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 anyRead more ⟶
Tag: kuretake
Christmas Stockings and the Mouse Family
Today I’m painting three warm and cosy Christmas stockings perfect for hanging in front of a roaring log fire on Christmas Eve. Santa has already been and filled the stockings to bursting, but now the local Mouse Family has arrived and is checking out the contents! For this painting I used a sheet of EtchrRead more ⟶
Baby Birds and Baubles
Today I decided to start the morning session in the studio with a loose warm-up exploring my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints, before going on to the main painting of the day. So using my medium sized Isabey quill brush I simply picked up color at random from the set and made circles on a pieceRead more ⟶
Two Quick and Easy Christmas Cards
Today we’re painting two easy and quick Christmas designs to use as greetings cards, or to adapt for place cards or any other seasonal stationery. First, a bright and cheerful seasonal message with a simple design of five baubles, decorated with a snowflake pattern done in gel pen. You can get the sketch for thisRead more ⟶
Autumn Flavored Leaves and Berries with Gold
Today I’m using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints to create a colorful whimsical leaf design to help you practice your watercolor skills. Using a multilayered, mixed media method to develop the rich tones of the Kuretake paint with gold accents, you’ll be thrilled with your results and want to do more! My Materials I decidedRead more ⟶
Foxes and Friends
Here’s a whimsical little landscape to celebrate autumn or fall depending on where you live! Also it’s the time of year when druids and pagans celebrate Samhain, as the old year draws to a close and the new year begins for them. Please download the sketch of this painting for your personal use – justRead more ⟶
Beautiful Florals Every Time
Today we’re painting a simple floral bouquet or spray, ideal for beginners and improvers. You can adapt the colors to suit any season, but this one is late summer roses and some imaginary flowers as it’s always good to let the imagination run free. I picked out four colors from my set of Kuretake, andRead more ⟶
Oak Leaf Fall Greetings Card
The leaves are starting to change color and fall now that autumn is here. So how about this pretty mixed media design to use for your autumn greetings cards? You can download the sketch to help you with the painting right here. Materials I recently received a pack of Etchr greetings cards with matching envelopesRead more ⟶
Find Your Inner Child with Whimsical Birds
Loose watercolor for recovery and relaxation I was sitting listening to the birds singing in our garden yesterday and realised for the millionth time how beautiful their voices are! So here’s a hommage to the birds as we go into the hard season for them, to thank them for the joy they bring us everyRead more ⟶
Flowers and Birds with Gold Accents
Today I’m using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints to create a richly detailed and stylishly colorful whimsical leaf design to help you practice your watercolor skills. Using a relaxed and enjoyable method to embellish the rich tones of the Kuretake paint with gold accents, you’ll be thrilled with your results and want to do more!Read more ⟶
Whimsical Houses on a Hill
This easy landscape solves all the problems that landscape paintings usually bring. With this style you don’t need to worry about realism, or perspective, or color mixing, or living up to anyone’s expectations or standards. You just paint from the imagination and from the heart. We already did a couple of 2D landscapes to introduceRead more ⟶
Leaves and Berries with Gold Accents
Today I’m using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints to create a richly detailed and stylishly colorful whimsical leaf design to help you practice your watercolor skills. Using a relaxed and enjoyable method to embellish the rich tones of the Kuretake paint with gold accents, you’ll be thrilled with your results and want to do more!Read more ⟶
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Paints – How Good Are They? 
Road test them with me and find out! I’m a bit of a traditionalist. Nowadays many people would call me a dinosaur. I actually heard that term used of anyone who believed in the difference between black and white the other day and admit to being somewhat miffed. However, I cast my traditional, dinosauric attitudesRead more ⟶
Paint Easy House Plants Fast and Free
Usually when I paint flowers or plants I do just that. Then, I have to decide what to put my creation in! The pot or vase are only too often left to a last minute sketchy thing which does nothing for the whole composition, or, even worse, left out entirely! Today though I am turningRead more ⟶
Pretty Floral Four Ways
There are days when you want to do something a bit different. Maybe your watercolors aren’t calling to you as loudly as usual, or you just want something quick and easy to do in a ten minute break. Here’s a design I did in four different ways and you can see how if you watchRead more ⟶
Relaxing Golden Doodle Circles
When we get a new set of paints, one of the first things we want to do is try them all out. It’s become quite the “thing” to “swatch out” your new box of paints in squares or rectangles to give you a record of what the colors look like, full strength and watered down.Read more ⟶
Watercolor Summer Flowers
We all love flowers, and what is more delightful than to paint a bouquet of summer blooms? Here is a simple, loose, easy summer painting for you to enjoy. Flowers look their very best when they are painted loosely and with expression, and they are most forgiving, allowing you to freely redesign their leaves andRead more ⟶
The Village Walk
Landscapes are daunting. No doubt about it, with all that perspective and the arrangement of the features you want to include. Then there’s scale, and tonal values, and proportions, and and and…. But there is an answer. Why not try my two-dimensional fun landscape of your village or townscape? For this painting I used aRead more ⟶