- Year 10
Experiment with wet media: watercolour
I can use masking, glazing and blending techniques to create a layered watercolour painting.
- Year 10
Experiment with wet media: watercolour
I can use masking, glazing and blending techniques to create a layered watercolour painting.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Watercolour is transparent, so artists paint the lightest areas first and build up gradually to darker tones.
- Watercolour allows you to blend colours and tones softly to create smooth gradients and natural-looking colour shifts.
- Artists can use masking fluid to mask and protect areas of their work to protect or preserve lighter areas.
- Glazing involves painting thin, transparent layers over dry paint. It adds depth or shadow without covering the details.
Keywords
Masking - a technique used to block out areas of the paper you want to keep white or light using a barrier that stops paint from soaking into those areas
Glazing - a technique where a thin, transparent layer of paint is added over a dry wash. It builds up colour and depth without covering the details underneath
Blotting - the act of gently lifting wet paint from the paper using a tissue, sponge, or dry brush
Wash - a smooth, even layer of watered-down paint applied across a large area
Wet-on-wet - a technique where you add wet paint into another area of wet paint. The colours mix and spread naturally on the paper, creating soft edges, blends and interesting effects.
Common misconception
You can paint over a mistake with a darker colour to fix it.
In watercolour, layering too many dark colours can muddy the painting. It’s better to plan ahead, work from light to dark and use clean water and controlled layers to avoid errors.
To help you plan your year 10 art and design lesson on: Experiment with wet media: watercolour, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 art and design lesson on: Experiment with wet media: watercolour, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 art and design lessons from the Fine Art unit, dive into the full secondary art and design curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Watercolour paints, watercolour paper, water pots, brushes, masking fluid and applicators, mixing palettes, paper towels.
Content guidance
- Risk assessment required - equipment
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What word describes how light or dark a colour appears?
Q2.A is a smooth, watered-down layer of paint used in watercolour.
Q3.Match the word to its definition:
Can be seen through
A flat, 2D area with height and width
Creates the illusion of space