watercolor

Watercolor refers both to the paint itself and to the technique of painting with it. The paint is made from pigment mixed with a water-based solution, often with gum arabic as a binder. This makes it different from oil or acrylic paint, which uses other kinds of binders. One of its main features is transparency: light passes through the color and reflects off the paper underneath, which gives the finished image a soft glow.

Historically, watercolor was valued for botanical illustration, field sketches, and mapmaking because it was portable and could show fine detail. It also became an important fine art medium, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain. Artists such as J.M.W. Turner used it to capture changing light, mist, and atmosphere in powerful landscapes.

Today, watercolor is still widely used for many kinds of art, from careful portraits and nature studies to loose modern work. Artists use different methods with it: wet-on-wet, where paint is added to damp paper for soft edges; dry brush, for rough or sharp texture; and glazing, where thin layers are added one over another to build depth and richness.

The word can also refer to a painting made in this medium. You might say, for example, that someone bought a watercolor at a gallery, or that a book includes several watercolors of birds and flowers. Whether it names the paint, the method, or the finished artwork, watercolor usually suggests light, transparency, and flowing color.