WATERCOLOR

45rf0 Latin America has had many watercolor painters, although the technique not always has been highly valued. All over the Continent, watercolor furthering institutions and activities have been created. Many artists devote themselves to it, affirming that watercolor is a difficult technique because it does not admit any error whatsoever. Any hesitation with the brush, any stumble or blot in the wrong spot seals the fate of the work in execution and sends it inexorably into the dustbin. In consequence, watercolor painters must be skilled, unwavering, and patient.

Such is the exacting watercolor and this is so since its beginnings, in opposition to the transparencies in their natural true haze.

Historians’ report that the old Egyptians already used water-soluble pigments to illustrate their papyrus scrolls and that between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance the monasteries and abbeys illuminated their miniatures in such a way. However, nothing of this has been confirmed.

Be that as it may, what has been verified is that Albrecht Dürer, Paul Sandby, John Constable, and John Crokme were among the forerunners of this technique that is based on finely ground pigments agglutinated with arabic gum. These pigments are easily water-soluble and adhere to paper. Also great masters the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and a series of seventeenth century Flemish artists applied their feather to color their beautiful paintings with watercolors.