This is a detail from a watercolor painting I’m currently working on.  The white ice box has had four coats of paint so far, and I’m not done yet.

I usually paint dark areas in one intense watercolor wash, but I carefully inch up on the white areas.  I make puddles of aureolin yellow, quinacridone red and cobalt blue with just the barest hint of color in the water.

I put each color on my paper separately, but let the colors touch one another.  Then I tilt the paper so the colors flow together on the paper and blend a bit.  Hints of warm and cool in your whites will make them come alive  … or turn them into a dingy ice machine on a cold winter day.