HOW TO Watercolor Finishes With Small Darks

Edge quality can be vitally important when finalizing a painting of any sort, especially in watercolor. Keeping the entire work as a “wet in wet” would be soft and lovely having many joined shapes, pleasant but lacking a strong focal point. On the other hand, “wet on dry” works well to define shapes with many hard edges but no linking together – many isolated pieces. Paintings that have both hard and soft edges integrate much better and help define focal points.
Keep the final details loose and “watery” yet dark and hard-edged, allowing watercolor to be what it is – wet! These loose marks at the end can be with the flick of a brush, the calligraphy mark of a rigger. If you are a very loose painter this is the most fun part.