Don’t Let Your Inner Critic Be Lazy
Make your inner critic work for you, instead of against you, by challenging lazy thinking and asking the right questions.
Author: lbaur
Crazy Colorful Pears
Fun exercises in glazing and negative painting. Perfect for times when you feel like painting, but you’re too stressed or tired to focus on challenging work. A chance to play with color and different ways of applying paint while you practice essential watercolor skills.
41 min.
Sunset Variations
Use the same basic pattern to make multiple cards. Plus, a strategy for making sparkles on water and a way to suggest natural-looking grasses.
41 min.
Backlit Clouds Variations
Simple techniques for suggesting skies with backlit clouds. Then some ideas for adding foreground elements to your sky studies to make finished postcards. Includes suggestions for protecting postcards in the mail.
41 min.
Sketching with Watersoluble Line
Super-simple and minimal supplies: a watersoluble pen, a wet brush and a postcard or sketchbook. This is basically a form of line-and-wash, but doesn’t seem to be taught or discussed much. My favorite super-lightweight sketching strategy.
24 min.
Beach with Rocks and Stormy Sky
Choosing a manageable subject and simplifying a scene. Plus, suggesting a stormy sky and rocky texture.
20 min.
Full Moon Above the Forest
An easy way to get a nice, round moon without masking, plus a variety of techniques for suggesting trees, foliage and branches.
24 min.
Simple Iris
A simple iris painted wet-into-wet within shapes. Plus, a strategy for painting “out-of-focus” backgrounds on florals.
24 min.
Live Demo 11 Oct 2020—Choosing Watercolor Paper (and do I really have to stretch it?)
All about choosing the best paper for you and your way of working. And, the definitive answer to that perennial question: “Do I really have to stretch my paper?”
Live Demo 13 Sep 2020—Choosing Brushes for Watercolor
Which brushes do you really need? What sizes? Synthetic or natural bristles? Is Kolinsky sable really worth the expense? I’ll answer questions like these, demonstrate different types of brushes and explain pros and cons, and share which brushes are my “go-to” brushes now and why I chose them.
Live Demo 9 Aug 2020—What’s on Your Palette?
A lot of people have asked me to talk about what brands of paint I use (most of them!) and what colors I have on my palette (way too many!). I’m always at a loss, because I am constantly playing around with the colors on my palette. I’m just as much of a sucker for a cool new color as the next person. Isn’t that just part of the fun of watercolor? 😉 But it’s time to take a stab at answering the REAL question, How can you decide which colors to have on your palette?”
Painless Watercolor Planning, Part 2: Choose & Refine Your Painting Concept
This article is the fifth in a series about creating paintings with more emotion, power and personal meaning. Here are links to the first four: Is My Painting Done? Are You a “Photocopier”? There’s a Better Way The Lazy Way to Build Painting Confidence Painless Watercolor Planning, Part 1: Exploratory Drawing I’ve broken up my…