Wet-Into-Wet
World

One of our favourite painting techniques is called wet-into-wet: brushing wet gouache onto wet watercolour paper, allowing the pigment to bleed as you coax it this way and that into whatever form you are looking for. There is a bit of science involved:  wetter or drier for the paper? Dilute the paint or use directly from the tube? Dark on light grounds or light on dark grounds?  There is also a marvelous degree of chance involved: how far will it spread? Will it retain the initial shape? Will the colour juxtapositions turn to mud? The results are always a surprise. But it’s a bit nerve-wracking. Like Russian roulette – only with paint.