Artist Studio
The goal of this demonstration is simple, just make a nice white shape and surround it with nice rich dark colors. See very simple. I have compressed my view down to just the middle portion of the image and left everything at the bottom out. When I started the painting, I wet the paper except
Continue Reading “Watercolor Step by Step: Moving White Shape”
The focus of this painting was to capture the lovely greens in the trees and their reflection in the water. I invented most everything to make the painting happen, what a joy to paint when the subject matter evokes a feeling of intimacy.
We went to the Curtis Island Lighthouse today and had a much calmer day than yesterday. The temperature was mid 70’s and the skies were clear. I did 2 demonstrations on in opaque watercolor and 1 transparent. I am not sure I like either one but you can judge that for yourself. I try not
Today was another day of just getting myself ready for the workshop. I painted with a nice group of painters in Rockland, Maine at the city marina and I painted multiple pieces. The painting I am posting is a nice example of concentrating on the foundation of the painting, the contrast of lights and darks.
Yesterday I was painting in Camden, Maine at a very familiar location. I am getting ready for my annual Maine workshop. This years workshop I am teaching transparent watercolors, opaque watercolors and oils so it will be quite the interesting schedule but I am so up for it. I spent the day working on opaque watercolors and after realizing I had left most of the required colors at home in my studio, I finally got back in the game and started to paint. This is not a very interesting scene and it takes some looking to come up with a good concept and composition. I wanted the lake to really be the star of this piece and it is painted with Cheap Joe color Sky Blue and Titanium White.
I am posting some demonstrations from my weekly watercolor classes. I think they turned out well and it seems like the class enjoyed the lessons. I do most of my watercolors as demonstrations; it seems like I rarely ever go into my studio a paint. It seems that given the opportunity I will play my
Continue Reading “In The Studio: A Few Demonstrations from Watercolor Class”
I find myself in a corner, thus the title, the dreaded can’t get the juice going, can’t get the creativity turned on, and really not in the mood to paint. I gave myself a few days to sit in the corner, that is a metaphor for those who know me well, I couldn’t sit anywhere
In this jumpstart I want you to again start by dividing your paper into four sections, and then sketch four simple subjects into each square, think of subject matter that can be assigned a representational color feeling, nothing too complicated. The goal is to get the colors both light and dark correct not paint an
This will seem daunting at first but there is no time like now to begin to think about the direction of light as something you, yes you, can manipulate to create a different painting while using the same shapes. I know we did this once before but I think it is a very important skill
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In this exercise I want you to look a very complicated subject and really reduce it down to a very expressive light filled composition. Leave out all of the details and just amplify the light. Really think about what is necessary and what can be eliminated. I think you will see from the photo that
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18 x 24 opaque watercolor on 140lb arches cold press paper This demonstration will show you how to use strong transparent colors as an under painting, and then a fairly dry application of more opaque colors, Titanium white, Naples Yellow from Da Vinci, and Coastal Fog, Peachy Keen and Sky Blue from Cheap Joes’s American
Draw a scene from memory I have just returned from a trip to Southern Brazil and along the way I took at least 1 thousand photos of which I will probably never use any of them to paint from. I use photos sparingly and only for specific detail information and color ideas but rarely do
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