Loosen Up Your Watercolor Painting—Here’s an Exercise to Try
Every time I lead a class or workshop, more than half of the participants mention the goal of “loosening up”. Here’s a skill-building exercise to help you move in that direction.
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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…
Dealing with “Problem Paintings”—Part 1: Too Boring for Words
If you’ve painted in watercolor for more than a day or so, I know you’ve been here: after hours of hard work, you’re struggling with a blotchy, overworked section that you know isn’t going to be right, no matter how much more effort you put into it. It’s tempting to conclude that you just don’t have what it takes . . . maybe it’s time to take up something easier to master, say, golf.
How do you deal with “problem paintings” like this? (click the picture to read more)
Explore and Inspire Yourself with Word Clouds
Have you ever noticed the cluster of words that sit in the sidebar of some websites, some of them bigger, some smaller, sometimes in multiple colors? Bloggers often “tag” articles with keywords to help readers search for topics of interest. The bigger the word in this “tag cloud”, the more often the author has used…
Geometric “Self-Portraits”
Artists have created self-portraits for ages, probably more for what the artists discover about themselves than as a way to create a likeness to show to the world. As with most things in Creative Energy Journaling, this activity is design to give you some of the benefits of the exercise of creating a self-portrait, without having to know how to draw or paint, and without spending hours and hours staring into a mirror.
Easily Create Symmetrical Circular Designs (January 2023 Art Invitation)
Make your own symmetrical circular designs for mandalas or other circular paintings. All you need are a plate and a piece of office paper! This video shows you how to do it.
Why Paint?
Considering why you are painting, in general or this particular painting, can help you create work with more impact and get more enjoyment and satisfaction out of the process.