Hard, soft and broken edges
Paul Talbot-Greaves looks at three main types of edges in painting and explains what they are and how to use them, with an exercise for you to try
Whilst watercolour is an immensely expressive medium, quick to dry and capable of building complex multiple layers, it naturally dries with hard edges. When applied without any intervention as a series of fluid washes, it will yield crisp edges that describe every shape in sharp, detailed focus. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that, except when it comes to engaging the viewer in your painting. Have you ever looked at a painting and looked again and then realised you just can’t stop looking? That’s probably because the artist will have used lots of ambiguity in the work, and that ambiguity comes in the form of how the edges are treated. The consideration of edges in your painting is paramount to handing over some of the decision making to the viewer. It is the difference between a hard, factual statement and a piece of poetry. The factual statement leaves you with no questions – every possible query has been answered, whereas the poetry gives you a little information before wrapping you in rhythmic words that force you to think. It leaves you questioning, pondering and using your imagination. Think of your edges as poetry, as a rhythm through your painting. Give a little to your viewer but let them paint in their mind too.
Hard edges
Hard edges state. They tell us everything and bring shapes into sharp focus. When we look at distance, we think we see a sharp edge, but the interference from air pollution, heat haze, weather and our own vision makes it softer. Paint your far-off horizon as a hard edge and you’re already losing the teaches watercolour and acrylic painting in workshops and demonstrations to art societies throughout the Midlands and the north of England.
He can be contacted through his website: www.talbot-greaves.com effects of aerial perspective before you paint anything else. Sharp edges will draw our eye, so it is important to mix them up with other types of edges too, to create that illusion of painted poetry. I generally keep my cast shadows hardedged and maybe a building or two, aiming to dot them around the painting to carry the eye from place to place. Hard edges are easy to generate – it’s wet paint on dry paper, which is the basis of watercolour painting. That’s why it is easy to create too many hard edges in a piece, so focus instead on creating other types of edges whilst you paint and the hard edges will fit in better.
Drag edges
Drag edges suggest. They have a slight hit-and-miss element to them that has us looking more intently because our brain attempts to join up the dots and textures to make them back into a hard edge. Drag brush requires much less water in the mix and ideally a soft brush for its execution, such as a squirrel mop type. The most achievable form of drag brush is when you use a thick mix of neat tube paint with no fluid or just a tiny amount of water to dampen the brush. The gum arabic makes the paint sticky and, when drawn across a textured surface, it acts a little like oil on canvas. Weaker mixes can be dragged too. I mix my required colour and value, then draw the brush over a sponge to soak up excess fluid. Squirrel mop brushes are quite superior at creating drag brush. Use drag for suggested details, landscape edges and anywhere that you require a semi focus or just for varying the look of a hard edge.
Soft edges
Soft edges are generated with wet paint and wet paper and, depending on the level of moisture, you can create a slightly blurry edge or a completely dissipated edge. Soft edges hint and really engage the imagination as they create a smoke-and-mirrors approach to elements in your picture. They are created either as wet-into-wet or wet-against-wet. If wet-into-wet, try to ensure your applied paint has less moisture content than the wetness of the paper. Wet-against-wet is great for changing colours and values across shapes where soft edges between them are required. It is best to start a watercolour painting with soft edges, then as you work your way through the layers (with drying stages in-between), gradually introduce drag and hard edges too. That way you have full control over how much you want to break the look of your edges.
‘Think of your edges as poetry, as a rhythm through your painting’