Top tips for granulating watercolours | How to make some super granulating mixes 

I can make watercolors granulate even if they don't normally, or granulate more if they do. I mix a good amount of salt into hot water, mix, let it cool, and then paint with the saltwater instead of regular clean water. The more salt suspended in the water, the more the effect. I give my brushes a good clean afterward. The effect is different than dropping salt into paint already on your paper. It works with any color/pigment.

“A nice bit of pollution”. So funny. Love it. Great video

I mix mars black with indigo and paynes grey and comes out as DS sodalite! or just use granulating medium by WN!

That’s what schmincke did. Mixed mars black (Pbk11) with French Ultramarine (Pb29) and created the supergranulation line. These two are the main pigments of the first two: Glacier and Deep Sea series.

I could watch the paint take off in water like that all day! It's one of my favorite things about this medium. What a great experiment! Lovely results, too!

THANKYOU. It’s great to have demonstrations by an artist who really knows her stuff and shares information. Very exiting

Like the fact you experiment with colours, canvas etc. so adventurous! Found this video super interesting will definitely try mixing colours too! Thanks

This is a brilliant video. I am very new to watercolours and don't want to paint standard landscapes. I like pen and wash and more stylised or abstract subjects, really preferring monochrome for shading (not necessarily black). I have recently discovered granulation which I adore - really want to achieve this! I've been experimenting over the past few days and certainly my best results have been what you've been doing in this video. My watercolours are student grade but I recently nearly broke the bank buying a small tube of DS Lunar Black which is simply fabulous... I'm getting great results dulling down the over-bright staining colours and getting excellent granulation. Granulation medium seems to be less satisfactory. We have very soft water here.

Thank you very much, Liz - great effects and a real moneysaver!

White Night’s Cadmium Red Light is a really nice granulating red colour! It’s one of my favourites, and it’s quite inexpensive as well! 😃

Really interesting demo thanks Liz. I am going to give this a try.

I paint on Hot Press with granulating colours. You still get just as much granulation as you do on a NOT surface - it's just less uniform. The paper is smooth, so the pigment doesn't have a texture to settle in to. The granulation effects on HP can therefore be very unpredictable and interesting - it's definitely worth experimenting with.

I love granulation. It is just so satisfying to watch the pigments and water doing their thing 😍 I bought granulation medium a few months ago, but I love colours like lunar blue. I’ll need to start mixing my own colours more. I definitely need Mars Black in my pallet! Thanks for the tips and inspiration 😊

Great stuff. I’ve just subscribed and love your presentation style and this subject too. Looking forward to seeing more . Thank you for sharing. Jill

Thanks for the tips Liz! Can’t wait to try my new granulation paints.

Thank you for an excellent video. I will definitely try out an experiment of my own. Beautiful!

Thank you for showing how to chart are likes & dislikes in granulation. This was helpful.

Thank you Liz! Very well presented and professional. Subscribed immediately. Appreciate your sharing this knowledge. I’ll try some swatching with my Cotmans and see what I get. Blessings to you!

I have also been trying to come up with some granulating mixes. Thank you for the help. I didn't think to use staining colors. Brilliant!

Great video, thanks. I really, really love that painting of the smoke against the sky. So beautiful.

This is so fantastic!! Informative, educational and still a light watch. Thank you!

Wonderful tutorial! I can hardly wait to play with mixing paint! Thank you!

Excellent tutorial! You continue to inspire me with your artwork and your videos. Thanks for sharing your experiments!

Thanks Liz, I found this very interesting

Absolutely fascinating!

Thanks so much Liz. This is really interesting and some gorgeous effects. Must dig out my mars black!

What a brilliant demonstration! Thank you so much I can’t wait to pick up some Lunar Black or Mars Black and try this !

So interesting !! Of course, I'm now off to order Mars Black !

Thank you very much Liz! For me this is a discovery, now I will certainly take advantage of it.

Thank you loved this video. Very interesting ☺️

You have just became ONE OF my favorite watercolor artist! I just looked up some of your work and it's right up my ally.

As a beginner (well possibly one step up from a beginner) I was looking for information on how to cause granulation with the watercolors I already own. Then I came across W&N granulating medium but wasn’t convinced it was for me. Then this video popped up in my feed. The information you provide is priceless! Thank you for your expertise and experimentation, and sharing it with us!

A great tutorial. Thank you.

Great tutorial. So informative. Thank you. X

Heaven on earth! Thank you ever so much from a new subscriber

Thanks Liz, this was very interesting

The quin sienna is my favorite. Thank you!

Great explanation. I never knew this. Thank you.

Really great video so useful and money saving

This is pure gold info for mr. Thank you so much for sharing. I plan to try some other colours to see what happens. Very enjoyable 💫

I just got in a tube of Van Gogh Oxide Black PBk11 to play with and I'm so inspired!

Thank you Liz. Very interesting indeed. 😊

Thank you, you made me save tons of money

Interesting comment about the difference hard of soft water makes! First I have heard of this!

Great information, thank you!

You are such a great resource for me as an up-and-coming artist. I’d say I’m past the beginner mode but even this technique is new to me. I’m excited to swatch it out myself and to try it in a future painting.

Great experiment!

Excellent information.

This is awesome thank you.

❤❤❤this video. Thank you so much! It’s so helpful and I think will save me a lot of money to buy super granulating. I can make some mixes myself.

Thanks foe the awesome granulation technique, really fascinating and some thanks to our Themes Water.

Thank you for sharing. I love the granulating paint for foggy weather landscapes. I was thinking of creating my own colors but it seemed a bit overwhelming, but thank goodness I found your RU-vid channel and subscribed so I won’t miss you. With your helpful information I’m going to give it a try. Thank you from my mountain top in middle Tennessee where the hilltops kiss the sky 💋🌁, Fran

Oh I love this video!!!

Very interesting, thank you!

This is good to know, thank you! I think I may still buy a certain pre-mixed one because I plan to use a lot of it, but this tip will be so handy for when I only need smaller amounts of a given granulating colour!

Nice demo.. very useful..Thanks

Really helpful thanks for sharing. I bought a tube of Lunar Black and Sepia from Daniel Smith in the hope they'll produce some yummy textures. I'm really excited to try them out

very interesting and helpful thanks

Awesome! You can make these special colors yourself , yes indeed … but the oddballs kept complaining about putting a Black in the sets. It’s because they don’t have a clue the majority of the specials are made with a Black. So companies started taking the Black out …. And now you get to buy the special mixes for $20 [tube/halfpan/etc] a pop, lol. Great info!

Love granulation. I can say one tip I was given a while back was to not mix more than three pigments because at the fourth the color will begin to turn "muddy". That maybe why the yellow tones do not do well with the addition of the fourth. They already had three pigments in them to get to their tone. Just a thought. Love the video. You gained a new subscriber! :)

great video, thank you

This will save me money…thank you for the tips much love

Very interesting!! Thankx

Wow, thank you so much. I clicked to see what paintings youve done and then realised you’re the author of two of my favourite books! so yay, new fan here ;-)

What a interesting video! Thank you very much, you got a new follower ! Warm greetings from a rainy Sweden 🇸🇪

This is fun to see what mixes you came up with. I have been doing this the past 2 days with my paints so I found it kind of funny that this video popped into my feed. My absolute favorite is the pbk11 with the alizeran. It seems to have separated in many different colors but not the absolute intense granulation you were looking for that you were able to achieve in the other colors. Have a great day

👍😃very well done I learn a lot.your love& enthusiastic self worth gold I am a big gan

Just found you on RU-vid! Love this video on granulation!!👍

This was wonderful! Thank you! New subscriber

Wow I love that painting of the power plant! My husband works at the plant in Edmonton AB.

Thanks for suggestions. I’m going to do a mini experiment to see if I can premix one mixture to put in my palette. Love the reds. I really like floculation, although it sounds like it’s something against the law.

I have a fullpan iron oxide / mars black from schminke and I have a lot of fun with this if I mixing it with every other color that I own.

I look forward to trying my paint at granulation. I am currently only able to use paints from Hobby Lobby. We'll see. Looks fun; to experiment.

That was incredibly helpful. As if the youtube algorithm had known, I just bought a mars black. Guess I have to go and mix it with all the other colours I have.

This is a great idea to utilize the vary on savory blacks they come in watercolor sets but I have also done this with soda light genuine to create some amazing affects

This was fascinating. I have wondered in the past whether the very, very hard water of a certain favorite vacation area would affect my paints but was told, “No.” Now I find out out that would really enhance the granulation effect! What a surprising piece of information-and this is the only place I have seen/heard any reference to the quality of water! Thank you ever so much. I will now experiment with my own colors.

Very very interesting👍🙏

When I first bought the DS lunar and Schminke deep sea colours when they came out, like you, I checked the pigments of each colour and found was is possible to mix these colours myself. W&N Potters pink was in a lot of these colours too, which is also granulating. The science of it is fascinating, well to me anyway, ha, ha.

Thanks very much Liz for a great video. Try a single pigment Green Gold PY 129 from either Maimeri Blue or W+N, Rembrandt. From a new subscriber in Lancashire. x

I don’t like it and I’ve never liked it!I LOVE IT LIKE CRAZY and have always adored the way these colours work! I’m in love❤️‍🔥🥇🥰

Wonderful! I use well water and could never get a nice sky wash using UM Blue or Cobalt. Now I know why!

Wonderful experiments! Thank you for the inspirational combinations, I will have to try these out! The color closest to a granulating red is Potter's Pink. Winsor and Newton makes a nice one, and the color is a brownish, purplish red that is highly granuling. It even makes a scratchy sound as I mix it on my palette and apply it to my paper due to the little hard particles of pigment.

Love this video it's just a great technique to learn...especially if your on a tight budget but adore new grandulation sets that are coming out...thanks for this video when I started putting my colors in my palette I realized I had more granular type of watercolor paint. I'm like wow I guess that's what I'm into I didnt even know where my art color love was...lol... Even tho you think the yellows are sketchy with the mix I adore those colors they remind me of mosses and alot of swamp type plant colors where I live. I also live near the great lakes it's like a multi climate of weather we get... alot of foggy days I love your first example do you have a video of showing how you achieved the pollution or smokey look as I'd love to learn techniques I also think investing in a bigger tube of mars black is a good idea as its versatility with being able to create or doodle different elements with colors to achieve your desire creations on your media....lol it's nice to know I'm not a odd duck within the watercolor community with trying to produce and living grandulation.. I subscribed to your channel for these type of techniques that can help my art soul grow many art blessings to you today.....🎨✍👩‍🎨mikelle art mom

Cadmium Bordeaux red from Renesans is a granulating red. - As Schmincke gives a detailed pigment information in their granulating sets, many of the colours you can mix on your own. Especially the french ultramarin from Schmincke is very strongly granulating, in comparison to other brands, together with potters pink for instance you get the tundra pink .

I actually like the way the green gold finished. It appeared to behave more streaky but I can work with that

Thank you for checking Liz 💐

Rose of ultramarine is just a rose quin and ultramarine mix. And someone posted you can make serpentine genuine with sap green and potters pink.

Wow. Just found you. Great information gorgeous work. Thankyou

Thank you. I’m no expert but adding Potters Pink to some colours creates some beautiful granulation.

Many thanks for this - it was very informative. I think you are the first artist I have seen on RU-vid who uses Turner paints, so I would be interested to know how you think they compare to Schmincke or Daniel Smith.

Thank you Liz for sharing this,, it comes very handy and economical. Really love it!.. :D

Awesome content! New sub 🤗

I have done a painting a while ago and it granulated, I did it accidentally without knowing what granulating in watercolor is, but it turned out soo beautiful and magical, I finally know what happened there😂 my colors were black and blue

*i'm constantly experimenting with pigments and their reactions...my style and technique is more randomly abstract or organic...love using fountain pen inks for washes especially those with shimmer or sheening attributes...often combine them with watercolors for even more reactions* *love the beautiful industrial painting ...would like to see an example of your interpretation of the battersea power station with the same granulating attributes*

Hola, interesante, lo que yo he probado en colores que al mezclarlos la granulación no es interesante como pasó con la alizarina(alizarin crimson), es hacerlo en dos capas separadas, y no frotar con el pincel si pones en la primera capa el lunar black, o sea, haces la primera capa con lunar black y dejas secar completamente, mojas un poco con un spray, pones el alizarin en un vaso y lo hechas desde el vaso, sin pincel, después mueves el cuadro entero con tus manos para llevar el color a donde quieres y así funciona genial y consigues la granulación con el color que no funciona , saludos.

I can’t wait for my grandchildren to have a planetary project to do!

Es un experimento interesantísimo, y has conseguido unos tonos realmente maravillosos. Me pregunto que sucedería haciendo una aguada de negro Marte sobre una superficie de un color plano ya seco. En cuanto pueda lo probaré!

Very useful info, as always. The diox mix reminded me of DS Moonglow.

WOW - these are wonderful, Liz! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and knowledge with us. 🖤 May I ask a simple question about paper? Natasha Newton was using some 600gsm paper recently which looked great. I know how important the paper _texture_ is - I imagine rough is the gold standard? Would a heavy weight paper make any difference to thegranulationn do you think? In that it allows for more roughness and texture I mean... I know this video is about granulation, but I also learned recently that pigment _size_ (and therefore weight I guess?) makes a difference to *colour separation* potential - granulation and separation often seem to go hand in hand... I'm in rural Kent so fairly hard water here myself. I can see I now need to invest in a crate of Mars Black! Thanks again.

This is amazing Liz. I spent years unsuccessfully attempting to get my watercolours to look the same as they do when I follow demos or online courses. My colours always merge whatever paper or paint I use. Tried more/less water on the paper, more/less in the mix, different paint etc. Finally, you may have provided another avenue to try as we're on rain water tanks so our water is very pure. I'm going to try adding sodium bicarbonate ( is that the same as bicarbonate of soda?)