Blog
Follow along as I share my newest works of art, tips and techniques and relate my experiences in the world of watercolor.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Happy Mother’s Day! This one goes out to all you artist moms struggling to balance your home and kids with your artist career. You can do it!
read moreMeet Baby Katia!
Here she is, my excuse for being so out of everything for almost half a year. She was born on April 3d, weighing 8lb 3.9oz and 20 inches tall. She’s a healthy and mostly well-behaved baby (minus last week, when my mother-in-law was visiting. Looks like my kids just automatically become hyper when grandparents are around!) My son had a pretty tough time the first two weeks but seems to be recovering from the shock. He likes to hug and kiss the baby and always runs to the rescue when she’s crying (he even says, “Al...
read moreAdelaide and Gianna – double portrait
Here is another one of my Christmas commissions, two beautiful little girls who are cousins and live on the opposite sides of the U.S. I painted this in record time – less than a week. As it often happens with my group portraits, it is a composite of several reference images. I enjoyed working in a looser, more “impressionistic” manner, which is also part of the reason why I could finish the portrait in such a short time. The multiple-glaze smooth and “realistic” look requires that the bottom layer is bone dry...
read moreNew Web Design Coming!
Just an announcement – I will be changing the look of my website over the next week or so. Please do not be alarmed if it looks horrible Please bear with me as I make these changes. Thanks!
read moreWedding portrait in watercolor
Wedding portraits? Yes, I can say now I’ve done that, too . And with the Valentine’s day impending and all, I thought I’d share a recent wedding portrait I did for a wonderful new collector. This is one of my smallest portraits ever (rivaled only by the Icelandic Lady) and it gave me the opportunity to work with some brushes I normally never use – like #3 and 4 red sables. It also involved quite a bit of imagination, since this couple did not have high quality wedding photos, and development of a few ideas before we...
read moreHow to Make Watercolor Batik on Rice Paper Step-by-Step Demo
Watercolor batik is a painting technique that has been floating around for a while. I have painted on fabric before (not batik method strictly speaking), I knew the theory (basically, you use wax/paraffin in place of masking liquid and rice paper in place of regular watercolor paper) and I kept seeing paintings done in this technique here and there. Finally, months after bookmarking a demo by Kathie George on Artists Network, I decided to give it a try. Materials and gear: Watercolor paints, obviously Some kind of oriental/rice paper. I used...
read moreCamilito – Sleeping Baby Portrait in Watercolor
Pre-Christmas time was very busy for me last year, mostly due to several portrait commissions. One of them was this sleeping baby boy. The unusual thing about this painting is how small it is – 6×6 inches. I don’t even typically offer portraits this small. However, it was requested by a loyal collector and I decided to give it a try. It turned out fairly easy to work on (not too much fiddling with tiny brushes) and looked good when finished. (If you are interested in a custom painting, go here.) I am still sort of recuperating...
read moreMore art from my watercolor painting students
As I promised, here are a couple of paintings by my adult watercolor painting students. Same setup with sunflowers on purple backdrop as the class demo I posted earlier. The color is probably quite a bit off in these shots – I didn’t have the originals to compare to when I was editing the photos – but it should give you an idea of how talented these women really are. Pam (above) has never painted before but has an exceptional gift for bold and exciting color. The various purples and oranges in this painting were all mixed...
read moreEn Plein Air Pro Portable Watercolor Easel Review
I have been using En Plein Air Pro Watercolor Easel for half a year now. I still love it almost as much as I did on the day it arrived but I have a bit more perspective on its advantages, disadvantages and uses. So here we go: Pros: Very lightweight (the easel proper, not counting tripod and shelf, is 1lb. 5oz) Extremely quick and easy to set up Fits onto any tripod via a standard tripod mount Thanks to that, you can manipulate the angle of the board any way you like You can buy the whole package with the easel, tripod, palette shelf, and...
read moreHappy Holidays!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from me and my growing belly family! In 2012, I wish you inspiration, motivation, and success! And lots and lots of amazing art that you had no idea you were capable of making
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