15 Common Watercolour terms, explained simply!

There’s a lot of jargon when it comes to discovering watercolour painting, lets break some of those down!

GSM

Means 'grams per square metre'. You'll see this on the front of watercolour paper pads, this refers to the paper thickness. The lower the GSM, the more the paper will buckle (bend or warp as it's drying)

PIGMENT

Usually a powdered substance that makes the colour of any paint when mixed with another fluid.

COLD PRESSED

Paper with a light texture that absorbs paint and water.

HOT PRESSED

Paper with a smooth texture, suited for finer details, less absorbent than cold pressed. Good for adding fine lines with pen on top!

WET ON WET

Painting on a wet surface and letting colours blend as they dry. My favourite way of watching paint dry

TONE

The lightness or darkness of a colour, often also referred to as VALUE.

OPAQUE

A paint that is solid in colour, when something is opaque it means it does not let any light pass through at all, opaque is the opposite to

TRANSPARENT

Where you are able to see through/or partially see through one or more layer of colour /paint.

GOUACHE

A water based matte paint, sometimes called opaque watercolour.

GLAZING

Applying thin, transparent washes of colour over another.

GRANULATION

A speckly effect that you often see when the pigment of the paint settles into the paper.

HUE

A pure pigment. A colour you see regardless of how bright or dull it is. It means the colour and also the shade of a colour. For example, green is a hue, and turquoise is a hue of green and blue.

DECKLED

Refers to the untrimmed edges of certain types of watercolour paper, this has a kind of 'torn edge rustic' look.

LIFTING OUT

The process of lightening or removing paint from the paper using a damp brush. (or maybe kitchen paper if you're a bit lazy like me)

WASH

A large area of solid colour. Think big open skies or an ocean for example.