Watercolor Web

I very often hear admonitions about the importance of value in painting. What I hear less frequently, except for advice that preliminary value sketches are helpful, is practical advice on how to go about choosing values. Although I don’t have a specific formula for deciding on values, I have […]

I had noticed for several months ago that the light and shadow on an object can change very suddenly and dramatically. This phenomenon was especially noticeable around 1:30 in the afternoon. I figured that the sun must shift from the east side of the sky to the west side of the sky […]

Some days the paintings work, and some days they don’t. Yesterday’s was a real stinker, and I’m trying to figure out why. (Maybe I’ll post a picture of it later.) The scene was a group of backlit trees and a tombstone painted late in the afternoon. The foreground was in […]

I was very happy with the latest lion that I painted last Thursday.

The ninety-plus degree heat and a code red smog alert made the working conditions less than pleasant. The actual sky was light and hazy; I darkened it considerably after I got home.
This lion was a rework of another […]

I did another watercolor outside this morning. Although I wasn’t entirely happy with the results, I did manage to take pictures after each wash. Here’s what I did:
Step 1: Working out a Battle Plan
The subject was a white statue in shadow. The challenge was to get the statue dark enough to read as […]

* Keep your equipment and materials simple. Mobility is important, and you don’t want to have to spend 20 minutes getting everything set up. My plein air kit consists of:
– 12 whole pans in a metal box
– 1 1/2″ flat brush
– Round kolinsky sable travel brushes: #6,#8,#10,#12.
– Small, flat nylon brush for loosening paint.
– […]