Creative Blog: Watercolours

An imaginative, luminous mixture of brilliant watercolours applied in several layers and fine black ink drawing, when skillfully combined, creates a unique effect. French artist Stéphanie Kilgast shows us step by step how she goes about it.

The 40 supergranulating watercolours are ideal for depicting natural, structured, rough surfaces and textures and are therefore perfect for use in landscape painting. The artist Jowita Marczuk shows how she makes use of the particularly granulating effects and combines the colours with non-granulating colours from the HORADAM® AQUARELL standard...

Hello, my name is Nuno Pinto.

I'm a children's book illustrator and a watercolour artist based in Portugal. In recent years, I have developed figurative work, especially portraits. In addition to my children's illustration work, I carry out exhibitions, workshops and I paint portraits on demand. I also recently created a watercolour portraits...

In this blog, watercolour artist Laura Stahlmann shows how she combines normal and supergranulating HORADAM® AQUARELL watercolours and finishes them with fine highlights of white gouache. The resulting lynx makes a beautiful motif that, described in

detail, inspires you to paint.

For many years, the pigmentation of watercolour paints has been concerned with ensuring that the colours allow an even application of paint. For some time now, granulating colours have also been available. Granulating watercolours do not have an even colour application after drying on the paper. During the drying process, the pigments settle and...

The Serbian artist Maria @marrillu, shows in this beautiful and complex watercolour painting her kind of illustrative painting with HORADAM® AQUARELL watercolours by choosing the small but famous German town Monschau as her motif.

For your information:

Maria already painted this motif in June 2021 - just before the terrible flood inundated parts...

The supergranulating HORADAM® watercolours have a slightly shabby character due to their granulating effect, which allows the artist Sabine Ziegler perfectly to capture the atmosphere of Venice. The colour selection of the Tundra series is also perfectly suited for the special flair of the old town. Step by step, the watercolour artist shows us how...

Watercolours and excavators - for the artist Marina Abramova this forms an inseparable unit of heavy equipment and light colour application. In this step-by-step instruction she describes how she works and amazes us, how wonderful seemingly atypical motifs can be artistically combined.

The Berlin-based illustrator Sarah Bronder has only recently set up her own business and has been publishing atmospheric paintings and strong characters with her label "Brond.er". She draws her inspiration from nature, dreams, and her vivid imagination with which she creates fantastic scenes from everyday situations. This is also reflected in the...

In this step-by-step guide, artist and urban sketcher Danny Hawk shows how a complicated scene - for instance, a medieval old town with halftimbered houses - can be simplified and drawn with ink and watercolour. In doing so, buildings are reduced to basic shapes, watercolours are added in layers, and the sketch is given a clear focus through the...

The Russian artist Anna Zadorozhnaya will already be familiar to many of you through our step-by-step instructions. In this "artist talk" you will find out even more about our Schmincke Ambassador.

Painting portraits of people or animals is a special kind of art and requires special painting skills. The artist Carolin Behnke, an experienced animal portraitist, shows us step by step how she uses HORADAM® watercolour and finest colour applications to make an owl - the Schmincke heraldic animal - appear alive.

In this new series "Artist Talk" we introduce you to some of our Schmincke artists and ask them about their artistic work. We are pleased to introduce you interesting and international artists.

We would like to introduce you to some Schmincke artists and ask them about their artistic work. We are happy to present interesting, international artists and we are curious about their answer.

Esther Peck, our Schmincke ambassador from Singapore, shows us how to paint various fresh peonies:

The artist Imke Hahn has created an inventive watercolour painting using HORADAM® watercolours and some Schmincke AQUA mediums. In this instruction, she shows us step by step how much life and structure can exist in and around a painted light bulb. Along the way you will also learn about some very important watercolour mediums.

Dune landscapes and fresh air are predestined for watercolour painting. The watercolour painter Wiebke Meier has created the dune theme with the AQUA DROP colours by Schmincke and shows here step by step how she proceeds. Can you smell the sea air, too?

How can I create light effects in watercolour paintings? Günter Haslbeck shows us with his painting "Rock Concert in the Groitlstodl" how he succeeds in doing washing out HORADAM® watercolour.

The artist tells us of her idea: "Excavator in watercolour - is one of my favourite themes. I like this contrast between the light, flowing watercolour and the heavy construction machines. In this painting I explore the process of extracting raw material. The vehicle and the excavator are heavy and remain quite stable while the shovel of the...

It's hard to believe there is such a thing: The British Bellerby & Co. Globemakers manufacture individual globes in their London factory, which are then hand-painted with watercolours, e.g. HORADAM® watercolours. We were so impressed that we would like to show you some beautiful photos of the production steps, even if this is not a classic...

The trendy technique of "watercolour letters" is very versatile, and it is a delight for beginners and advanced users alike. In this blog the font artist Julia Faßhauer shows us step by step how to colour a graphically designed motto with different HOARADAM® watercolours.

Who says cake always makes you fat? The watercolour painter Tanja Werner presents a cake without calories and only with the finest HORADAM® watercolours.

Idea: By creating this painting, I wanted to capture very quick, but unforgettable time, when there is the beginning of sunset in the mountains, the sky is coloured in yellow and rose shades, and all peaks show their power and beauty before plunging into darkness.

Botanical painting has been practiced already in the ancient world but is also today a famous painting style especially amongst watercolour painters. We like to show you step by step a beautiful example of botanical painting – a watercolour rose painted by the German artist Susanne Absolon.

Urban impressions painted with watercolour are as demanding as versatile and thus an always popular theme for watercolour painters. The Swiss artist Wilhelm Fikisz takes us to Venice and shows us step by step how he paints a palazzi scene.

The watercolour artist Marina Abramova has a very special feeling for painting light, as demonstrated in this impressive step by step painting. The architecture of the Frankfurt fair in evening light was her inspiration for this shining watercolour painting during the Creative World fair:

Working on a painting already starts earlier than the real painting process, especially when painting flowers. As they wilt quickly, it can be useful to collect appropriate photos. Sometimes snapshots are sufficient, sometimes you already choose the right perspective and the composition when taking photos. Even flicking through photos can be...

Is it possible to work with watercolours on an acrylic painting? It is! The German artist Gabriele Templin-Kirz shows us in a portrait painting, how to do it. Keeping in mind the following recommendations, you will find lots of creative options besides the usual painting techniques. We will show you step by step how it works:

Like many other artists, Sabine Hilscher has also found her own technique - painting and spatula techniques with watercolours in tubes. Let´s have a look at this colourful and expressive painting.