Water color painting is the technique of using pigments suspended or dissolved in water to create images upon paper, papyrus, bark papers, plastics, leather, fabric, or canvas.
Buon Fresco painting, as used in the Sistine Chapel, was an example of early water color painting in Europe.
Watercolor paint is usually applied with brushes. The paint is diluted with water before use to allow for lighter areas within the painting. This transparency provides watercolor its characteristics of brightness, freshness, and clarity of color since light has passed through the film of paint and is reflected back to the viewer through the film.
Traditionally, dating from at least the last century, the white of the paper is the only white used in transparent watercolor. Opaque paint is seldom used for whites.
Watercolor techniques are quite demanding, and maintaining a high quality of value differences and color clarity are typically the most difficult properties to achieve and maintain.
Watercolor afficionados prize it as a studio medium for its lack of odor and ease of cleanup, and also its portability and quick drying.
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