I wondered if it was possible to paint with watercolors on canvas and you gave a solution. Thank you for your experiments and valuable advice! Liz you are wonderful!
Thank you for the video, I got my girlfriend and I some water paint amd a canvas not realizing it wasn't a normal combination. Hopefully the paint date will go good with this video helping ❤ thank you again
Thank you for this! My water colour group absolutely FREAKED OUT on me when I said I'm going to use water colour on canvas and asked for suggestions on what medium to use to prep the canvas. I'm terrible at listening to when people tell me I can't do something tho so I found you through a quick Google search. Now I'm feeling more confident about trying it out and I learned a lot listening to this video. Thank you!
Fantastic! I have an art journal, made of an old book, in which I painted the pages with gesso. Then I paint on it with watercolour, works super! Now I have to try the canvas!
I'm a watercolour person and this looks interesting, watercolour on canvas. I'll give it a try but with watercolour pencils. Sketching with watercolour pencil instead of pencil, and easier to control water with watercolour pencils. Will mix gum Arabic with water, that's the way for me. Thank you so much for your tutorial which gave me so many ideas for canvas painting with watercolours, ideas I've never thought before. You're an Angel. 😇❤️🤗
I finally bought canvases for a few mediums and this helped incredibly with guidance! Especially the part about layers, I do a lot of those. But I like the challenge of it, seeing how direct I could be with my painting or just how different my style would be on canvas. Thank you for your videos!
So glad I found you on U_Tube today. I seem to only paint on canvases now and no longer belong to enter shows in my local watercolor group. I have always been "Out of the Box" anyway , can't wait to be part of this.
Thank you SO much! I found this video very instructive and I love your kind manner as an instructor. I’ve always wondered if I could paint watercolor on canvas. I’ve been painting in oils for years and love the vibrant colors of watercolor. Thank you again. Deborah Ellingson.
Thanks again. Super video. I like the idea of going big with watercolour on canvas. I visited an exhibition/sales gallery in Honfleur several years ago and saw water-colours that were like mural size. I guess maybe they were canvas.
I enjoyed your tips. It was nice to see the consistency of your paint in your palette, even though I was worried about it sitting on your canvas. I would have had my elbow in it in for certain.
I am rather cramped in my studio for larger work, and yes, putting your palette on your painting is a bad idea!!! I had to clear up a few sploshes. I am a mucky worker.....
Thank you! I'm starting to do water color painting for relaxation and I didn't know if I could paint on a canvas like with acrylic or oil. So you answered one question and bunch more I hadn't thought of yet
Hello Liz, I very much enjoyed your video re- painting on canvas.. I love your humour too! I'll give it a go at some point and I'll join your f.b. page too. Thank you.
Wonderful video Thank you do very much Liz. I am going to go watch the make your own ground at home! I have the QoR ground but it is so pricey! and to do a big canvas? Well I am excited to go watch your video!
Thank you so much for your tips! I have my first commission of a painting that will be in my chiropractors office. I wanted to do a spine in watercolor. Your video has helped me be clear about what I need to do since ice never done it before. Thank you so much!
Good luck! If you have any questions come into the Watercolour on Canvas facebook group and ask - super helpful people: facebook.com/groups/463275440905151
Hi Liz, New to your channel but not knew to your techniques. Received one of your book for Christmas. Did try painting watercolour on canvas but it wasn’t much of a success……washed it off!!! marvellous. Inspired once again to have go. Many thanks Marion.
Nearly finished preparing my canvas for watercolour! I am thinking of drawing the outine with appropriate colour watercolour pencils. Have you ever tried this? Thanks
Thank you for sharing your wonderful talents with us! I am new at watercolors. Do you have a video on how to apply the Dorland wax? I am unfamiliar with the product. Thank you for your time.
I use every and all brands to be honest. Where possible I use own brands from Jackson’s, Ken Bromley and SAA. But pick some special colours from the other manufacturers such as Sennelier phthalo turquoise, Daniel smith quin Sienna and Rembrandt gamboge
Brilliant! The muted colors are beautiful. I am embarking on an 6 ft X 8 ft watercolor and this information allayed most of my fears. Is any watercolor ground good. I gravitate toward Daniel Smith products but I have never used the ground. I will watch the video you said you made about priming. A million hugs and thanks!
I have painted on watercolor canvas for several years, but I have never drawn with pencil on it only watercolor pencils which seem to work. I noticed that you pull some of your watercolors off the canvas with a paper towel, does that hurt the canvas? I just do not know. I don't scrub on it as I thought it could rub off the coating and I have never erased it. So much to learn. I do love it. Your video was great.
Glad you enjoyed the film. The watercolour canvas is really tough. You can even use a Magic Eraser on it and scrub it under the tap if it all goes wrong. If I scrubbed it under the tap, I might put another coat of watercolour ground on it, but otherwise it is really resilient. Take a look at this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qok6-cje3jk.html
Hi Liz, thanks so much for all your videos. I think I’ve watched most, if not all of them and some of them more than once! I really like the idea of painting watercolor on canvas and I have a couple of canvas covered boards prepared so I can experiment. I was just wondering if you have any experience using Derwent Inktense pencils or blocks on canvas. I know they are inks and not watercolor, but the colors are so vibrant and I really like them. I will try them on canvas with the watercolor ground, but was hoping to see something you might have done. In any case, thank you for the videos and best wishes for a happy Christmas and a successful 2024!
Oh, by the way, the Inktense when dry, especially heat set with a hairdryer for example, are permanent and you can layer without lifting off.... This might be an advantage on canvas....
thank you for your best wishes! I have used inks on canvas and they are wonderful. I have not used Inktense pencils on the canvas surface, but can see no reason why they wouldn’t be great. Two things, the canvas is rough so your pencils will blunt quickly! Second, check lightfastness info. You might want to make sure any sealer you use at tge end has UV protection. From memory Inktense are not particularly lightfast (apologies if I am doing them a disservice )
watercolour ground is like an absorbent gesso and makes any surface behave more like paper. so you can work on gesso but it gives a different effect and will skid around more
Thank you so much for this video :) when I started with watercolors about 10 years ago, I had a very bad experience with (cheap) watercolor paper so I switched to canvas with watercolor ground (my best experience is 2x Daniel smith + 1 layer Schmincke) and never tried paper again. After seeing your explanations I finally understand what other watercolor youtubers are talking about because their techniques often do not really work on canvas. So far I only used cotton canvas (380g/qm) but I noticed there are also thicker ones made from linen (e.g., 450 g/qm). I wonder if there is a noticeable difference after applying watercolor ground? Would you recommend linen canvas over cotton canvas?
Thats interesting that you went straight to canvas. I love linen canvas when I’ve used it. it tends to be a finer weave, linen is stronger than cotton and I like the colour (use transparent ground to take advantage of that). But it’s often way more expensive. I’ve only used it a few times to be honest. oil painters rave about it, but I’m not sure I’m qualified to just on watercolours. So thinking about it, I guess I don’t recommend it over cotton, otherwise I’d be using it more 😁
@@LizChadertonArt Wow thank you again - you almost instantly replied :) I can spend months on a single painting and I only buy one canvas in advance so for me it would be only a few euros more but I feared that the texture would be too rough and I would notice this only after having invested many hours.
I have recently decided to give painting watercolour on canvas a try. Can the canvas be coated with gesso as an alternative to watercolour ground or would you always use watercolour ground? Thanks
Beautiful and so informative. I tried watercolour on canvas before seeing this, so I will try again with these tips. Just wondering what brand watercolour paint you use (sorry if I missed hearing that bit on video, if mentioned)? Thanks
I tend to use all brands as long as they are artist quality watercolour in tubes, so W &N, Sennelier, Daniel Mitch plus tge own brand from Jackson’s, Ken Bromley and SAA.
Great! I wonder if this would be a good option for watercolour pencils. I'm hesitating between mounting paper on a cradle or using your method. Subscribed😊
Liz, I have NO, zip, nada drawing skills so if I am going for 'realism' I have to trace...what should I use for tracing paper on canvas? Actually, I should add that the 'graphite tracing paper' I've purchased on amazon requires I use a heavy touch to even be able to see it on my watercolor paper...what ever happened to good ol carbon paper? Anyway, rambling...what can I use for tracing on canvas? Thanks.
The trouble with carbon paper is that it leaves a waxy line which repels water, so graphite paper is better. If you use the grid method you can transfer your image and make it smaller or larger. use a watercolour pencil. Take a look here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gkc2_7ElVJg.html. I go through this in my online canvas course over at www.lizchadertonstudio.co.UK too. you can also get a projector.
I'm trying not to be the watercolourist that puts too much layers😅...I'm not a beginner, but I have soo much to learn. My aim is to reach a very good result with few layers. I don't know, but many layers, even if they are watery...I don't like them very much. Painting in watercolour means a lot of time to project in your mind and then decisive movements when you paint. This is what I understand about this medium and this is what I'd like to achive. I paint...then I'm not satisfied, often the colours aren't dark as I wanted, so I come back on the same point...and this leads to less transparency. What do you think?
GREAT artwork. Question: Your using a photograph as a *reference* . Is that _your_ photo of the bunny rabbit? Or is that a photograph From another source (someone else's photo) ? Many thanks
I am a rubbish photographer, so definitely not mine. A number of very kind photographers let me use their work, or in use sites like Pixabay or Paint my Photo.
I want to try a mixed media on canvas....acrylic and watercolor. Not mixing them in anyway, but doing some parts in watercolor and some in acrylic. I'm trying to do a painting of our local drive-in restaurant, but painting that roof in acrylic has been a disaster. I want to try to do the roof in watercolor. You think this might work?
I think it should. You may need to be careful with the order of working as acrylic will go over watercolour but watercolour will struggle over acrylic. You should be able to play around with the transparency of watercolour and opacity in the acrylic too if you want.
Wow! Thank you so much. This video is really helpful. I don't think I would actually call myself a beginner, because I have painted using watercolor before. It has been 3 years since I last painted. However, the control I had before is different since i rarely practice. And now, I'm deciding to paint again using watercolor with a canvas (P. S. I haven't used a canvas ever, so this is quite a challenge, from using a paper to a canvas). Thank you so much this have been a lot helpful. Will bear this in mind hehe. Hopefully I get to pull off the idea I have in mind. *cross fingers* Lots of love from the Philippines ♡✨.
Is it possible without watercolour ground? Or alternatives to watercolour ground? Will a raw non gessoed canvas work well enough or will watercolour ground still be required?
Some people paint directly onto canvas, but if you want it to support the wet in wet techniques Tgat are so part of watercolour, then it is best to prepare. On raw canvas, it will sink in and feather like blotting paper, which is fine If that’s the effect you want
This is sooooooooooooo good and inspiring, just wonderful! And I find your very useful video just when I was wondering whether I could gesso/watered gesso my watercolor paper and then use watercolor over the gesso - the idea is being able to add a bit of texture to the background, then do my piece with watercolor, and also be able to use charcoal or pastels. In other words, do a mixed media but with watercolor. Do you think it would work? Thanks for your insight!
yes it definitely works. you can use gesso on paper to add tooth and texture, and you can use watercolour ground in the same way if you need more absorbency. then watercolour and then dry media. look at Anne Blockley’s (uk) work or John Lovett (Australia) or Jane Betteridge (uk). they all use a watercolour mixed media approach.
I'm not able to find your free PDF form of the tips. Could you please provide the link? Thank you so much. In watching your video I didn't realize it took so much longer for it to dry on canvas. Thanks for pointing that out.
I really appreciate your level of detail and especially that you provided a pdf. I will be painting three wildlife paintings that I think will do better on canvas. This will be a first for me so I may buy an extra canvas to practice on. I will be doing a Siberian tiger, a giant panda, and a whooping crane. All endangered species. I'm worried because all of these have a distinct mix of black and white among the color. The tiger has thread-like white whiskers over color. I haven't used masking fluid but think this might be a necessary application but they are so thin I'm really worried. I've also seen the use of bleach to remove color but I do think they were able to achieve a stark white. The panda I'm fairly confident about except it also has fine hairs all the way around the edge of all exposed areas. I may be able to just remove the color with a narrow brush as I add the background. I really don't want to use acrylic because I don't want the heaviness of the paint. I think they will be so much better with watercolor but also think they really need the canvas. Any tips on black and especially white? Thanks again for all the info.
I absolutely adore Indian ink on canvas. It has the advantage of being water resistant (not totally waterproof), so you can layer easily. If you ink first then you can add washes of watercolour over the top.
@@LizChadertonArt thank you for your quick response and vote of confidence and that Indian ink. I realize I asked my question backwards. For the Siberian tiger I’m paint him with a black background. As you know a little of their face is also black. The most intricate part of the painting are his long white whiskers that come over the black background. They are very thin strands. Something I doubt I’ll be able to paint it but maybe with my super mini brush and lots of practice. I’m trying to her figure out what product will be dense white enough to cover the black when it’s such a thin strand. This is what made me think of the masking fluid although even that I worry about getting that very thin. I have never used it before. I researched my butt off yesterday and don’t really want to buy a bunch of products to try them only have them end up in my boxes of supplies. I appreciate any advice you might have.
@@TaraSueSalusso Dr Martins bleedproof white is excellent if you want to do them at the end. A ruling pen will give a really thin line with masking fluid. I often do a mix. A few masked, a few added, a few painted negatively. It gives a bit of movement and variety
