12 YEARS AND COUNTING! Art, stories, a sale, and our July fundraiser results

12 YEARS AND COUNTING! Art, stories, a sale, and our July fundraiser results

by | Aug 2, 2025 | Watercolor

Hello subscriber friends! There are some changes afoot around here. And that’s going to mean something for you if you got this post in your email inbox.

Having received this means you’re subscribed through WordPress, and though I could go in and just turn that sharing off completely, I didn’t want to do that to you without notice! I’m going to be moving my written posts over to Substack….and each time there’s a video to share here, I’ll be posting just the video and a paragraph with a couple sentences and some keywords to help Google with searching for things.

If you want to read the rest, and maybe even more than you’ve seen here on my blog, you’ll want to become a free subscriber over there. You can do that right now on this post. And before you click that, see what’s in this post vs what’s in that post and decide if you’d like to get thos emails.

In a couple weeks I’ll be turning off the WordPress sharing here, so things will stop coming to you. You can always get to my substack through the menu bar here – look under “Latest posts” and you’ll find it there.

PS the thumbnail image for this video isn’t AI. It’s me and photoshop combining 2 extra fingers. LOL!

Tutorial: 12 years and counting

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

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Do you make art in your sleep? Hydrangea watercolor process

Do you make art in your sleep? Hydrangea watercolor process

by | Jul 29, 2025 | Watercolor

Hello subscriber friends! There are some changes afoot around here. And that’s going to mean something for you if you got this post in your email inbox.

Having received this means you’re subscribed through WordPress, and though I could go in and just turn that sharing off completely, I didn’t want to do that to you without notice! I’m going to be moving my written posts over to Substack….and each time there’s a video to share here, I’ll be posting just the video and a paragraph with a couple sentences and some keywords to help Google with searching for things.

If you want to read the rest, and maybe even more than you’ve seen here on my blog, you’ll want to become a free subscriber over there. You can do that right now on this post. And before you click that, see what’s in this post vs what’s in that post and decide if you’d like to get thos emails.

In a couple weeks I’ll be turning off the WordPress sharing here, so things will stop coming to you. You can always get to my substack through the menu bar here – look under “Latest posts” and you’ll find it there.

 

Tutorial: Do you make art in your sleep? Hydrangea watercolor process

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

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Loose Urban Sketch with Bright Watercolor

Loose Urban Sketch with Bright Watercolor

by | Jul 22, 2025 | Fine Art & Sketching, Watercolor

Hello subscriber friends! There are some changes afoot around here. And that’s going to mean something for you if you got this post in your email inbox. 

Having received this means you’re subscribed through WordPress, and though I could go in and just turn that sharing off completely, I didn’t want to do that to you without notice! I’m going to be moving my written posts over to Substack….and each time there’s a video to share here, I’ll be posting just the video and a paragraph with a couple sentences and some keywords to help Google with searching for things.

If you want to read the rest, and maybe even more than you’ve seen here on my blog, you’ll want to become a free subscriber over there. You can do that right now on this post. And before you click that, see what’s in this post vs what’s in that post and decide if you’d like to get thos emails.

In a couple weeks I’ll be turning off the WordPress sharing here, so things will stop coming to you. You can always get to my substack through the menu bar here – look under “The Art” and you’ll find it there.

Tutorial: Loose Urban Sketch with Bright Watercolor

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

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Keep tiny watercolor flowers bright on a background

Keep tiny watercolor flowers bright on a background

by | Jul 12, 2025 | Watercolor, Watercolor Flowers Series

For World Watercolor Month, Hahnemuhle sent a bunch of the Ambassadors a little care package with a bookmark kit – which is perfect for me since I’m making lots of bookmarks this month! (For the fundraiser. If you’ve missed that, go see more info here!) We appreciate their support in getting the word out about ICAF!

The kit came with a pad of watercolor bookmark paper, three half-pans of Schminke watercolors, and a DaVinci brush.

 

Tutorial: Keep tiny watercolor flowers bright on a background

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

The kit

  1. Hahnemuhle Bookmark Watercolor Painting Set AMAZON or FIND A RETAILER

Masking fluid

    1. Used: Pebeo Drawing gum BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS
    2. Preferred: Grumbacher Miskit masking fluid BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS 

The bookmark pad

The pad is a different size than I’m making to fit the sleeves I bought – but I can trim these down easily. But for the demo I worked at full size.

The paper worked nicely – though supersoft papers aren’t always my jam. I do a lot more fussing around and soft papers can get a little pilly with overworking, so I did have one spot that pulled up while removing the masking fluid. But other than that – no warping from the paper at all. You might be able to paint directly on the pad without warping? If you’re not splashing on gobs of water, I bet that would work out great.

The paints and brush

Let’s talk about that teeny tiny brush first – it’s a DaVinci, one of my fave brands, and a synthetic. It worked fully as expected, it achieved all those tiny floral details…..except my hands are too big for that tiny brush, I think! I did try putting it into a pencil extender – and if you try that you’ll likely have to put some tape on it too, since the handle isn’t as thick as a pencil. 

While the brush can make lovely flower petal marks and points very nicely – it doesn’t do much to add large washes. I was trying to ONLY use the kit, but would recommend pairing it with your other brushes.

The Schminke paints were interesting. Lemon Yellow (cool) Helio Cerulean (cool) and Cad Red Light (warm) was an interesting choice – I wasn’t able to make a nice purple from these since the red was so warm. to make a warm green you can add a dot of the red to a cool green mix, though, so that’s a nice option if only having three colors.

I’ll have to paint more with these to decide if I like them. They felt more….chalky? Creamy? I’m not sure the word for it, but they reminded me more of Gansai Tambi than regular watercolors. Maybe those who use Schminke can weigh in and make some suggestions for me! I’ll try them with my other normal supplies and see what they can do.

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The redo!

I spent a little time revamping the red flowers, making them more flower-shaped in many cases, bigger in most, and collecting some in groupings. I think the scale helped make them not look so much the same size as the daisies. I mixed the red, blue, and yellow together to make a dark center color. And got out some white gouache to add tinier flower dots all over, which I think made me happiest of all.

So what do you think? Did I ruin it? Or nah?

Watercolor bookmarks

The Wednesday Zoom calls have been fun so far – an hour each, lots of painting going on! If you missed out on them, or if you know you’ll be missing a future one, then hop over to the class and sign up. This month, your entire $25 goes to ICAF – I’m covering the Paypal fees myself! So you’re doing a good deed AND getting some watercolor instruction you’ll be able to learn from for  years to come as you revisit the lessons!

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Making traditional watercolor jealous: watercolor pencil yawning cat

Making traditional watercolor jealous: watercolor pencil yawning cat

by | Jul 8, 2025 | Watercolor

Even as an artist who loves traditional watercolor – sometimes there’s techniques that watercolor could never do. Maybe something similar, but there are some ways that watercolor pencil can kick traditional painting in the behind! Let’s look at some ways you can use the power of 14 techniques to create a unique piece of art,whatever your subject will be.

Tutorial: Making traditional watercolor jealous

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Watercolor pencils

  1. Caran d’Ache Supracolor BLICK  AMZ   JACKSONS 

Watercolor paper

  1. Arches Bright White CP 22×30 sheet  BLICK   JACKSONS

Brushes

  1. Winsor & Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 Round #8   BLICK  AMZ JACKSONS 
  2. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4  BLICK   AMZ   JACKSONS 
  3. Da Vinci Maestro  Kolinsky Sable Round 2   BLICK  AMZ
  4. Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin Brush (Mottler) – Flat Wash, Short Handle, Size 30 BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS 

Brushes

  1. Jokari Tea strainer

14 techniques with watercolor pencils

Powder painting on wet paper: lay down an area of water and create pencil powder by grating it on a tea strainer, nail file, or sandpaper. (each provides a different result)

Direct drawing on dry paper: the way most people use watercolor pencils, just draw with it and use a brush to melt the pigment into watercolor.
Color mixing by direct drawing: Add multiple colors while drawing – being aware that following color theory rules counts especially if you’ll add water!
Fur – powder onto wet paper: lay down water in the area you want fur, and create as much or little pencil powder as you desire.
Fur – painting onto dry powder: create the powder dust first – then use a brush to paint through them to create brushstroke fur.
Deepening values: concentrate darker values in shadow areas by creating different values of pencil in each section.
Controlling varied value placements: practice targeting exactly where you’ll drop a particular color to create a shadow area vs a soft blended section.
Layering for texture: in a first pass, create light color, then dry it and add powder to paint another layer for the texture of something like the carpet covering on the cat tree.
Masking fluid to preserve whites: paint whiskers and other small areas of whites to be sure no pigment touches them. Let it dry completely before adding color!
Powdered background with mix of colors: add water to the background and create powdered pigment of hues of your choice – test on scrap paper if you’re not confident how they’ll mix.
Lifting bokeh: with a finger wrapped in a baby wipe, lift soft dots of a variety of sizes and values out of the background. Keep them soft — and uneven in placement too.
Lifting masking fluid: remove the dry masking fluid with a rubber cement pickup. Be careful as the masking fluid will have powdered pigment on it and can get pushed into white areas.
Thinning out lines: if whiskers are too thick, you can try pencil to thin them out, or just use a damp brush to soften the value. Create a blob of pigment to “dip” the brush into if that helps.
Direct drawing final details: the last thing to check: are your darks the darkest things in the drawing? Add those pops of contrast before calling it done!

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Kitty needs a nap!

I think I need one, too. But isn’t she sweet? If she looks like your baby, she’s in my shop for sale – and 10% of the sale will be donated to ICAF for our fundraiser!

Unfettered Play: wet in wet watercolor (painting a vintage key)

Unfettered Play: wet in wet watercolor (painting a vintage key)

by | Jul 5, 2025 | Watercolor

Welcome to another post in which I actually follow the World Watercolor Prompt for the day: LOCK! Well, I follow lock if a key is automatically associated with a lock, of course. I do tend to streeeeetch the prompts just a little bit! 

Today’s project started out as something just for me, but as I was painting, I realized – some of YOU might like to paint this as well for YOUR studio. And learn a little something about watercolor painting along the way! So  it’s not only a YouTube speed tutorial for part of it, but I cooked up a little something for you to join in on. More on that after the video!

Tutorial: Wet in wet watercolor (painting a vintage key)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

SUPPLIES

Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art

Daniel Smith Watercolors

  1. New Gamboge BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS
  2. Yellow Ochre BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS
  3. Transparent Red Oxide BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS 
  4. French Ultramarine BLICK  AMZ JACKSONS 

Paper

  1. Arches Bright White CP 22×30 sheet BLICK   JACKSONS 

Brushes

  1. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 2 BLICK AMZ 
  2. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4 BLICK  AMZ  JACKSONS 

Wet in wet watercolor

One of the most fun moments for me in watercolor is watching paint flow — how one color moves into another, merging and blending, combining the effects of one color with those of its neighbor. It invents all sorts of new colors along the way – and creates a loose-looking watercolor painting, while in control within a specific area.

That’s why I decided on that technique for this piece – the wet areas would be within shapes, a key and some words, and the looseness is there while also the controlled detail within the drawing. Kind of the best of both worlds, right?

 

Unfettered plans vs play

According to Merriam Webster, the definition of “unfettered” is

Unfettered: not controlled or restricted : free, unrestrained

But didn’t I just say in this painting, the wet in wet techniques are within defined areas? Yes. But, dear reader, dear artist….I know you. I know that freeform unfettered wet in wet freaks people out. (Yes I am one of them!)

So one step towards truly unfettered – no outlines, no definition, just go wild – is getting free and unrestrained within an area we can control.

Did you know you can plan that section of a painting?

Sometimes it’ll be the dress of a person in a painting. Or the canopy of a tree. The rest of the painting can be in different techniques, but you can plan to specifically let colors get loose and blend into each other in one particular area without changing what’s happening elsewhere.

 

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Newbie painter phase

And when it comes to figuring out the plan for a painting, I know newer artists need a few guardrails around the wildness of watercolor! When I spoke with the painter that I mentioned in the video, he told me the stress he had over watercolor doing what it wanted. As I asked him more about his watercolor experience, I realized he quit watercolor before he’d even done it very long! So he never got out of the “newbie” phase of his work before jumping ship to another medium.

That’s not to say that someone who made the jump to oils from watercolor is doing something bad at all. Some people are built for oils – and his work is lovely! But it’s left him with a feeling that he can “only” paint in a controlled way, that he’s not a good enough artist to be able to watercolor. Even though he’s doing wonderful work, he carries the defeat he experienced when he gave up too soon.

So now it’s a class

As I worked on this piece I thought about my friend. He just needed someone to help him find some controlled ways to let go….and that there are a lot of artists like this out there!

I realized this piece could be a good step for newer painters in how to let watercolor do its thing while ALSO staying under control, I decided to only show part of this painting on YouTube, then walk through it much more slowly, in realtime, in a class. While you don’t need to take the class in order to paint wet in wet, it may well be just what the doctor ordered to help you get looser and to find the joy in wet-in-wet techniques. 

In the course you’ll see all the different ways wet in wet can be layered, tweaked, and even fixed! Because yes I am always doing little repairs! 

The class is also a “snack” course – I began those when I created a few on Artventure years ago, budget-priced courses with less content but really concentrated on one thing. You can see them all here – it’s a great way to be able to learn something new without busting the budget in your art studies!

Unfettered Play: Watercolor

Get a taste of wet in wet watercolor and create an art piece fit for framing in this Artventure “snack” course! Trace the provided art and learn how to control the aspects of watercolor that you can, and let the rest blend and mix right before your eyes.

See the course
My Creative Philosophy