Granulation - a happy accident

Certain colours specifically ultramarine, and cerulean blue, raw umber and raw sienna separate from water in a wash. This causes a grainy effect that gives detail to the surface. It is especially useful when painting large areas of the same colour which can be a little boring if painted with a flat colour. Buildings work especially well with a little granulation and large field areas in a landscape. Different papers will influence the outcome; do practice on scrap paper using the same paper as your painting of course, before adding to your painting. The effects will be more noticeable on a rougher paper, the amount of water will also affect the results, too pale or too much water and the effect will be less pronounced. You can buy a granulating medium – the one I use is Windsor & Newton if you wish to use non-granulating colours. I didn’t find the result as good as using, for example ultramarine blue on its own.

As with all effects it is better used in part of your painting not all over.

Other granulation colours (from W&N range) include:

Lemon yellow/deep
Cadmium red
Ultramarine violet
Permanent mauve
Rose madder genuine
Manganese blue
Cobalt blue/turquoise/green
Viridian
Terre verte/yellow shade
Oxide of chromium
Brown ochre
magnesium brown
Potters pink
Ivory black

For more information go to www.winsornewton.com

Viridian/cadmium red/lemon yellow	Raw sienna/cadmium red/cobalt blue
Ultramarine blue/raw sienna/terre verte	Terre vert/ultramarine blue/viridian