If you have thumbed through or read most or all of the contents of this guide, it is hoped that you ares persuaded to accept the challenge of watercolour and win its rewards. By making the positive decision to go ahead, the watercolour principle will become better understood and the prospect of translating a distant panorama on to a blank white sheet of paper will be less daunting.

Understanding the watercolour principle is based on an appreciation of its transparent and fluid nature provided by well ground pigment thinned with water, (preferably distilled) and a small amount of gum arabic as a binding medium. Essentially swift in action, direct and immediate. Spontaneous at its best.

The question is posed to how exactly does one work through and create a pictured landscape from start to finish. With so many variables there are no set answers. Intangibles and imponderables play a part in watercolour. Intuition and the unlaboured random effects are involved. The intention is to run through the watercolour principle and the compositional elements dealt with so far. Whether scenes are memorised, invented, copied from photographs or eventually painted from nature, always think ahead and visualise every aspect of procedure. An observed scene need not always be accepted as paintable. The landscape is not always ready-made and it may require some modification of its face value. A discerning eye and selectiveness must be employed. Be most careful, sure and simple in layout. Think and plan procedure and then act quickly and confidently. Bockingford paper should be gum paper taped taut and evenly to the board.

Again, the essential qualities of the medium are its liquid transparency and vibrance obtained by thinning the colour pigment with water. After the paint is laid on the paper the water evaporates allowing the brilliancy of the white paper to shine through a dry film of tonal colour. At its best it suggests that limpid colours remain forever wet on the paper. Pale pinks, for example are produced by greatly diluting red. Grey, in the same manner, can be made by diluting and mixing Red and Green or any two complementary colours. The more pigment is diluted with water the more white paper will show through and increase the final impact.

It will be obvious that white areas in a picture are not produced with white paint as they are in oils and acrylics. Such areas are left untouched, either painted around, masked and painted over or mopped out if non-staining colours are used.

Whatever you invent, memorise or represent a landscape from nature you will be faced with a panorama which when analysed is formed as a series of patterned areas and other elements. These views have a tendency to form a receding column of vertical planes. By means of colour and tones these planes, usually foreground, mid-ground and background need to be kept in correct relationship.

Look at the scene with half-closed eyes, squinting will simplify the view, minor details blur, only the important lines, colours and tones are left. As a basis for a good painting, unless it is the simplest not requiring guidelines, pencil outlining must be drawn in lightly, orderly and distinctly.. Hard-edged lines are spoiling.

Establish the centre of interest and the main features of a scene, largely a breakdown of the main areas in light grey pencil lines to the outer edges of the paper. All objects and land formations to be portrayed in relationship to one another along with correct tones, otherwise all final representative watercolour pictures tend to appear 'flat' and tend to sameness.

Make a further breakdown of each local area, finally knitting all the parts together. Sunshine and shadows areas must be located and fixed in one position quickly before the shadows have time to change, pencilling them in to unify and hold the painting together, otherwise these areas will not be worked out later by themselves. In fact, painting local areas generally hides any construction lines as if they were never there in the first place. Indicate faintly where all sharp edges are positioned. Make first attempts at picture creation in monochrome, working from light to dark tones. Tones are an important factor and they must be well thought-out and tested beforehand on scrap paper before the brush is brought to the paper. The highlights are the controls, white of the paper and the darkest tones are black, used only in exceptional cases. All other tones fall between these limits.

Establish mentally the all over light and dark tones and then control, adjust and relate them to the bright spectral colours of nature. Instead of attempting to give a highly polished and detailed finish to a painting, broaden out, that is, simplify overall. View the main subject or the general centre of interest and background together. The subject does not exist without its background. When painting an impression of farm buildings, it is not a map or a plan for an architect. Do not plaster a house with facts such as every roof tile. Indicate a few tiles here and there. In sunlight individual bricks and lines of brickwork and woodwork are not seen. Again, through half-closed eyes, only the shadow tones of buildings are seen, expressing also doors and windows. Refrain from exactitude in details of windows and doors, rather insist on their general character. Fields of grass in the foreground should be indicated by broad brushstrokes across the paper and not by overall individual vertical blades of grass.

Look longer at the scene than at the paper. Look long and draw quickly to retain the mental image. Draw only when you have a feeling for the subject to be drawn in outline, map-like silhouettes indicating foreground, mid-ground and far distance. Search for the essential lines and shapes which give the overall impression. It cannot be over-stressed, look longer at the view than at the paper. It should become second nature, a fixed habit, as a qualified car driver looks at the road ahead and not at the foot controls.

Long horizontal and vertical lines first. Take care to make vertical building walls truly vertical. Check to see the landscape fits the frame of the paper. Draw skeletal outlines and notes for use at home if necessary. Do not over-detail. Less rather than more, not careful finishing. A well -formulated and thought-out process is essential preparation. In an advanced situation, the interpretation of countryside or industrial scene in terms of tonal colour requires careful planning and analysis, plus a fair amount of elementary drawing and then all speedily executed in a workable technique. There is nothing absolute about watercolour painting. Each brushstroke has a compositional reflex action on the rest of the painting as it develops, stabilising it only a little time before the picture is complete. The final strokes should be withheld leaving something to the imagination of the viewer. Know when to stop rather than re-touching, adding detail, polishing and trying to highly finish off with extra 'touches', going beyond the nature of light and airy watercolour.

Choose colours that are harmonious to create mood (refer to the colour wheel if necessary). Plan every move and brushstroke. Simplify as much as possible. The ideal situation is to be able to judge and paint tonal colour correctly the first time requiring some experience. Look to the big masses, the details will take care of themselves later. Realise breadth. Think of the general colour scheme before local tints. Try to do it first time but not everything. Do not hesitate, polish or fumble nor dab at any one spot. Put down a brush stroke and leave it. One brush stroke is better than two and if a must, two rather than 20. If the paper is already saturated with water put colour on dry enough to hold it. Do not mistake timidity for delicacy. The most subtle and masterful paintings are brought about by directness, not dithering. There is not reason to include items in a picture which actually appear in nature if it upsets the balance and composition. Strength of tones and lost edges are all- important and not the pretty bits, one tone darker than elsewhere and one light tone lighter than elsewhere. Find them and put them down. If there are two equal tones, sacrifice one. At all costs balance. Do not think over much about colour. A limit of three is recommended, then paint broadly and deliberately.

Points to note: Watercolour dries much lighter than the one laid down, especially on pre-wet paper. Make an allowance for it by laying down a darker tone. The paper, already wet requires that a brush charged with paint should contain less water in the mixture than would normally be used on dry paper. Whilst painting, if the paper begins to dry too soon there is a danger of spoiling backruns. Never re-wet the paper at this stage. Patiently wait until the paper is completely dry before making corrections. Lightly dampening an area will not disturb the under-painting. Advise not to change brush sizes during a picture. Very wet (fluid) paint for the best work.

The 'wet into wet' technique is a favourite method to commence a painting. It demonstrates the fluid qualities of this beautiful medium. Although the 'direct' single process method may well suit a beginner, it has less artistic freedom than the 'wet' technique. The choice of approach and style rests with the individual. The main colours should be prepared in the palette or palettes beforehand for once the paper is wet all the time is needed for the actual painting before the paper dries out.

Use both linear and aerial perspective to give an impression of distance. Note the surface textures of different objects in the foreground, their varying degrees of roughness or smoothness. Plan, design and paint in such a manner that you are able to employ and control basic skill techniques that you have learned so far. Do not attempt to go beyond them. Do not attempt to paint all you observe and know of landscapes but work within the limits that you are able to control. Simplify, while you are training yourself to actually see more than ever before, actually paint less. Do not attempt to copy nature slavishly. It is an impossible task.

A combination of 'wet into wet' and 'direct' methods are most likely to work out successfully. Occasionally mid and foreground objects such as trees and foliage, lighter in tone and colour than the surroundings (not pencilled) outlines may be estimated and deftly displayed by over-painting the surrounding area. Carefully choose and plan brushstrokes. Dry brush painting is generally a finishing process where the stroked-on pigment does not completely cover the stroke area. Flecks of white paper show through the paint on rough and medium paper. The paint mix in the brush should be sparse unless fast action strokes are called for. In similar operations, paint consistencies, mostly fluid and varied paper surfaces are contained some of the so called secrets of professional artists. The many hours of practice cannot be bypassed. How to start rests with individual, either by direct or wet into wet painting.

To recap. Apply weak colour washes all over the paper, adding or lifting colour part of the time. Progress from weak to strong definitions gradually. Centre of interest to be defined most sharply and in correct tones. Keep over-painting to a minimum using colours that from experience have less likelihood of muddiness when they are mixed together or super-imposed. There are no fixed rules for learning to paint. Each person must work from personal conviction and in an individual way.