https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhiDejQlP4

Stan Miller shows about wetness on the paper, brush, and palette. He forgot to mention that old dry paint in the palette can be softened by a misting of water or adding drops of water to the well and let sit for a few minutes.

Jean Louis Morelle’s book is also very good and more affordable. He was Ewa Karpinska’s teacher (I think…) and the book titles are similiar, and contains a lot of Karpinska’s works as demos in it. Definitely a different approach to wet on wet and very eye opening, but probably can be summed up in one word… experimentation. Play with water, pigments, brush capacity etc to both put in and remove pigments and water and one can figure out all there is to know…. that’s just in case the book is outside one’s financial reach… The book also has a very solid bit of color theory and other techniques including dry techniques, but it does recommend starting with wet techniques before practicing dry.

I agree that Karpinskas book is well worth the read. It’s far more detailed and technical than most art books, which I find often read like coffee table books, and aren’t really there to teach you a whole lot. Not so for this book! She talks a lot about assessing the wetness of the paper through different visual and tactile clues, and gives you input about affects you can schedule at those different stages. There are also many detailed pics that are very illustrative. I can see why it’s out of print- it’s far too useful to casually read.

Of course, pure experimentation is also required. How else can you figure it out? My advice is to get a couple of full sheets, and divide them into something small like 1/16 sheets. Small stuff- 7.5″ X 5.5″. The goal is experiment and test over and over again, without the worry of applying it to a “real” painting. Then you can assess stuff- How wet is your brush? How wet is your paper? Are you just adding water to the edge of the paint, or do you have pigment on your brush as well? What if you lay paint down and then let new paint merge from up above? What if you put paint down, and then soften the bottom edge? Paint can creep up and paint can creep down. What if the paint on your brush is really thick and goopy? Etc etc Water and pigment act differently situationally.

Figuring out that timing and understanding that wetnes, and the affect you’ll get- that confidence to apply the technique and to not screw up your painting comes from experience. But I think books like Karpinska’s book give you a very good starting point about the tools you might need, the affects you might be able to achieve, and the lessons you might apply.

I think it’s a learning process, you play around with it, experiment, and eventually you learn to control it (most of the time ), and even when you can’t control it, you learn to love all those happy little accidents. but it’s also helpful to remember, too, that it changes with the various types of paper.