watercolor in more water and apply it to the watercolor paper for a soft wash. Use size 8 to do the soft wash. Let dry before moving to the next step.

3. Outline the image with a darker shade of paint to highlight the foreground image. Add darker values by applying a second layer of watercolor paint. You can add a tinge of Prussianan blue with Sap green

4. Continue working on the background layers. Create depth to the painting by adding the darkest darks to the dried layers.

5. If necessary you can add new trees using brush strokes, hence do not have to cover the pencil marks later.

6. The lighter foreground image is the most important element and your focal area, and thus it needs more detailing, even on the smallest shapes. The secret here is to let the general shapes wash into the background by highlighting the features of the foreground shapes

Happy Painting !

Works done by my students Aleena, Miraya, Shwethika , Sania and Natasha :)