Illustrating your life
Artists’ journals and sketchbooks are doorways into a secret world. They are packed with drawings, paintings, and words — some polished, some rough, some never intended for anyone to see…
HowDoit PB dept
A bold new face to paper marbling
Someone said: “Curiosity is the key to creativity.†However, whiskers and flour aren’t required to be creative using this method of paper marbling, but shaving cream and food coloring are…
In Step with Pat Rayman
Making Leaf Sun Prints This is a fun technique that leads to a lot of creativity. Tape a piece of watercolor paper to a board; hot pressed…
In Step with Deb Henkener
Please pass the salt! Nature paints our trees with a broad brush of earthy autumn colors. Fall leaves are favorite subjects for many watercolor artists, and the perfect project to try a salt…
In Step with Joan Crawford Barnes
Stages 1-4 Daisy, Daisy Inspired by color and high contrast in her paintings, Joan Crawford Barnes (www.joanbarnes-wc.com) walks us through “Daisy, Daisy” in this four stage process. …
In Step with Pat Rayman
Watercolor paper collage Don’t throw out that old watercolor! As many watercolorists, I have a large portfolio of old discards and unfinished paintings. I wait for the right moment to…
The picture you draw every day
Do you think that you don’t draw at all? Betty Edwards, author of “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain†points out that nearly every day almost all of…
Little people art projects
For ages 3 and up, “Cinnamon Drawing†is fun, and it smells good too. You will need cinnamon sticks, sandpaper and scissors. Cut the sandpaper into any shape (star, circle,…
Colored pencils are fun as crayons
When we were very young, we drew and colored with absolute confidence and joy. As adults, we’d like to return to that level of enjoyment. Many people have chosen colored…
Hands up!
When it comes to drawing people, many artists do pretty well at getting the head, body, arms and legs to look natural, But then they have to deal with…
Why and how artists sight off a pencil
When an artist is shown in a cartoon, he or she is often shown with their arm stuck straight out, holding a pencil straight up and looking at…
Cartooning the New Year’s Baby
Recently several people asked me how to draw cartoons. There are a lot of good books with information on cartooning, but I thought you might like to see how…
Quick, easy and fun art
Have you ever used one of those Easter egg coloring kits from the supermarket, the ones that come with a small assortment of food dyes and a clear wax…
Click it and paint it
People sometimes ask if it’s all right for artists to use photos as reference for paintings or drawings. It is as long as the photograph is taken by the…
Keep it moving!
Although still life, landscape, and portraits (which all show things that are NOT moving) will always be popular, artists also paint pictures that show action and movement. This wasn’t…
Taking a line for a walk
    The act of drawing has been described as “Taking a line for a walk.â€Â Outline drawing is the best example of this description.      We all know that in…
Framing great-great-grandma, etc.
Previously, we discussed framing paintings; this week we’re moving on to the challenge of framing photos. Framed photos, including those old sepia pictures of great-great relatives and family events…
Framed! And lookin’ good…
All right, you’ve purchased an original painting – but it isn’t framed. Now what do you do? If you want your picture to look its best, please don’t think “Well,…
Toning it up – or down
If you have access to a copy machine, it’s interesting to put a brightly colored picture into the machine and run a copy of it in black and white…
Fantasy art lets artists create worlds
When I was a child, home computers didn’t exist, there were no cell phones, Ipads, or Blackberries, and my parents didn’t plunk me down in front of the television…
What did the artist see in that?
A contractor visiting a one-man art exhibit walked up to the artist, looking puzzled. “Why on earth do you want to paint dilapidated farm buildings that are falling down,…
Black and white challenges
One of the biggest challenges of watercolor is how to handle areas of black and white. Although there are tubes of black and white watercolor, they don’t behave as…