How to Paint from a Black and White Photo

Watercolor Demo

This is a step-by-step demonstration from well-known watercolor artist and author Charles Reid based on an old photograph of a couple of men and a horse.  Reid says:  The advantages of painting from old black-and-white photos is that the images are simplified into dark and light values, with few or no halftone details. Halftones can be confusing when painting from life or color photos. Sometimes you'd like a bit more information than a black-and-white photo has to offer, but the advantage is that you also won't be confused by the detail in halftones.

This demo is an excerpt from Charles Reid's Watercolor Solutions: Learn to Solve the Most Common Painting Problems.

How to Create a Thrown-Paint Forest Landscape

Watercolor Demo

The "thrown-paint" watercolor technique is similar to the popular "poured-paint" technique because foliage created from thrown paint is unpredictable, messy and fun!.   In this demo, Claudia Nice shows you how to control the thrown paint while creating a forest landscape.

This demonstration is an excerpt from Creating Textured Landscapes with Pen, Ink and Watercolor by Claudia Nice and is the painting shown on the bookcover.

Floral Watercolor Demonstration by Birgit O'Connor

Watercolor demo

In this demo from Birgit O'Connor, instead of mixing color on the palette, you'll allow two pigments to blend directly on the paper. Both pigments can appear separate in intensity, but with a nice transitional blend into a third color. The white areas you leave, the amount of water you use, and the different values will give the washes a luminous appearance.

This demonstration is an excerpt from Birgit O'Connor's book,Watercolor in Motion.

Fixing Watercolor Blooms with Acrylics

Watercolor Tips

Did you know that you can apply acrylics to portions of your painting for various effects and make corrections that are impossible with watercolor?  You can work layer upon layer to form a painting without lifting the underlying layers.  In this tutorial, Mary Backer shows a couple examples of correcting problems in her watercolor paintings using acrylics.

This tutorial is an excerpt from the book, Watercolor in Bloom: Painting the Spring and Summer Garden, by Mary Backer,

How to Draw a Cat Portrait with Pastels

Pastel Pencil Demo

Colin Bradley shares this 10 step tutorial on how to draw a tabby cat using pastel pencils.  The artist's bio says "Pastel pencils... proved to be an ideal medium for producing the realism Colin sought... Colin concentrated on learning as much as he could about the pencils, creating his own techniques that were to be the foundation of the medium as it is known today."

How to Mask in Layers by Rose Edin

Watercolor Demo

Rose Edin often uses multiple layers of masking fluid to create her light-filled watercolor paintings. Masking fluid saves the whites to create the effect of glowing lights or to preserve the lines.  In this step by step demonstration, Edin shows you how to protect areas that have already been painted in order to paint multiple washes.  This is an excerpt from the bestselling book "Color Harmonies: Paint Watercolors Filled With Light" (Rose Edin and Dee Jepsen).

Tips for Painting Water and Reflections

Water Reflections

In this article, Lori McNee shares her tips for creating reflections in different bodies of water.  Painting water is a fairly complex subject.  The painting of oceans, rivers, lakes and ponds can be beautiful, but managing to get the water and reflections to look like actual water can be challenging.  Lori McNee is an internationally recognized professional artist who specializes in still life and landscape oil paintings.

How to Paint a Water Drop with Watercolor

There is a very simple technique you can use to add water drops to a painting. A realistic waterdrop creates a three-dimensional illusion and leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.  Get an idea of how this technique works by doing this simple exercise from Birgit O'Connor.

Birgit O'Connor teaches workshops in her studio in Bolinas, California and has published instructional books including Watercolor in Motion: How to Create Powerful Paintings, Step by Step and Watercolor Essentials: Techniques for Exploring, Painting and Having Fun, both available at Amazon.com.

Paint the Frostville Barnhouse

"Frostville Barnhouse"   11"x15" watercolor, Gregory Conley

Watch how things unfold as Gregory Conley paints a barnhouse at the Cleveland Metroparks Frostville Museum.  A step-by-step watercolor demonstration of an architectural subject.   Author writes: "My plan of attack was to simulate a late-evening light raking across the whole tableau coming in from the upper right."

Learn to test ideas before you commit them to paint

Before

In this watercolor tutorial, Trying ideas with tracing paper, avoid an 'Oh No!' with a little 'What if'?

Inspiration

"Chimayo Church" watercolor by Russell Black

Don't forget to check our "Inspiration" page for articles written by artists on topics such as: Being Creative, Working thru the Uglies and Challenging Yourself.

"The Saddle" demo by Roger Bansemer

In this acrylic demonstration, artist Roger Bansemer paints an old western saddle at a ranch in the mountains of Colorado.  This is a half-hour video from his television

"Shrimp Boat" demo by Roger Bansemer

In this acrylic demonstration, artist Roger Bansemer paints an old shrimp boat in the town of Tarpon Springs, Florida.  This is a half-hour video from his television program

Paint These Hibiscus Flowers in Watercolor

Watercolor Demo

Fabio Cembranelli demonstrates, step-by-step, the process he uses to create his loose and flowing flowers.  The Hibiscus are painted on 300 lb Arches watercolor paper which has been completely submerged in a container of water and stretched onto a wooden surface.  The artist writes:  Working with the wet Arches paper must be quick, because it dries quickly and removal of pigment to obtain luminosity is very difficult when paint dries completely.
Note: Website is in Portuguese.  Google Translate 

Step by Step Watercolor Floral Demo

Floral demo

Red and yellow roses with blue background create a striking composition in this watercolor by Fábio Cembranelli.    Cembranelli demonstrates, step-by-step, the process he uses to create his loose and flowing flowers.  The artist writes:   "The execution of the work itself took about 15 to 20 minutes. The speed of execution is not a rule, but for my work it is important as it generates a natural spontaneity in the final work."

Note: Website is in Portuguese.  Google Translate 

Winter Field Oil Painting Demonstration by Peter Fiore

In the following video, landscape artist Peter Fiore paints a study of a winter field from his Landscape a Day series.  A focused alla prima technique, developed during his long career as a commercial illustrator, has become his forte and allows him

How to Paint an Autumn Garden with Vivid Colors

Visitor in Garden  by Soon Warren

Paint this colorful garden scene following this step-by-step demo from watercolor artist Soon Warren.

As the seasons begin to change, enjoy the vivid, autumnal colors of this free watercolor exercise from Soon Warren.  This simple demonstration will teach you how to paint a beautiful Japanese garden using the brilliant colors of fall.   This is an excerpt from Warren's book Painting Vibrant Watercolors.

Artistic Humor

Find more jokes on our Art Humor page.

How to Paint Bird Feathers in Acrylic

Free demonstration on how to paint song bird feathers in acrylic from artist and author Rod Lawrence.  Lawrence paints a white-throated sparrow's feathers using several thin coats of paint to build on an opaque base.  This is an excerpt from his book "Painting Wildlife Step by Step".

How to Paint a Portrait in Watercolor

In the following video, Sheldon Borenstein walks you through step by step on how to use watercolor to paint a face.

How to Draw a Building in Perspective

Using 2-point perspective, learn how to draw a house, including roof with overhanging eaves, with this tutorial from artist and author William Powell.   This lesson is an excerpt from his book "Perspective".

How to Cut a Mat

Learn how to measure and cut a mat using a Logan Mat Cutter and how to put your artwork, mat and frame together.

Floral Demo by Fábio Cembranelli

Floral watercolor demonstration by the Brazilian watercolorist Fábio Cembranelli.

Wild Daisies Demo by Vinita Pappas

In this floral watercolor painting demo video, Vinita Pappas paints some wild daisies using a negative painting technique. The method involves painting the background around the white areas of the flowers.

The size of the paper is 5.5″Wx15″H. This is a quarter sheet that has been torn in half lengthwise to make a tall narrow piece, which is a nice format for the tall daisies.

Painting Shadows by Jackie Simmonds

"The Curved Garden Path" ~ Jackie Simmonds

There is much more to a shadow than simple absence of light. It is not just a grey shape. Shadows are often full of color, and shadows give the artist an opportunity to add drama and interest to a painting in a variety of ways.  Read this article about the function of shadows in a painting from pastel artist Jackie Simmonds.

Acrylic Demonstration by Charles Harrington

Step by step demonstration

Charles Harrington, author of  "Acrylics: The Watercolor Alternative", writes that:  "Acrylics offer most of the positive attributes that watercolor painters admire and enjoy, while outperforming watercolor in a number of important areas."  This demonstration will focus on three of these areas: glazing, masking and merging of transparent, translucent, and opaque passages within the same painting.

Harrington uses a limited palette of Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, and Titanium White.   Painting surface will be a full sheet of Arches 300#, CP watercolor paper.

Ultimate Speed Painting -- Two Oils in 6 Minutes!

Not exactly a 'how to' demo, just fun to watch!   Then again, it's a good lesson in economy of brush stroke!  Watch this ultimate speed painting demo by artist Mark Forti as he paints two oil paintings in six minutes of sped-up film! In actual time, the paintings took a total of about 40 hours.

"Billie the Kid" by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of baby goat by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA. Baer writes: "Who can resist a cute baby goat? Doing these paintings have taken me back to when I was a kid... schlepping around in the barnyard and hanging out with the different animals. In this original pastel painting I wanted to capture the mischievous personality that every goat "kid" playfully displays."

Palomino Gypsy by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of Palomino horse by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA from her Gypsy Vanner series. Baer writes: "This is the first time I have painted a Palomino and it was a lot of fun. I especially liked the challenge of applying the multiple layers to achieve the hair and the softness in the eyes."

"Gypsy Vanner" by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of horse's eye by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA from her Gypsy Vanner series. Baer writes: "In this painting, I wanted to show that when the sun hits just right, you can look into the eye and see the rich, rusty color while at the same time you are able to see the spherical shape from the contour of the highlights."

How to Paint a Glass by Alexei Antonov

How to paint realistic glass in oils by Alexei Antonov.  The artist writes:  "Glass is one of the textures which does not require layering and shouldn't be started from the white prime. And a smart way to do that is to paint right on top of the finished, well dried background.   Glass, I think, is supposed to be painted with as less layers as possible.  The most important thing is to catch reflections and translucency at the same time."

Pink Rose by "Ant"

Realist rose demonstration by Alexei Antonov ("Ant") painted in a classic Flemish painting technique.   Multiple layers of transparent paint are used to create color depth.  A very lenthy process with oils, requiring lots of drying time.  First the imprimatura, then the values, then the color.   Artist says: "...you make the next layer not to correct mistakes in the previous layer, but you make the previous layer to facilitate work in the next layer"

Foothills Snow, Pastel by Maggie Price

Step by step demo by pastel artist and author Maggie Price. Maggie writes: "The subject of this painting is in the foothills of the Sandias, across the valley and up a winding road from where we live. I like the interplay of the high desert foliage against the snow, and in this scene I particularly liked the arroyo, where the snow had already melted and the darker value of the dirt provided a nice warm contrast to the light snow colors. Most of all, my eye was caught by the shadow, which is a major focal point for the painting."

How to Mat a Watercolor Painting

Step by step instructions from Susie Short Studio for matting your watercolor paintings!

Painting Flowers Step by Step: Pansy Power

Little Pansy, 10x15 watercolor by Birgit O'Connor

Watercolor artist Birgit O'Connor demonstrates painting a close-up view of a pansy.   She writes: "When painting small flowers like pansies, it’s often hard to recognize a good composition from a poor one. The immediate response is usually to clump the small flowers together and make a bouquet. I recommend, instead, treating the pansy as you would any other flower: Focus on shape, shadow and color—the elements that can transform these small wonders into a bold composition."

Birgit O'Connor teaches workshops in her studio in Bolinas, California and has published instructional books including Watercolor in Motion: How to Create Powerful Paintings, Step by Step and Watercolor Essentials: Techniques for Exploring, Painting and Having Fun, both available at Amazon.com.