One art term which is very characteristic for the art of water colours is blotting. It is the use of an absorbent material such as tissues or paper towel or a dry brush, to pick up pigments already applied to paper. One would do so to lighten a wet or damp wash, pick up some detail or used as a corrective action for an area, which has not been painted to ones satisfaction.
The word is also used in the context of ink, and indeed in the past, blotting paper was once used regularly to absorb excess ink when writing
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