Five Brushes You Need to Start Watercolor Painting (Without Breaking Your Wallet)
Like many watercolor painters, I have jars filled with an assortment of brushes with different shapes and bristle types because I wanted to try them all! There is nothing more fun than experimenting with an array of brushes to see what types of new marks I can discover. I have over fifty brushes and I […]
Before The Paint Touches Your Paper, Try This!
Why You Should Plan Your Composition Many painters, new and experienced, struggle over what to paint when they first sit down with a blank piece of watercolor paper. Some dive right in with a wet paintbrush and hope the pigment, water and paper will make the decision for them or at least push them in […]
When The Hordes Descend
This past weekend a local arts organization , South Coast Artists, held an open studio event and I was one of 75 local artists to open up and welcome the public to see our place and process and well as our finished pieces. The SCA Open Studio tour spread across four coastal towns and featured […]
You Are Not a Camera So It’s Okay That Your Paintings Don’t Look Like a Photo
There is a lot of controversy about how to visualize the scenes you paint. Some folks paint from photos, some argue you should paint from life, and others swear you should just paint from your imagination. The photo-haters point out that most of us are not professional photographers, so our photos are full of distortion […]
You Don’t Need Nearly As Much Stuff As You Think You Do To Start Watercolor Painting
I remember being overwhelmed by the huge list of supplies handed to me at my first watercolor class a few years ago. When I priced it out the total cost came in just under $250 and that was after some judicious editing. As my curiosity and passion for watercolor grew, I bought more stuff on […]
Patience is a Virtue I Don’t Have…
Watercolor painting is often a fast-moving activity that can require detailed planning and materials preparation depending on the subject matter. One of my watercolor mentors cautions that painters have approximately 2 minutes to lay in the sky. Another mentor told me that my brush should only touch the paper once when making a mark, no […]