Interpretive Resource

Video Demonstration: Wet Scraping

Aaron Penley, the author of a popular nineteenth-century watercolor manual, explained how to recover light areas from dry washes: “One can readily take out lights, either sharp and decided, with the scraper and knife, or by the usual process of wetting and rubbing out” (Penley 1874, p. 19). Here, the artist demonstrates how Homer would have rewet then scraped away color in precise shapes to create the effect of swirling foam in The Watcher, Tynemouth.