Let’s paint another abstract in soft muted rose pink and apricot, with contrasts of chocolate and ginger leaves to create a warm, relaxing vibe. Easy as pie especially if you have watched the introduction to abstract art video here https://youtu.be/5mE-Ln9v5Mw as this project builds on what you learnt in the first one. Materials paper Fabriano Artistico…
Category: Blog
Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit
Happy Chinese New Year! 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in Chinese culture and I decided to paint a rabbit in honour of the new year. Keeping it really simple I outlined a rabbit in Chinese style, and painted it in a traditional shade of red. Red is considered to be good luck in…
Easy Abstract Winter Mood
I felt it was time to dig out my dip pen and some ink and have a scratch into an abstract background, so that’s what I’m doing in this quick study. I picked a piece of paper from my stash more or less at random. It’s a piece of Saunders Waterford paper, 100% cotton, but…
A Page of Hearts
How to Paint Loose Watercolor Hearts – More Fun with your Paintbrush for Beginners and Relaxation Here’s a fun and relaxing way to paint a page of hanging hearts using whatever paints you have on hand and a spare half-hour of time. You can adapt this design to create your own Valentine’s cards, or use…
Easy Winter Landscape
Easy Winter Watercolor Landscape for Beginners – PLUS How to Paint Snowy Trees and more Here’s a fun and easy Winter Watercolor Landscape for Beginners and Improvers full of simple but effective techniques for achieving a great painting. You can find the sketch for this painting here free to download. In this video I show you…
Beginners Start Here!
Learn to paint watercolor the fun and easy way In this video I show you how to choose a colorscheme from your Kuretake paint sets, plus ways to use a brush, different types of brushes, water control and much more. Plus you are going to create a super attractive abstract piece of art that will…
Paint a Cute Whimsical Turtle
Playing around with a box of paints and a white gel pen often leads to an idea for a painting, and that was the case with this pretty, blue turtle which I have for you in today’s video. Watch as I guide you through the process of choosing harmonious colour schemes, and then painting and…
Mr & Mrs Snowman and some Baubles
Inspired by the paintings I did of the little tree angels I’ve had for half a century, when Mr and Mrs Snowman came out to play on top of the Christmas cake this year I couldn’t resist borrowing them for a few minutes to paint their portraits too! The sketch for our snowpeople is available…
A Partridge in a Pear Tree
Here’s a traditional version of a contented partridge nestling in a pear tree just in time for Christmas! The sketch for this painting is available free to download here and full instructions are on the video which you can watch by clicking below: Materials Here are the materials I used to create this painting. Paints…
Easy Last-Minute Christmas Cards
Squeezing in painting time is often a challenge no matter how much you want to do it, and lengthy projects often fall by the wayside this time of year. I know – happens to me too! So here are some quickies that you can do in just a few minutes, with the minimum of materials…
Whimsical Angels
Every year I hang three little wooden angels on the tree for Christmas. These little angels have been with me through thick and thin and have lived on three continents with me. Somehow they have managed to stick around despite all the upheaval in my life. This year I decided to use them as models…
Winter Watercolor Bouquet
Here’s a little idea for a sweet gift for a friend or relative who loves flowers and art. Ideal for beginners, as this style of watercolor requires no experience and no expertise whatever to achieve a light, modern look sure to please. You’ll be amazed when you pop your creation in a simple frame and…
Use a Candle to Paint a Landscape
Here’s the easiest way I know of painting a birch tree landscape in winter. Use a piece of ordinary household candle and easily create a resist so that the watercolor paints give the effect of the tree bark. Let’s have a go! Materials And as usual there’s a free traceable sketch download available here on…
Starry Sky Bookmarks
I’d squeezed out a lot of indigo for the previous painting I’d done, and rather than let it dry and possibly go to waste, I decided to use it on a project I’d been back-burnering for a long time – some starry sky bookmarks. Maybe it was because I’d just watched “Don’t Look Up!” and…
Let’s go skiing with Rabbit and Hedgehog
Inspired by an article in my favorite art magazine I decided to paint a snowy landscape with a cute whimsical rabbit and hedgehog skiing across the paper, with a background a snow covered pine trees. The video includes instructions for how to paint a wintry sky, and how to make an effective skyline of trees…
Watercolor Flowers for your Journal
Earlier this year I discovered the art of journalling. As a former daily diary writer, I found myself attracted to the concept of creating a journal from scratch, incorporating all sorts of mementos and memories along the way. So much more satisfying than pages of longhand script I never re-read, my journal became a reflection…
Ten Minute Snowy Christmas Cards
Squeezing in painting time is often a challenge no matter how much you want to do it, and lengthy projects often fall by the wayside. I know – it happens to me too! So here are some quickies that you can do in just a few minutes, with the minimum of materials and hardly any…
Red Cardinal on Snowy Holly
Everyone loves the Red Cardinal, the brightest spot in the winter in many cold climes. Nothing says Christmas louder than a flock of cardinals feeding in the garden. So for the Christmas seasonal change in decor, I painted a single cardinal on a branch of holly. Materials Paper The paper I chose was a 140lb…