Something beguiling

In watercolor, I work exclusively with transparent pigments, carefully building textural effects through multiple glazes (sometimes up to five or six layers) to achieve dimension and detail in my realistic watercolors.

- Crystal Beshara

I will use masking fluid to preserve my whites and lightest lights where small details are concerned. I start with the wettest, softest focus areas and create large sweeping washes, sometimes allowing the hues to blend together on the surface. Once dry, I may re-wet an area with clean water to introduce smaller wet-into-wet colors to specific shapes that require a blended application. I will continue in this way, allowing layers to dry until finally I am at the phase where I am exclusively working on dry paper with my smallest darkest details (fine controlled lines or more spontaneous applications like speckling or dry brush).