How to Paint a Picture of a Partridge in a Pear Tree! (Super Easy)
December 21, 2022
This is the first tutorial in the “12 days of Christmas” painting series. These are intended to be relaxing and fun exercises to keep your creativity flowing during the holiday period. And yes… There will be 12 paintings in total. But I’m sure you’ll…
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Mixing a Fall Color Palette (Keys to Success)
June 6, 2024
Fall is upon us (again!) Funny how it keeps coming around so quick 🙂 My neighborhood’s autumn colors have inspired me to try out some paint mixes. So I wanted to share some of my favorite color-mixing recipes for fall paintings. There’s a unique…
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Neutral Tint Watercolor (All The Answers!)
June 9, 2023
So you’ve ended up with a tube of grayish-looking paint called “neutral tint.” And now you’re wondering… “But what the heck is neutral tint?” Why would you need it, and how is it used in painting? This paint name causes quite a bit of…
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Do You Have to Wet Watercolor Paper Before Painting?
February 2, 2024
Watercolor is obviously a water-based medium. And water plays an essential role in every painting technique. During the painting process, the paper surface goes through different cycles of wetness. Wet to dry, dry to wet, etc. So it’s easy to get confused about when…
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Watercolor Pans vs. Tubes (There’s a Clear Winner!)
July 11, 2024
I admit it! I have a favorite 🙂 You’ve noticed that watercolor paints come in two different forms: tubes or pans. I’m going to tell you which one I prefer and why… But which should YOU choose? Is there an advantage to using one rather than the…
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Watercolor Paper Sizing (Explained!)
July 16, 2023
All watercolor paper is sized. And no… I’m not talking about the dimensions of the sheet 🙂 As you begin to understand more about your art materials, at some point, you’ll come across the topic of sizing. Sizing is a substance that is added…
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Why is Watercolor so Hard? (And What To Do About It!)
October 18, 2022
If you’ve dabbled with watercolors for a while and you’re starting to think, “this is tricky,”… Well, you’ve discovered what many other watercolor rookies stumble upon. Watercolors are hard! Well, at least that’s what a lot of folks conclude. But what if the characteristics…
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Watercolor Terms and Vocabulary (All the Jargon with Illustrations!)
March 6, 2023
The wonderful world of watercolor is full of exotic vocabulary. Artists use so much terminology that it’s easy to get lost because of the specialized lingo! For example, do you know what “convenience colors” are? What about a “back-run” or a “bead”? And what exactly is “archival paper” anyway? Are you…
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How to Paint Cherries in Watercolor (My Step by Step Tutorial)
April 4, 2023
Have you noticed that sometimes you look at the world in a funny way?! When you become interested in painting, after a while you begin to see things differently. This is what happened to me when I went to the market and noticed these…
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Watercolor Donut Tutorial (Just for Fun!)
February 28, 2023
I came across this image of a donut the other day and I thought it would make a great subject for a watercolor painting. It’s bright, colorful, and fun! So this lesson doesn’t have any particular underlying theme about watercolors… It’s just for fun!…
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Watercolor Still Life (Beginners Step by Step Tutorial)
October 11, 2022
Did you ever wonder where the tradition of giving oranges at Christmas comes from? Well… There are a few different versions, but one of the stories I seem to remember talks about how an orange represents the Christmas season of giving and sharing. This…
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What Makes a Good Painting (3 Things you Need to Know)
October 12, 2022
What is it that makes a painting “good”? I was working on something recently and started thinking about this question… Let me start by saying, this is a practical guide, not a subjective opinion. There are plenty of articles talking about the various components…
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