With these simple logical techniques, you can produce a beautiful finished watercolour, while still allowing your imagination the freedom to play with ideas and possibilities. The key lies in tonal layering - the building up of successive layers of colour that capture the lights, midtones, and darks of your subject. Either apply the paints directly onto dry paper, which results in gloriously rich colour, or try the wet in wet technique, which uses damp paper and yields softly blended colours and atmospheric effects. You'll carefully go through each stage of the process, while looking at stunning full-colour examples of finished works. Find out the purpose of a flat wash, and how to achieve smooth, even tones with no unwanted marks and lines. Try a graduated wash to create the illusion of space and recession. Or lay a variegated wash - with bands of different colour - for painting skies and landscapes.