Watercolour (UK), also called watercolor (US) or aquarelle (French), are paintings whose colours are water-based pigments.
Watercolours were first created in China, appearing shortly after paper was invented. Watercolours soon became popular in Japan as well. Pigment is mixed first with a binder which is most of the time, gum arabic, then add water and then using a brush add the pigment to material like paper. When the water dries, the pigment is stuck to the material from the binder.
