Christmas Trees with Lights at Night
Experimenting with the concept of a lighted Christmas tree at night on a snowy slope. Can we create the illusion of light? Paint along with me and let’s see if we can pull it off.
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Reserving and Recovering Light Values: Strategies to Consider
Getting light color values in watercolor works a little differently than in other mediums, since watercolor is transparent. In watercolor, we rely on the white color of the paper to give us our lighter values, meaning that a watercolorist’s main options are reserving or recovering whites. This article lists some of the strategies you can use to reserve and recover whites and light values.
Postcard Paint-Along—Dragonfly
A simple dragonfly postcard, suitable for all experience levels.
What’s a Cradled Board?
This must be one of the questions I get asked the most often! I used to mat and frame my watercolors. From time to time someone would ask if I could frame them without glass. I knew of some watercolorists who were painting on canvas or boards that were specially prepared to be absorbent enough…
How (and When) to Stretch Your Watercolor Paper
once you start painting quarter-sheet or larger, or getting the paper really saturated, stretching your paper makes your life sooooo much easier! This video shows my preferred method, stretching on the same stretcher bars used for canvas, and an alternate method for those who have difficulty operating a staple gun.
Paint Shapes, Not “Things”
Want your paintings to look unified? It helps to combine “things” into larger shapes, and then use smaller shapes to (partially) separate them. Here’s an exercise to help you practice. First, set up a still life with a couple of simple objects. Avoid anything that has a lot of pattern, texture, reflections or complicated edges—you…
Bee and Coneflower Brush Drawing
Paint a bumblebee on a coneflower using basic brushstrokes.