Technical How-to – Dragonfly Spirit Studio

Creating a Sense of Depth and Believable Shadows

Creating a sense of depth and believable shadows, especially on red, yellow and orange objects.

Planning a watercolor, part 6: Bringing in other media to create a successful painting

Some situations are inherently difficult to paint with transparent watercolor alone. Bringing in a other media may help you create a successful painting with less struggle.

Technical How-to

Rules for watercolor?

Why is it so hard for us to just ignore them? Should we actually be following them?

Planning Your Own Watercolors | Technical How-to

Planning a watercolor, part 5: Am I working with the medium’s natural tendencies?

Save yourself some headaches by choosing subjects and creating designs that work with the medium.

Supplies and Materials | Technical How-to | Tips & Hacks

Prevent buckling without stretching your paper

Working on paper that is saturated from the back is a method for preventing your paper from buckling while you work that does not involve stretching it.

Planning Your Own Watercolors | Technical How-to

Planning a Watercolor, Part 3: Making Basic Edits to Your Reference Photos

Making easy, small changes to your reference photo can make your painting more interesting and unique (and often, easier to paint, too!)

Planning Your Own Watercolors | Technical How-to

Reflections in Calm Water

Look over my shoulder as I paint the subpaintings to help me decide how I want to paint reflections on calm water.

Color and Color Mixing | Supplies and Materials | Technical How-to

Some watercolor pigments produce granulation (a.k.a. sedimentation), a mottled or speckly appearance as the wash dries. Did you know that you can sometimes coax more or less granulation out of the same pigment? Here’s how.