Latest Posts
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What is the Rule of Thirds?
I’d heard Photography People say “rule of thirds” long before I learned what it actually was, and it always sounded so mysterious. A secret rule that photographers use to make Art instead of Snapshots! I avoided learning about it, because I hate rules, but when I did, I actually found it very useful and now…
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Should I be doing watercolor tutorials or original artwork?
Whatever I’m doing, I tend to believe I ought to be doing something else. (I think this is what they call “anxiety.”) That applies to life in general, and specifically to art. If I’m doing a tutorial? “Oh, well, it’s not my idea, and someone else showed me how to do it. To be a…
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Color Spotlight: Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (PY110)
Orange-yellows made from PY110 have many possible names, including Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (Holbein, shown) and Permanent Yellow Deep (Daniel Smith). For this post I originally went with the Schmincke name, Yellow Orange, because it’s simple, descriptive, and easy to spell; but I switched to the complicated Holbein name because it is the most unique and…
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Nature Notebook: Pine
Pine is the classic conifer, and where I live, the mighty towering Easter White Pine is king!
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What’s the best blue watercolor for the sky?
It happens to be a day with a beautiful blue sky as I write this today, so I can compare my blue paints to the sky in to real life. Which one will win??
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Color Spotlight: Prussian Blue (PB27)
Prussian Blue (PB27) is a dark blue with a cyan tone. On a scale of Moody Emo Teen (Indanthrone Blue) to Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Phthalo Blue Green Shade), I would put Prussian Blue somewhere in the middle.
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Nature Notebook: Elm
Welcome to a new feature here on the blog! In an effort to learn how to paint trees, as well as to learn more about them, I’m going to do a series of tree profiles, where I attempt to paint a tree, and provide fun facts and identification tips about that family of tree. I…
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Winsor & Newton Dot Cards!
I got more dot cards! I’m dotty for dot cards! Overall Brand Impressions: This is the smallest of the dot card catalogs I’ve tried so far, 109 colors to Daniel Smith’s 238 and Schmincke’s 140. Still, I didn’t swatch them all out because I was running out of room in my color sketchbook, so I…
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Loved & Learned: Kolbie Blume’s Wilderness Watercolor Landscapes, Chapter 1: Skies
After completing Kolbie Blume’s 10 Day #PaintingtheWilderness Challenge, I loved her easy yet magical tutorials so much that I immediately bought her book, Wilderness Watercolor Landscapes. If you enjoyed the challenge and want more tutorials, the book delivers! I’m going to continue the “loved and learned” process from the 10-day challenge for my paintings from…
