With painting on a black ground another interesting trend can be seen in the already very popular watercolour painting technique. Of course, Schmincke HORADAM® watercolours are also suitable for this. For successful results there are a few things to keep in mind. We tell you how it works:

1. Opaque colours: With all 32 opaque colours from the 140 shades of the HORADAM® watercolour range (recognisable by the filled square n) you can paint directly on a black ground. The opaque character ensures that these colours remain visible. This is also possible with the opaque colours of AKADEMIE® AQUARELL.

Please note that translucent colours are not suitable - due to their character the black ground would shine through and thus change the colour effect significantly.

With the semi-opaque watercolours, painting on a black background should be tested beforehand.

2. Limited editions: All 6 colours (pans) of the limited HORADAM® gold edition in sets (74777) also create wonderful effects. By using different pearlescent pigments - which provide a semi-covering to opaque character - the dark ground is covered, and gold and silver will shine in their own intensity.

The 12 colours of the pearl metallic watercolour series (74776, pans) behave differently: Due to the pigmentation consisting of both one pearlescent and one transparent colour pigment the colourful pearl effect on black is almost invisible. However, these pearlescent metallic colours are ideal on the typical white watercolour paper ground. Here, they unfold their colorful glitter effect in the most beautiful way.

3. HORADAM® GOUACHE: Another water-based and opaque alternative is gouache. With the wide range of HORADAM® GOUACHE you can perfectly work on a black ground. The velvety covering and highly pigmented colours can be used purely or in combination with HORADAM® watercolours as well as the limited HORADAM® gold edition. All other Schmincke gouache series, such as AKADEMIE® GOUACHE, Designers' Gouache or Calligraphy Gouache, are of course also suitable for this technique.

TIP for translucent watercolours: If you still want to use transparent and/or pearl metallic colours on a dark background, we recommend the following “trick”: Firstly, underpaint the relevant areas of the painting with opaque watercolour or gouache colours and let them dry. Then you can also work on these opaque underpaintings with transparent and pearlescent metallic watercolours.

TIP for choosing the right paper: When choosing black grounds, make sure that you use high quality papers. Usual craft papers are often not lightfast or the paper colour dissolves and will soil the applied colour. You better take high-quality artist paper from specialist retailers or passe-partout cartons - here you can be sure that they will not lose any of their colour effect even after a long time.

Try it out - Schmincke offers with its wide range of watercolours and gouache best qualities for this new painting technique on black!