Most Common Watercolor Mistakes (Backruns, Cauliflowers & Blooms!)

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

What do you call these little watercolor marks? Cauliflowers, blooms, backruns or something unrepeatable!?

[@65sunnyday]

All of the above, here in the US!

[@GriffithsJacqueline]

Always Cauliflower. Purposeful Cauliflowers can look beautiful in a painting.

[@alldialogueissung]

Thank you! At the 7:20 mark, when you said, "much stickier, much less drippy", I became enlightened!

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

It's all about the water levels David 😉

[@OneTrueWord1988]

Thank you so much for this excellent and informative lesson! Instead of being at the mercy of back-runs, they are now understandable, and at the mercy of ME! 😂🤣 I’m going to try making a field of flowers with controlled back runs. I so appreciate being armed with the ability to take control of my paintings! 👍😄🌸

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Brilliant, glad I could help and good luck with your painting!

[@meredithnichols3572]

Wonderful explanation. I’m working my first complex watercolour study and I wasn’t sure what I did to make my foliage look like kale...this was great and I’m glad it’s a more okay example of when it’s good/reasonable to incorporate them 🌺

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Thanks Meredith 🙂 there are no bad effects, it's just a matter of controlling when you get them!

[@aprilstark8887]

Great video and a wonderful explanation of backruns, thank you!

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

You're very welcome April, great profile photo 😄

[@MB-kf3yx]

Michele, thank you....Can't wait to use the video content in a landscape!

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Wonderful! Glad it was helpful :-)

[@ianmorris2440]

Michele, That was very helpful. I will try these techniques you have described, Many thanks

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Glad it was helpful Ian!

[@1tlb0k61]

I refer to them as Blooms or cauliflower. So appreciate your sharing .

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

No problem!

[@arshadabdullah7425]

This is a great tutorial! Thank you Blooms

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Glad you liked it 🌼🌺🌼

[@anneedmunds9025]

Very useful. I have watched lots on blooms bit still get them. Will keep thinking when I paint

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Good luck!

[@prophet7247]

Wow this helps tons. Just made my watercoloring way easier.

[@chrissymac8204]

Brilliant thank you, I now understand where these cauliflower areas come from.

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

No problem Christa!

[@barbarabrookes1]

Thank you really enjoyed watching will be trying these.😄😄

[@chromatic-me]

Very clear, thanks.

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Thanks for watching!

[@lesleykuhn8345]

I am loving your teaching! Very clear and the visual really show what you are talking about! Thanks 🙏❤😷

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

You are so welcome

[@sid7161]

Exactly I was looking for. Great explanation.

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Great to hear!

[@Hummmminify]

I really enjoyed your video.....such a useful technique! Thank you.

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Glad it was helpful!

[@margaretgonning453]

Thank you Michelle for this video I now understand about backruns! I am going to do a painting now to try these ideas out.

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Wonderful!

[@Gingercat662]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@liamwatson5125]

I love cauliflower. It’s delicious! 😋

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Me too!!

[@appleknocker56]

Now I know why getting those cauliflower spots where didn’t want them & ty! One problem is the last place I paint & there’s just a tiny bit that will leave a spot but if try to dry my brush fast & gently pull it out then gets lighter & if try to blot it then remove to much paint? Is there a way to fix them?

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Dry your brush about 50% then just dip the very tip in little tiny 'dots' across the wet area. The paint will fill them back in providing you do it quickly before it dries.

[@appleknocker56]

That’s the trick! Thank you & fast is right & tried putting just a tiny tip of the paper towel to “fix” that issue & was really blotting the paint off lol! I do say “it’s only paint” so let’s try that one again!

[@colleenchristopher2035]

This video was very helpful. Will drying your paper and painting over a bloom eliminate it? Thanks

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

It can do, the trick is to agitate the paint to loosen it as you put the second layer on.

[@LynnFattal]

Hi!! I was wondering what paper were you using in this video? Would you say it plays a big role regarding blooms and juste the way that paint behaves on the paper? Thanks!!❤️

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Hi Lynn it's an old video I would have to watch it again. If I am working on stretched paper it's Saunders Waterford, if I am working on loose sheets it's SAA practice paper. The smoother the paper is, the more likely that the paint will sit in puddles and make blooms. But if you want to make them on purpose then rougher paper usually shows of texture techniques best.

[@LynnFattal]

@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber awesome thank you so much!!

[@slansky6626]

Hey Michele, thanks for sharing this video... your learning materials are super good... just a question.. I have Schmincke Horadam watercolors, but what I have noticed is that the first layer pigment is even pushed by the second layer pigment, so I get not only the cauliflower, but a hard edge around it made of the first color! Is super frustrating, is this normal? Or do you know why it happens to me but not you? Anyways, I will try this good advice you're giving, again, thanks your content!

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Generally speaking if you layer, even with plain water you will get a drying line. So you need to take water or paint across the whole area you are painting in, not just part. Not necessarily the whole painting, just to the edges of whatever element you are painting on top of 🙂

[@slansky6626]

@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber great! Thanks, I will try! 😊

[@65sunnyday]

Hi, Michele - sooooo, when do we get to meet your cat?

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Ah that's a tricky one. You will often see him on my computer screen in the background. He's a rescue farm cat and in the summer often stays out for days, sleeping in fields, eating mice and popping home to top up on cat food. He rarely comes in the studio these days for some reason, although he used to come in a lot. I will try and get him on camera soon!

[@joegriffin5851]

I call them blooms because sometime they do make a picture bloom and sometimes they are a blooming pain! By the way are there some types of paint, say granulating, that produce better bloom effects?

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

Granulating paints definitely work better for all types of texture effects, including blooms. 🙂

[@natford8271]

Is using a watercolour paper block as good as stretching paper?

[@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber]

I would say not, as the paper on blocks is not actually stretched, just gummed around the edges.

[@marlenevincent6019]

Michele that also looks very similar to what a virus , does to the body immune system .

[@NicoleLan622]

I am always puzzled by youtube artists reviewing paints who consider tendency to backrun as a property of paint. It's not anything to do with the kind of paint, then, is it?