The beginning watercolorist often experiences a trial-by-error initiation, in which the desire to produce a lovely, light-filled watercolor painting exceeds one's ability to actually do so. However, once bitten by the painting bug it is impossible to give up on the challenge. . . read more
Today, Jean Pederson gives a brief demonstration of how she layers various pigments of transparent watercolors to produce a realistic, three-dimensional image on paper. The subject matter she chose is tricky under the best of circumstances. . .. . . read more
In today's video, Jean Pederson shows how she “reactivates” dried watercolor paper after it’s been sitting for a while. This lets her pause in the middle of a painting, and then pick up right where she left off an hour, a day, or even weeks later.. . . read more
In an abstract painting (as opposed to a realistic one) it's more important than ever to be conscious of design elements like line quality, texture, value contrast, and so on. For today's video tutorial, watercolor painter. . . read more
In today’s video, watercolor painter Carl Dalio demonstrates his techniques for painting cloudy skies. After sketching out his entire drawing on watercolor paper, Carl starts right in with. . . read more
When you want to fill up space in an abstract painting (or any painting for that matter) it helps to have a few different techniques at hand for adding texture. In the following video, Carla O’Connor shares her methods. . . read more
Although it’s definitely the most common, stretched canvas isn’t the only surface that works well for oil paints. Here are some alternative surfaces that I have enjoyed using over the years. . . read more
There are a number of effective ways to create visual interest in a work of art, but today’s video tutorial focuses on just one - creating visual pathways through your artwork. . . read more
Our eyes instinctively seek out areas of contrast, no matter what we're looking at, so it makes sense to add patterns high-intensity contrast to our artwork as well. Here's one method for doing that. . . read more
Painting from life always brings with it a certain set of challenges, but perhaps the biggest challenge is finding a way to recreate all those vibrant, light-filled colors that saturate the air around us - while just using opaque oil paints.. . . read more
If design and composition isn't generally something that you think about while painting, it probably should be. A good design ensures that your viewers will stay interested in your artwork, even over a long period of time. . . read more
As with any drawing, the beginning of a painting is the most important step. Successful starts lead to good finishes. In the next few paragraphs I’ll explain what I do to start a painting off on the right foot.. . . read more
In today’s video, Robbie Laird demonstrates how to achieve repetitive line and texture in a watercolor painting, using just a few easy-to-find scraping tools. As you’ll see. . . read more
Like any other art process, figure drawing is a fluid activity and impossible to pin down with exact rules—but if your goal is to create a more convincing life drawing, then these next few ideas will certainly help.. . . read more