Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Peace Rose in Watercolor



In this lesson, you will learn how to paint a light-colored rose of two colors; pink and yellow. You will learn which colors make warm and cool shadows, as well as which colors will deepen the values.   Dawn McLleod Heim has provided step by steps instructions and a line drawing for this rose.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Lian Zhen's Floral Painting Techniques


The watercolor painting demonstration on this page shows Lian Zhen's floral painting techniques....a combination of poured watercolors and brushwork.


 You can see more watercolor and Chinese painting demos on variety subjects from three of his books published by North Light:
 Chinese Painting Techniques for Exquisite Watercolors ,  Chinese Watercolor Techniques - Painting Animals and Chinese Watercolor Techniques For Exquisite Flowers, as well as on his painting demo DVDs.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Keeping Color Alive

October Wind, watercolor

UPDATE:   SORRY, THE WEBSITE LISTED BELOW HAS MOVED OR DELETED THIS TUTORIAL.  
I WILL KEEP SEARCHING FOR IT AND UPDATE WHEN FOUND.

Artist Carl Dalio shares his winning formula for landscapes that pulse with energy in this article reprinted from Artist's Magazine (PDF).  Dalio says:  "To give my landscapes maximum impact, I remove extraneous detail, then focus on energetic
color...I think of color as a living entity and I use its energy to describe the movement of light in my work.....There are several keys for keeping color clean, intense and alive, and these span the entire painting process."

Learn how to keep your colors clean and vibrant as you follow Dalio's step-by-step demonstration of the landscape shown below.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

How To Paint Watercolour White Roses


Demonstration in watercolour by Trevor Waugh: Painting White Roses. A soothing and relaxing video watching Trevor paint "Swan Lake" roses. Loose handling of the medium with no drawing or guidelines ! Accompanied by an original soundtrack written and performed by Trevor.


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Watercolour demonstration by Paul Talbot-Greaves

Watercolor, Paul Talbot-Greaves
The Farsley and District Art Club in the UK shares some step-by-step photos of a watercolor demonstration by artist-author-instructor  Paul Talbot-Greaves .  Subject of painting is the tree-shaded lane shown above.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Poured Watercolor with Stephen Blackburn

Watercolor by Stephen Blackburn
Stephen Blackburn has received international recognition for his watercolor paintings.  He concentrates on close-focus subjects such as florals and still lifes.   The artist says that "pouring pigments is a great way to keep colors pure, although it does take some planning to achieve the right effect."   Blackburn explains his technique for poured watercolors in this article titled "Liquid Watercolors",  reprinted from "The Artists" magazine (in PDF format).

Sunday, October 9, 2011

How to Add Contrast to a Painting With a Dark Glaze

Pinecones by Linda Baker
If your watercolor paintings lack contrast, the solution may be simpler than you'd think. Watch as Linda Baker demonstrates a quick, dark glaze, that pushes distracting elements into the background.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Manhattan Watercolor Demonstration

Mixed Emotions, James Toogood, watercolor

In the spring 2008 issue of  Watercolor magazine, James Toogood discussed how painting with watercolor requires an understanding of not only the paints themselves but also their application. Click here for his demonstration of "Mixed Emotions". The scene is 50th Street and Broadway in midtown Manhattan, a location that is usually a frenzy of activity. Toogood eliminated the people from the composition so he could focus on the cacophony of color, light, shape, and texture of the buildings.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Watercolor Batik

Tuscan Window by Kathie George
Learn how to energize your paintings by combining the techniques of batik and watercolor. A step-by-step demo by Kathie George.

With batik, wax is used as a resist—and if you’ve ever used masking fluid on watercolor paper, you understand how a resist works. The wax blocks the areas that
aren’t intended to receive paint. The materials Kathie uses are rice paper, watercolor and melted paraffin wax. This process isn’t an exact science, so be prepared for mistakes such as unintentional drips of wax and oozing color. Believe it or not, these accidents actually add to the look of the piece.   View batik tutorial here.

Kathie George and this painting were featured in Splash 11 - New Directions: The Best of Watercolor  which showcases the finest watercolor paintings being created today.