How to use Colored Pencils and the Color Wheel

Colored Pencil Demo

Jacqueline Pettie is a budding colored pencil artist. The style of this young artist is a mix of realism and out of this world colors.  While she progresses in the art world, she also inspires others by creating lessons free of charge online.  In this video, Jacqueline

Learn how to paint cloud shadows

Cloud Painting Demo

Join professional wildlife and landscape artist Wilson Bickford for an exciting free video art lesson demonstrating how to add realistic shadows to clouds using a wet-in-wet technique!

Oil Painting Lesson from Andre Grobler

Oil Painting Demo

Renowned artist Andre Grobler shares a step by step oil painting lesson.  In this video he paints a southern landscape using large brushes!  Follow along and learn how to paint these Bluegum trees like a Master.

Kitchen Art - Paint This Cheeseburger!

Burger painted with water-mixable oils!

Let's have some fun with this one! Follow along in this delicious free art lesson with Chuck McLachlan as he paints a juicy cheeseburger that's sure to whet your appetite!  Watch as Chuck uses water-soluble oils to achieve the brilliant colors for the lettuce, tomato, and cheese to pull together this chargrilled masterpiece!  This is a fun project

Paint This Street Scene with Fiona Peart

Watercolor Demo

Two-part video demonstration by professional artist Fiona Peart.  Fiona paints a bustling street scene using watercolor washes.  Follow along as she shows you how to use just three colors to lay down the background wash, creating both a shadowed and

Paint an Old Stone Barn with Geoff Kersey

Watercolor Demo

In the following 3-part video demo, professional artist Geoff Kersey paints a beautiful watercolour of an old rustic barn in Ashford-in-the-Water in Derbyshires Peak District (England).

Follow Geoff step-by-step as he paints this rural scene of an old stone building

Knife Painting Demo, Boats

"Fall Colors" by Leslie Saeta

In the following video, palette knife arist Leslie Saeta demonstrates palette knife techniques for a 40" x 50" oil painting of colorful boats in the harbor.

Painting Demonstration: 1931 Cord

"1931 Cord" by Roger Bansemer

This acrylic painting was done while at the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn Indiana for Roger Bansemer's PBS television show, Painting and Travel.  Roger's demonstration deals with shape, form, reflection, and color.  Also features a tour of the museum and its many automobiles.  

How to create a bright sunlit area

An observation on color when painting by Roger Bansemer.  How to create an area of brilliant sunlight using color rather than tinting with white.

How to Paint a Straight Line

You can purchase a "bridge" from your favorite art supply store to assist you in painting a straight line or you can try one of these tips from Roger Bansemer.

Step-by-step Acrylic Landscape Demo from Tim Gagnon

"I See Me in A Tree" 18x36 acrylic ~ Tim Gagnon

Learn to paint the Tim Gagnon way.   In this hour long video, Tim shows how to paint this acrylic landscape from start to finish.

Art Quotes

Talent is not essential to be a good artist. Talent is the ability to spot what looks right or wrong in a painting. Knowledge is knowing how to correct what doesn't look right." ~ Johannes Vloothuis, artist & instructor

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”~ Henry Van Dyke, poet

.....more artistic wisdom on our Art Quotes page!

Day Lilies Oil Painting Demo

Oil Painting Demo

Oil paint time lapse demo from realist artist Lisa Gloria. Still life floral painting featuring 4 realistic lilies condensed from 14 hours over 3 sessions.

Bill Alexander Demonstrates "Fall River"

Oil Painting Demonstration

Bill Alexander is the original "happy painter" and television celebrity.  In the following 3-part  video from his Magic of Oil Painting television show, Bill demonstrates the

Oil Painting tip: opaque vs. transparent paints

This video tip of the week is by artist Daniel Edmondson and addresses one big misunderstood concept in painting that of when to use opaque paint and when to use

Elephant by Hazel Soan

Watercolor demo

This clip from Hazel Soan's new DVD "The Essence of Watercolour" shows a watercolour speed painting of an Elephant. Hazel uses just three colours and a few well placed brush strokes to bring the animal to life.  An inspiring demonstration of painting free and loose!

Watercolor Tutorial from Tiffanny Varga

watercolor demo

This watercolor tutorial is a 2-part video demo from Tiffanny Varga, who has a whimsical, illustrative style.  Tiffanny shares a lot of great tips for shading, color perspective and correcting errors.

Time Lapse Watercolor Painting by Tiffanny Varga

"Heidi" ~ Watercolor speed-painting by Tiffanny Varga

This video may not a step-by-step tutorial like many others in my blog, but it is a pleasure to watch this wonderful, whimsical art come to life!

Watercolor artist Tiffanny Varga writes: "I did this painting to try to win the Tomie

Bill Alexander Demonstrates Painting a Seascape

Oil Painting Demonstration

Bill Alexander is the original "happy painter" and television celebrity.  In the following 3-part  video from his Magic of Oil Painting television show, Bill demonstrates the painting of a seascape using his wet-on-wet technique.

How to Paint a White Barn

Watercolor demo

Follow along with artist Chuck McLachlan as he demonstrates how to paint a white barn on a spring day using watercolors in this informative free art lesson! Using Lukas 1862 Watercolors, Chuck will build layers of color to create the scene right in front of your eyes, and tell you a story along the way!  This video is a great learning experience for artists of all ages!

Watercolor for Beginners | Rosebud Demo

Watercolor Demo

In the following series of 5 videos, Nancy Couick demonstrates painting a rosebud with detailed instructions for the beginning watercolorist!  Couick says:  "The beauty of watercolors is that it's transparent. The light goes through your paint, reflects off the surface of the paper and gives this gorgeous translucent glow unlike any other medium.... there are a lot of techniques to learn and you need to learn the rules before you know how to break them..... it is difficult to paint loosely in watercolors when you first start."  but she goes through all the steps to help you get started with this simple rosebud.

How to Paint Apples in a Basket

Watercolor demo

This watercolor demonstration by Henry W. Dixon includes instructions for using computer to scan a photo and enlarge it to transfer a drawing.   Dixon explains how to section an image into separate files for printing on standard paper sizes.  A useful tip for printing out any large drawing or photo.

Part 2 of this article is step-by-step instructions for painting the above watercolor "Apples in a Barrel".  This demonstrations is an excerpt from the book Paint Amazing Watercolors from Photographs by Henry Dixon.

Hints and Tips for Painting Skies

Painting clouds with acrylics

In this article by artist Rosemary Hale, she offers many tips and hints for painting skies and realistic clouds using acrylic paints.   Hale writes:  "... a sky’s mood and atmosphere will influence the colours and tones of the landscape below, and this should be taken into account when planning a picture......It is important to give a sky the vaporous, atmospheric character that clouds possess and it is the edge of a cloud that most puts this across. An unbroken hard edge against the sky colour will look like a cartoon, whereas a soft edged cloud immediately becomes more vaporous and believable."

How to Stretch Watercolor Paper

Unless you're using heavy weight paper, most watercolor paper tends to buckle as you add watercolor washes to it.   To prevent this, many people prefer to stretch the paper in advance.   Properly stretched paper will lie flat as you paint on it.

In this video demo from Bob Davies, he shows us how to use traditional materials to stretch watercolor paper (backing board, brown tape & pins) plus a brief explanation of commercial paper stretchers.