An "Oops" and How to Fix It

As I move into the foreground, I need more contrast of value, more intensity and a warmer temperature to give depth to the painting. I decided to use some salt, a common technique used in watercolor painting to create more texture. 

Adding salt while the paint is wet will absorb the water and pigment, leaving a "blossom". You can use regular table salt for small "blossoms" or as I did in this painting, Kosher salt which makes larger "blossoms".

 The top image shows the section while it is still wet. Below is the section when dry.
​
My goal was to get more texture and more contrast and more intensity. However, too much salt soaked up all of the color! Now I have a problem to solve.

To achieve my goal within this section,  all I had to do was add a little more form to the shapes created. But because I lost most of the intensity, I will have to repaint this area. The problem is the salt, which not only absorbs the water but also absorbs the sizing in the paper. As a consequence, putting another layer over that area results in a loss of transparency. The paint will soak into the paper and the underlying paint layer. So, in this case, I had to switch to staining pigments, phthalo green and olive green.

---

Another word of caution about the use of salt. Do not try to remove the salt before it is absolutely dry. The still-wet salt will smear and ruin the texture. Salt is very corrosive and in time will destroy the paper. You will want to remove all traces of the salt. You also want to clean your brushes thoroughly for the same reason.

​On to the next step!