Beginner Level

Part 2-Beginner Watercolor Exercises: Blends, Bleeds, and Blooms

Let’s talk about blends, bleeds, and blooms – more fun watercolor exercises for beginners!

I also have a FREE online course, Watercolor Basics for the Absolute Beginner, if you want to learn more!

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BLENDS

A blend happens when you soften edges or create a smooth transition from one color to another. There are two types of blending I want to discuss in this post: how to blend out edges, and how to blend two colors on paper.

In Part 1, we discussed wet-on-dry, one of the most common techniques. The wet-on-dry creates a harsh line. Let’s say that I want to soften that edge and make it look hazy. Even if it’s dry, as long as the paint isn’t very staining, then it can be reactivated easily and reworked.

Simply take a damp brush, and softly rub the edge until the pigments are released and reactivated. Then gradually draw out the paint and add some more water to coax the paint to move.

And now you have a softer edge! What happens if your brush is too wet? Well, we’ll discuss that when we look at bleeds and blooms in a little bit.

Next, another way to blend is to blend colors.

Let’s start with one, a light blue, and while it’s still wet, I’m going to introduce a new color, and allow the two to mix in the middle. This is also called a variegated wash, and we’ll look at this a bit more in a different video.

A blend is intentional and can create those soft looks that you often find in watercolor paintings.

BLEEDS

A bleed occurs when paint seeps or bleeds into another area. It has the opposite look of a bloom.

Place one color down and then place another color and intentionally bleed into it.

Instead of another color, try it with a clean wet area.

Always observe what’s happening as paint moves. Note why it’s happening. A watercolor bleed happens when paint expands beyond the originally painted area. This can happen intentionally or by accident.

If you want to quickly prevent bleeds, you can soak it with a dry paper towel or dry “thirsty” brush. Or you can just let it do its thing!

BLOOMS

A bloom occurs when you introduce water or a very watery paint into an area that is drying. A bloom happens when the painted area is semi-dry. It’s tougher to do when it’s dry. A bloom is also known as a blossom or cauliflower.

A bloom can also be intentional or accidental. How you can tell it’s a bloom is by these scalloped edges. When you add a drop of water to a wet area, the water blob will push the pigment towards the edges of the excess water. And it’ll create a harsh, pigmented line called a scallop.

Small test painting of watercolor blooms. There is a blue circle with a watercolor bloom inside. There's a white arrow pointing to the scalloped, pigmented edge.

Honestly, it happens to me accidentally most of the time as I’m washing out my brush and a water drop flies out of the jar and onto my painting. Or as I’m switching brushes and I didn’t dry my brush enough and a drop goes flying. It happens. But like a bleed, think of blooms as happy accidents. It could add an interesting characteristic to your painting.

Watch the video on Blends, Bleeds, and Blooms

Thanks so much for watching! I hope you learned something new. Remember to have fun with these techniques. Half the fun with watercolor is literally going with the flow and observing what happens. Happy accidents are most welcome here, and I hope it helps you fall in love with watercolor more and more.

There are more parts to this series, so stay tuned! I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment down below and share about your experience with these techniques.

If you try out these exercises, please tag me on social media @AudreyRaDesign and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.

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