Latest Posts
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Brand Overview: Sennelier
Sennelier is a French brand of professional art supplies established in 1887 in Paris. The brand has been offering watercolors since 1893. Their paints are still produced in France with traditional methods. Their watercolors use a binder of gum arabic and honey, meant to give brilliance and smoothness to the paint and making them easy…
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Why are my watercolor paintings so pale?
I love watercolor paintings with juicy, brilliant color, but this can be difficult to achieve. One of the most common recurring problems in my paintings is pale color. (Sometimes I correct this in post so you don’t see it unless you see my disappointing paintings in person.) Let’s go over the reasons I’ve discovered why…
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The guilt of not doing art
Whenever I go through a longer-than-normal art slump, I have Feelings about it. Some of these feelings seem straightforward to me. I miss painting! But one of the most curious feelings is guilt. Why should I feel guilty about not doing something that I really only do to bring myself enjoyment? “Not doing enough art”…
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Tabling!
I was lucky enough to have a friend ask me if I wanted to table at a queer pride art event last night! It’s rare and exciting when an opportunity falls into your lap like that. I am usually far too lazy to look for craft fairs and artists’ alleys, so I don’t have much…
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Artist Palette Profiles: Marie Boudon
Marie Boudon is watercolor artist from Lyon, France, who created the popular French language Youtube channel Les tribulations de Marie. She has written several books; her general watercolor book, Paysages à l’aquarelle, is currently only available in French, while some topic-based books have been translated into English, such as J’ose créer (Dare to Create), Fleurs…
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Nobody has to see it.
Fear of messing up is a major roadblock for beginners getting started, and for folks of every level starting a new piece. This is especially true of artists with a history of perfectionism. What if I’m bad at it? What if I make a mess? What if I waste my supplies? In theory, I’ve learned…
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Brand Overview: M. Graham & Co.
Founded 25 years ago by two fine arts graduates, M. Graham & Co is based in Oregon, USA and focuses on producing hand-crafted, small batch watercolors with a northwest blackberry honey and gum arabic binder. According to their web site, honey was selected for its ability to create “stronger, truer color” and “even, fluid washes.”…
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Color Bridges: Making Color Sing, Chapter 15
I’m working my way through Jeanne Dobie’s Making Color Sing. Last time, we finally finished the five-chapter run on glazing. Now, we introduce a new concept: color bridges. Color bridges are soft transitions from one section of the painting to another by dropping some of the color from section A into the color for section…
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Art with a Latex Allergy
I have recently developed a latex allergy, which has been destabilizing in many ways! Latex, aka natural rubber, is in so many household objects, and it’s often not disclosed or labeled. The standard advice is to “ask the manufacturer,” but I have found that many manufacturers, or at least the representatives I am able to…
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Brand Overview: Da Vinci Paint Company
Da Vinci Paint Company is an American professional paint brand founded in 1975 (not to be confused with the German paintbrush maker also called Da Vinci: they are unrelated.) A family-run, small-batch company, they make watercolor, gouache, and oil paints in their mill in Orange County in southern California. At this time, they offer 127…
