How to Start Urban Sketching
Read about where you can go, what to look for, and the tools to bring with you so you can start urban sketching today.
How-To …
Color recipes for watercolors and more
Color Recipes for Watercolors Helping you finalize color schemes, hold on to favorite mixes, and create consistent iterations When painting with watercolors, you’re mixing one or more colors with water. That can happen spontaneously or in a very calculated way depending on your goals. Color recipes can help with both methods. What is a color […]
Primary Colors Watercolor Exercise
The goal of this exercise is to help you get comfortable with primary colors; red, yellow, and blue. Primary colors are colors that cannot be mixed using any other color. Understand their biases and learn to control them with this fun exercise. This Primary colors watercolor exercise is the foundation to gaining confidence with using watercolors. And confidence is key in watercolors.
What’s inside my Urban Sketch kit
Early spring is when I usually start thinking about Urban Sketching outside again. No doubt this year will be different. For one, due to Covid-19, I have paused my Urban Sketching experience and I won’t be offering it at all this year. Below I’m sharing my sketch kit and how you can build your own. […]
Urban Sketching with Watercolors
Sketching with Watercolors on Location. Learn how to get started urban sketching your city and travels. I wanted to share these pages with you because my guests always love them and to help you get started sketching!
My Plein Air Kit for Watercolors
Spring is here and yesterday I went out for my first paint out with the Plein Air Painters Chicago. I took my Plein Air kit and DIY easel out and I wanted to share with you how I put it together. While looking for a solution, I came across Joe Cartwright’s website where he shared his own DIY watercolor easel. Joe Cartwright is an Australian watercolor artist, teacher, and author. I love his work and thought it a good idea to take his advice.
Sketching for Inspiration
What is Sketching? Sketching is a loose art form that can be done from practically anywhere with any supplies you’d like to use. Urban Sketching is done on location, usually outdoors but we’ve got some winters here in Chicago and we take it indoors. In sketching, rather than working towards the goal of creating a […]
Primary Colors and the Color Wheel
A look at Primary Colors and the Color Wheel through watercolor paints. Download my color wheel template to create your own and learn about the relationships between your colors. Additional exercises will help you hone your techniques and learn to control water to pigment ratios.
Connecting with a Scene for a Watercolor Painting
It’s important to connect with your scene for your painting. I’ve found that loving your subject can inspire you, motivate you, and even energize you. Whether I’m working on a landscape or a portrait painting, framing the scene is my first step. I use my camera and sketchbook to capture the details and mood to reference later.