A Touch of Colour

There are many ways to introduce colour into a woodburning project, but I was naturally drawn to watercolour. I had already fallen in love with the way colours flow, mingle, and create unexpected beauty.

A little nudging is all it takes to coax the merging of hues, creating a symphony of soft edges where unexpected shapes begin to emerge.

Applying watercolour on wood is a bit different from painting on paper. Before I begin painting, I prepare the surface with a watercolour ground. Once cured, it creates a surface similar to cold-press watercolour paper, allowing me to use familiar techniques such as wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry.

Watercolour ground

I use transparent watercolour ground over my woodburned designs so the rich sepia woodburning remains visible. Handcrafted in Seattle, Daniel Smith watercolour grounds are archival and acid-free.

I apply the watercolour ground with a round synthetic brush, although a foam roller also works well if you prefer an even smoother finish.

After applying the first coat, I allow it to cure for 48 hours before applying a second coat. Once the second coat has cured for another 48 hours, I begin painting with watercolour.

Once the watercolour has dried for 24 hours, I seal the entire surface with two coats of cold wax medium. This finish is water-resistant and non-yellowing. If you’d like to learn more, I invite you to read my blog on finishes, where I explain how I apply it to my woodburning projects.

Watercolour tubes or pans?

I prefer using watercolour tubes over pans because I enjoy mixing colours on a palette and reactivating them with water whenever I need them again.

I often keep several palettes with different colour schemes so I don’t have to recreate that perfect hue while working on a piece over several days or even weeks.

In my experience, repeatedly mixing colours in a pan can muddy the remaining paint. Ultimately, though, choosing between tubes and pans comes down to personal preference.

Ink and coloured pencils

I also enjoy experimenting with other mediums to bring my wood art to life.

Lately, I’ve been incorporating ink pencils into my creative process with beautiful results. I’ll rub the pencil onto hot-press watercolour paper and activate the pigment with a wet brush, or simply lift the colour directly from the pencil tip using a damp brush before painting it onto the wood.

For white highlights, I reach for a white coloured pencil. I’ve experimented with several brands, and my favourite is the Derwent Drawing Pencil in Chinese White (7200), manufactured in the United Kingdom. Its softness and opacity create beautiful, subtle highlights on wood.

Embracing negative space

Of course, colour isn’t the only way to create contrast.

I also embrace negative space, leaving parts of the wood completely untouched. On a light-coloured wood canvas such as basswood, the natural colour of the wood becomes part of the artwork, providing subtle highlights and beautiful contrast against the warm sepia tones of the woodburning.

Sometimes, the most beautiful colour is the colour of the wood itself.

Until then, colour your world!