Watercolor Basics
On practical how to:<p>1. Keep two water reservoirs for cleaning your brushes.  One for warm colors and one for cool.  (This prevents muddiness in your palette).<p>2. Knowing when to let the layers on your paper dry before further progress is vital.<p>3. Carry pigment from the bricks to your palette, don't mix pigments in the bricks.<p>On technique:<p>1. Experiment adding water to a pigment on your palette (More water == thinner with less Saturation and vice-versa).<p>2. Experiment with how wet pigments interact with other wet pigments on the paper. (More water == better flow).<p>3. Experiment with the paper tilt direction (water flows under the force of gravity and this can be used to create a desired affect).<p>4. Know how to layer (i.e., 1st layer low saturation, broad areas with high water/flow, final layer is fine detail lines with low flow/higher saturation).<p>5. You must understand the color wheel and how pigments may mix.<p>I have beef with this guidance:<p>> let your palette and paint bricks get dirty<p>Keep your bricks clean: Let your palette get dirty (if you so choose).