Welcome to my second Watercolor Painting Newsletter.

This edition updates you on recent articles and demonstrations I have posted on my Painting With Watercolors website. I have also given the results of the watercolor survey I conducted.

Recent articles

Plein Air Painting with Watercolors and Inks

My wife (Sue) and I recently spent three weeks travelling through parts of Central Australia. We travelled around the Kimberley region of Western Australia and finished up at Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Most of the time we were on a organized tour. So I thought I would cover some issues to consider when trying to do some plein air painting with watercolors and inks in such a situation. → Continue Reading Plein Air Painting with Watercolors and Inks

Watercolor Painting

 Watercolor painting is often considered the most difficult of mediums to work with yet at times I also feel it is the easiest. I have pondered this for a while and decided to look at the major mistakes a beginner watercolor artist often makes that would cause him, or her, to have difficulties. Covers solutions as well as problems. → Continue Reading Watercolor Painting

Removing Cockles and Wrinkles from Watercolor Paper

Watercolor painting tip: If you do not stretch your watercolor paper you will usually find that your paper has cockled (the creasing or wrinkling of a surface) or warped during painting to a varying degree. Then when you try to frame it your painting will not sit flat on its mat. I have a technique to help flatten your painting before framing. → Continue Reading Removing cockles and wrinkles from watercolor paper

Watercolor Painting with Coffee

A few years ago I was on my way to do a watercolor painting demonstration at a Sydney art society when I had a sudden panic attack as I thought I may have left my palette back at my studio. I was too far from home to turn back. I pulled over and found that I had indeed brought my palette but it got me thinking what I would have done if I hadn’t. → Continue Reading Watercolor painting with coffee

Latest Watercolor Demonstrations

Light over shearing shed

This is my most recent watercolor painting demonstration. It’s focus is on how to capture a feeling of light. Continue Reading:Old Shearing Shed

Pen and Ink Video

I have now produced my first “how to video” that is available as a paid download ($9.95). This is a pen, ink painting of a Melbourne street scene. The video runs for about 45 minutes and is about 600 MB in size. You require a copy of QuickTime to play it which is available as a free download from this site:Quicktime download. The video will not play properly with Windows Media Player.
If you are interested in purchasing this video download you can do so at this link: Pen and ink street scene demonstration.

I will be producing a series of these videos, the next one with be a watercolor landscape. The idea behind them is that you will see virtually every brush stroke just as occurs with students that come to my classes and workshops. They are designed as teaching aids and would be very useful for people who cannot get to a regular class. Production is kept simple to allow for quick creation and to keep the cost down.

Watercolor Survey results

Here are the results of the survey I ran on the question: “What is your favorite watercolor painting subject?”
Landscapes 44%
Street Scenes 16%
Flowers 14%
Portrait and Figure 10%
Seascapes 8%
Wildlife 6%
Abstract 2%

Happy painting,
Joe