Working Wet Into Wet for Beginners in Oils

Using Linseed Oil for Painting Mists Over the Lake Using Washes

Jul 26, 2009

Using oil paints like watercolours is the ideal method for capturing vaporous weather such as mists and reflections, as this demonstration shows.

Wet into wet is a technique where one colour-wash bleeds into another in order to achieve subtle differences in colour and tone such as clouds, reflections and mists. This might seem a daunting prospect for the beginner. This demonstration offers a halfway measure.

How to Paint Wet-Into-Wet

As the term suggests, wet into wet simply means painting onto a wet surface. When using this technique, the overlying paint glides over another layer of wet paint, picking up some of the underlying pigment. The way in which the wet layers of paint interact with one another contributes to the mood of the painting. When practising wet-into-wet with oils, the painting surface is coated with an oily layer of paint, known as an imprimatura.

Glazing With Oil Paint

The technique for using wet into wet has been slightly modified for the beginner whereas the overlying paint will not be affected by the underlying wash. This is achieved by applying an undercoat of acrylics instead of oils, and letting it dry. The painting surface was then veneered with a layer of linseed oil via a rag. This meant that the artist could enjoy the effects of wet into wet without the underlying colour bleeding into the top layer.

Art Materials Required

Painting Lake Windermere

The sketch was carefully transferred onto the painting surface and overlaid with thin acrylic paint. This enabled the outlines to show through the red imprimatura. With a wide bristle brush a thin coat of the red acrylic paint was overlaid over the drawing. The red was chosen to add contrast and expression to the cool blues of the overlying colours of the lake (fig 1).

Painting Mists and Clouds With Oil Washes

Once the imprimatura was dry, a rag was coated with a generous amount of linseed oil and wiped over the red surface. This oily layer will stay wet for four hours or so, enough time to complete the painting.

When using this technique, more paint than usual is required. A thick layer of white was pasted onto the misty area above the lake and on the clouds. Increasing amounts of pthalo blue were used for the sky and on the foreground areas of the lake. The illustration shows how the oily underlayer and the red imprimatura adds expression and fluidity to the painting (fig 2).

The Colour of Trees

With a clean sable, the highlights to the trees were dabbed on using lemon yellow, white and a little viridian. The darker tones were achieved by introducing pthalo blue and a little burnt umber. By adding a little more pthalo blue and permanent rose, suggestions were made to the mountains in the background. The painting was completed by gently blending the colours with a large sable to add softness to the finish (fig 3).

Rising Mists Over the Lake

The painting was completed by dabbing detail to the foreground trees and the ducks (fig 4). As one can see, this wet into wet technique is ideal for achieving soft tones and washes that emulates the feel of mists, fog and reflections that often drapes over Windermere.

The copyright of the article Working Wet Into Wet for Beginners in Oils in Landscape Painting is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish Working Wet Into Wet for Beginners in Oils in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.