In the last post, I offered some tips for mixing natural-looking landscape greens, the first of which was “avoid tube greens involving phthalo green”. So, what do you do with the phthalo green (and mixtures using it) you already have? The secret is to tame it a bit so it works for you instead of…
The weather is beautiful here. It’s the time of year when a lot of us are feeling that pull to take our paints and sketchbooks outside. It’s also the time of year that a lot of people struggle with GREEN! Do the greens in your landscapes look flat and unnatural? The likely culprit is a…
Line and wash is a combination of line drawing with watercolor washes to suggest a scene. It’s a great way to get started with watercolor, or with travel sketching, even if you “can’t draw” and have never tried watercolor before!
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…
I’ve been presenting my watercolors without glass for quite some time. I love the clean look! Here’s everything you need to know to present your watercolors using this method. In the video, I demonstrate one way to do this, using the method (and products) I use myself. Below the video is a description of other…
Yesterday, 12 intrepid sketchers from the Watercolor Minimalist class at Wet Paint descended on Como Conservatory determined to learn some tips and tricks for sketching on location in a short amount of time and with minimal stuff. It was a gorgeous day, there were beautiful subjects all around us, restrooms and cafe nearby, and not…
I’m welcoming some new watercolor painters to the medium, so there have been some requests for information about caring for watercolor brushes. (Even if you know all this, you might want to skip down to item 9. In the third paragraph, there are two links to videos about how brushes are made. The first is…
When I’m laying a wash, I want to focus my attention on creating color mingles, wet-in-wet effects and edges that are just the right degree of softness. So many things that will only happen if the timing is just right! I want design and drawing and color all worked out ahead of time, so I don’t…
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…
Who is that mysterious woman peering out of the headline of this week’s post? Read to the end to find out—she has a little magical treat for you! In this week’s post, I invite you to try your hand at cartooning. Wait! Keep reading! I promise anyone can do this kind of cartooning! This activity…
I keep finding myself telling followers of this blog about these fun little how-to videos I’m making for my beginning watercolor classes. Three in particular—on brush-drawing—just seem perfect for journallers. Brush drawing is a great way to try to see and capture the essence of something—both how it looks and how it feels. In a brush…
The moon is full this coming Monday night and it looks like we might have clear skies here in the Twin Cities area. One of the things I love to do in my art and in my journaling is celebrate the natural world—changing seasons, dramatic weather, the plants and animals I live among. And the full…
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