There are several ways to regain the light areas in watercolor. In this painting of a statue in the historic Village on Longboat Key, Florida, I painted the entire background first, not avoiding the area where the statue would eventually appear. When the page was thoroughly dry, I used a brush with clear water in it and applied it to areas where I wanted to regain the light. I let it set for about 10 -15 seconds and then wiped it with a Kleenex. Practically all the color is removed, almost down to the white paper.
This will not work well with staining colors like thalo blue, thalo green, and alizarin crimson. Avoid those colors in the underpainting.
This is especially helpful in regaining highlights.
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