Bokeh Made Easy – Create Stunning Backgrounds for Birds

On trend at the moment, Bokeh is a fascinating technique for making effective backgrounds for all sorts of subjects. Once you’ve given it a try chances are you’ll be addicted to it, and will find yourself adding Bokeh to just about everything you paint! “Bokeh” is a Japanese word which means “out of focus” or…

Easy Whimsical Watercolor Birds and Hedgehog Tutorial

Looking out the studio window at my bird table gave me the idea to paint this tutorial. You can put any birds on the painting, blue tits and robins would be great for a European setting, and chickadees or cardinals suit the North American natural world very well. If you need help painting those other…

Barn Owl and Snowy Winter Scene

Here’s a a little landscape that will delight you if you are a fan of snowy winter landscapes! I decided to paint a barn owl floating over the snow in the half light, with a log cabin snug and warm among the snow covered fir trees. It would make a nice Christmas card or gift….

A Candle in the Window Watercolor for Christmas

Our YouTube channel is approaching its first birthday and we are hoping that this November we will attain the lofty heights of 20,000 subscribers – a marathon effort when you consider that this time last year we had just achieved 200 subs and thought we had hit the big-time! A few months later we were…

Comparing Arches and Viviva Watercolor Paper

In this video I am comparing a piece of Arches and Viviva 140lb watercolor paper. Using a demanding technique of thick, intense paint and heavy scratching out I wanted to put the paper through its paces. I decided to do a quick little wintry sketch today using one color and several tools, so I settled…

How to Paint a Thanksgiving Cornucopia or Horn of Plenty

Here is a quick cornucopia or horn of plenty painting tutorial, which would be useful for invitations, gift tags or cards. I did it in a pen and wash style. I also demonstrate in this video a technique for drawing the horn in which might be helpful when you draw yours.