Watercolour vs. oil

There are advantages as well as disadvantages when one chooses watercolour as a painting medium. Though not as versatile as oil, the beauty I would say lies in its transparency and delicacy.If one uses black they ruin the painting, a mix of deep amber or darker browns would be sufficient to reflect black. Since white is totally non-existent, most of the times making the underneath surface transparent is where the challenge lies with watercolour. Too much opacity would again ruin the painting.

Unlike watercolours; Oil has always been thought of as a versatile medium. Gels well with most of the surfaces. The artist can paint and repaint if she wishes to. The concept of opacity is totally opposite here. The layers of paint can hide the underneath paint, unlike watercolours where all the layers show through.
Choosing a medium is at the discretion of the artist. Personally I would like to paint using both the mediums, sometime allured by the transparency of watercolours and sometimes by the bulkiness of oil colours.



An attempt at watercolour