How to Get All the Paint Out of a Watercolor Tube (without a mess)
A clean and easy way to get all the paint out of a watercolor tube (without cutting it open!).
Blog
Removing (& Preventing) Stuck Caps
An easy way to remove stuck caps from tubes of watercolor (no pliers!) and a few tips for preventing stuck caps in the future.
How to Remove Masking Tape Without Tearing the Paper
Just a short video with some tips to prevent your paper from tearing when you remove masking tape from your watercolors.
Hummingbird Brush Drawing
Paint a hummingbird using basic brushmarks.
Dragonfly Brush Drawing
Paint a dragonfly using basic brush marks.
Bee and Coneflower Brush Drawing
Paint a bumblebee on a coneflower using basic brushstrokes.
Cloudy Winter Sunrise Project
Painting a cloudy winter sunrise scene in watercolor . Shows how to suggest different cloud layers in the sky by layering (glazing) in your painting.
Bowl and Lemons Project
A simple still life of a glass bowl and lemons in watercolor. In this project you’ll practice laying a multi-colored wash connecting several “objects” into one large shape, and then defining the individual objects with smaller washes along their shared edges.
The Kayaker Project
How to paint a kayaker paddling near a cliff in watercolor. Another simple monochrome “silhouette” painting using the skills learned in the Project 4 section of Watercolor Jumpstart.
Lessons from Life on Planning Watercolors
Planning an entire meal involves more than just knowing cooking techniques. Chances are, you’re all quite familiar with this sort of planning, so let’s see how it connects with planning watercolors.
The “Other How-To”
Like most people, I did some rapid “pivoting” (otherwise known as “flailing”) during 2020. It’s time for me to get back to the core mission of my teaching: to help you be more successful using watercolor as an artist, that is, to use watercolor to explore your own thoughts, ideas and emotions, record your responses to the world, share your experiences with others, or express something personally meaningful. That means learning to plan your own paintings, but how?
It’s Not All About Hue – Imposters and Chameleons
Color-mixing is often discussed as if the only consideration is getting “the right color”, but watercolor pigments each have their own physical and chemical properties. This video presents some activities to help you develop a more sophisticated understanding of color-mixing so you become better at choosing and mixing pigments to create the artistic effects—including perceived color—you desire.