Keeping beautiful highlights in watercolour is much easier if you preserve them from the beginning, and in this tutorial I’ll show you one of my favourite techniques for doing exactly that – jumping the light. Using a simple leaf shape, I’ll show you how to paint wet in wet while deliberately jumping across a light area, keeping that precious brightness without having to remove the colour afterwards. We’ll then soften the transition with a clean damp brush so everything remains gentle and natural. I’ll also introduce you to lifting colour back out of the paper and show how the result changes depending on how wet or dry the paint has become. This little technique has served me incredibly well in my botanical painting. It’s a simple but wonderfully effective way to protect highlights and create a beautiful sense of form, particularly when you’re working with colours that can be difficult to lift once dry.
