Category Archives: Art Tips

Watercolor process demo

Posted on May 26, 2020 by

Check out my painting demonstration on YouTube! I recorded myself working at home, and media consultant Devin Walker (my son) gave me technical advice and edited the video into its final form. As I’m painting I describe the process of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Tips

West Des Moines workshop

Posted on August 21, 2019 by

My watercolor workshop at Artisan Gallery 218 focused on the figures that bring a painting to life. We painted flowers as a warmup, plenty of little chickens to practice with colors, and animated figures the rest of the time. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Tips, Studio Snapshots

Spring showers

Posted on April 8, 2019 by

Quality watercolor paper is made from cotton, and cotton shrinks. If it does that while you’re working on a painting, the paper will ripple and the paint will go into puddles and change the image. To keep that from happening, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Tips

Las Golondrinas

Posted on October 29, 2015 by

During my stay in Santa Fe for Charles Reid’s workshop we visited and painted at El Rancho de las Golondrinas (“The Ranch of the Swallows”), a historic ranch dating from the early 1700s. It’s now a living history museum “dedicated … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Tips, Studio Snapshots, Travelogue

Watercolor Tape Technique-Tape Resist

Posted on July 14, 2010 by

Stetch out your picture. Place tape (masking tape works well) on the areas that you wish to remain white. We did that on the roofs of the barn. We have overlapped many of the shapes (about 3 out of 4 … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Tips

Another Watercolor Lesson

Posted on July 6, 2010 by

jo’s class is running it all together as one interesting, flowing shape

Posted in Art Tips