Keeping Up with Karlyn

Lessons 1-24

Lesson # 1 Still Life

Still Life Lesson

Lesson Description:

This lesson starts with a still life of red roses in three glass containers. Karlyn will draw the composition with a Kimberly watercolor pencil and share some techniques for free hand drawing.
1. She will use a different watercolor pencil drawing for her painting. The painting starts by wetting both sides of the paper with a hake brush. Slowly pull water over the watercolor pencil lines to activate the black color.
2. Color is then charged onto the wet surface. A sprayer is essential to keep the paper wet and the colors moving. Color sanding may take place while the paper is wet.
3. After the under-painting dries, colors may be enriched and adjusted. Be careful to not lose the loose wet into wet look.

Materials List
  • Karlyn Holman Signature Series Brush Set (or brushes of your choosing)

  • Palette – Round, Filled

  • Kimberly black pencil

  • 100-grit sandpaper

  • Hake brush

  • Half sheet of Arches cold press 140# paper

  • Spray bottle filled with water

  • Tissue to lift dark areas that may get too dark

  • Watercolor Pencils

Bonus Lessons

Tips

Lesson # 2 Make Your Own Collage Papers

Make Your Own Collage Papers

Lesson Description:

We are going to make collage papers to use in creating an abstract painting on canvas.  Making your own collage papers is fun and if you want to enter shows, it is now necessary.  A bonus lesson shows you how to prepare your canvas for this lesson. We are going to use acrylic paint to make our collage paper and watercolor to finish our painting.

Many art shows do not allow “store bought” collage papers so this technique is invaluable for making your own papers.  Finding the right paper was my first goal.  Most deli papers are waxed and not suitable for use with watercolor.  After a lot of trial and error, I found unwaxed deli paper  through Amazon Prime.  These papers are fantastic.  They are transparent and glue layer over layer with YES Paste.  You can use any acrylic paint.   You will find 50 sheets of these special papers in your gift box so you can try this wonderful approach to start an abstract painting.  We are going to start by making our own stamps and stencils using a glue gun and glue sticks. Gelli printing is a very popular way to make mono-prints too.   Many quilters use Gelli printing as a way to print unique designs on their fabric.

Materials List
  • Gelli plate either purchased or homemade
  • 4″ brayer
  • Unwaxed Gelli Tissue
  • Gloves in a Bottle
  • Plastic gloves (optional)
  • Fine Mister 
  • Stencils
  • Stamps
  • Parchment Paper
  • Baby wipes
  • Fluid acrylic paint
  • Bubble wrap, cardboard opened up to expose the textures, leaves found in nature, grapefruit bags, anything that creates a texture

Bonus Lessons

Tips

Tip: How to Prepare YES Paste

To use Yes! Paste effectively, you need to prepare the glue so the consistency will accommodate the thickness of the paper you are using.  Right out of the jar, Yes! Paste is very thick and can be used to adhere very heavy paper.  However, with a little patience and a small amount of water added to the surface of the paste in the jar, you can slowly thin down the top layer of the paste to a smooth, creamy solution.
I use a one-inch flat brush and slowly rub the surface of the paste until the water blends with the paste to become  slurry.  Do not rush this step and do not dig into the paste; just activate to top layer.  If you have any excess mixed glue in the jar, simply allow it to soak into the rest of the glue.  The next time you need thinned glue, the glue will activate in a short time.

 

Lesson # 3 Semi-Abstract with Rocks on Canvas

Semi-Abstract on Canvas

Lesson Description:

Semi-abstract rocks on canvas. This lesson shows the versatility of using textural devises on canvas.  For example, wax paper makes “rock-like” textures when placed on the color and allowed to dry.  Using small pieces of ogura and pieces of unryu, you can easily create darks.  Using a 100-grit sandpaper and sanding watercolor pencils over a stencil will create a beautiful texture.   Dry thoroughly and wax surface with Dorland’s Wax.

Materials List
  • Canvas
  • Palette Knife
  • Ogura Paper
  • 1/2″ Flat Brush
  • Wax Paper
  • Dorland’s Wax
  • QOR Cold Press Ground
  • Scissors
  • Medical Gauze
  • Stencil
  • Stamps
  • 100 Grit Sandpaper
  • Watercolor Pencils
  • Yes! Paste
  • Rubber Gloves
  • Old Bristle Brush

Karlyn’s Caper – Venice, Florida 2017 with Rose Edin. Find more of Rose’s work at www.roseedin.com

Lesson # 4 Pen Drawing and Focus of Light

Pen Drawing and Focus of Light

Lesson Description:

How to draw with a pen and how to create a focus of light using a triad of primary colors.
This lesson shows the entire drawing of this dilapidated old barn in pen and demonstrates several useful pen techniques.  Karlyn also demonstrates several primary color triads.

Materials List
  • Black archival permanent pen
  • Fine mister

Bonus Lessons

Lesson # 5 Negative Painting - Morning Glories

Negative Painting

Negative painting of Morning Glories. The intertwining leaves make this flower perfect for learning negative painting.

This painting starts with a drawing on Arches 140# paper using an HB pencil, (in your gift bag).  The paper is then wet on both sides and colors are selected that do not move in water.  I used  Aureolin yellow, Permanent rose and manganese blue.

When dry, draw in more shapes and paint around your drawn foliage with a mid tone green color, I used quinacridone gold and Antwerp blue.

When dry, draw in more foliage shapes and paint around these shapes with a darker value green using Quinacridone burnt orange and Antwerp blue.

Paint flowers by wetting half of the flower and adding quinacridone rose and French Ultramarine  blue.  Move the color so it mimics the shape of the flower.  When dry do the other side.

At the very end, paint in some positive shapes.

The entire focus of this lesson is negative painting by layering transparent watercolor.

Materials List
  • HB Pencil
  • Arches Cold Press
  • Oops Eraser
  • 1″ Flat Brush
  • Stencil
  • 100 grit sandpaper
  • Watercolor Pencils
  • Fine Mister
  • Table Salt
  • #8 Round Brush
  • Script Brush

Lesson # 6 Joye Moon

Joye is from the Fox Valley Wisconsin area.  She teaches around the USA, conducts International trips, has earned her National Watercolor Society signature membership  and has written a full length art book with North Light Publishers titled “Exploring Textures in Watercolor”. Joye shares with us a unique approach of pouring three primary colors to create an amazing still life painting of caramelized apples.  She has a sense of adventure and exploration that has lead to this exciting approach that she is sharing with us.

https://www.joyemoon.com/

Materials List
  • Mascoid
  • – *Jack Richeson Liquid Masque
    – Winsor Newton Masking Fluid
    – Incredible White Mask

  • * Plastic wrap
  • * Palette knife
  • * Bottles of primary color
  • Maskoid lifter
  • Tool that sucks up liquid
  • * Paper Towel (Joye recommends Viva)
  • * Tape
  • * Arches Watercolor Board (or 140# Cold Press)
  • * Board
  • * Pencil
  • * Kneaded Eraser
  • * 3″ Wash Bush (or Hake Brush)
  • * Eye Dropper
  • * Fine Mister

    (* Supplies that Joye uses in the lesson)

    Paint Colors that Joye Uses

  • Transparent Mars Brown
  • Quinacridone Gold
  • Naples Yellow
  • Faience Blue
  • Avignon Orange
  • Permanent Violet Bluish

Lesson # 7 Abstract & Wine Party

Abstract and Wine Party

This is an “Arty Party of painting an abstract painting while sipping wine”.  The focus of the lesson is to create a “Path of Light” in your focal area using negative painting skills and gelli collage papers. This lesson  was recorded live and included a four course dinner party.

A group of artists who have painted together for 34 years gather every year in February in the cold north woods and paint together.    Over the years, an amazing bond of friendship has developed.

My lesson is a new variation of an abstract style of painting. Sit back and enjoy our enthusiasm for art, our love for each other and hopefully some ideas that you can turn into a beautiful painting.

Materials List
  • Stencils
  • Watercolor pencils
  • 100-grit Sand paper
  • Gelli papers
  • YES! Paste
  • Flat one inch brush
  • Unryu Paper 

Karlyn’s Caper

Lesson # 8 Atmospheric Perspective

Atmospheric Perspective

This lesson begins by looking at a selection of atmospheric paintings by professional artists.  Learning the concepts of atmospheric perspective is a very important concept to embrace if you like to paint landscapes.  We will paint foggy layers of atmosphere and reflections in water.  To add to the fun, we will also use landscape stamps to form the trees.  (I have four of my favorite landscape stamps packaged up for $20.00)

Each successive layer of land is a different color.  The distant layers are  grayed down blues, then reds and purples appear and finally close to the foreground are the yellows.  These colors illustrate the way atmospheric tempering causes some colors to disappear from our vision.

Materials List
  • HB Pencil
  • Wax Paper
  • 1 1/2 ” Brush
  • Fine Mister (gift bag)
  • Non-lotion Tissue
  • Tree Stamp
  • Arches Watercolor Paper
  • 1/2 ” Kalish Brush
  • Clear Acetate Paper
  • Plastic Razor Blade

Karlyn’s Caper with David Smith

Lesson #9 Portraits

Portraits

One of my favorite painting subjects has been painting portraits in watercolor. I have especially enjoyed painting my grand daughter Rachael over the years.

Portraits are not that difficult. I have formalized a simple process for painting a successful portrait. In your gift bag is a plastic that defines the facial features. This is one approach to drawing your own portrait. I have also enclosed a step by step listing of how to paint a portrait.

Please follow along with this hand out as I paint Fritz. As you paint your own portrait, reread each step before you proceed. There are proportions that are similar in every person. For example, this scale is great. I included a sheet of lined acetate for you to follow along. There are certain relationships in portraits that are almost the same in every person. The eyes are in the center of the head/. The eyes are one eye apart. The ears start at the eye line and nose line. The lips are as wide as the center of the eyes, etc. Put the clear plastic over Rachael’s face and show proportions.

I learned a different way to proportion a head. I divide the head in half and divide the lower half into thirds. This is the proportions I used to draw my friend Mary Beth. I place the eyes in the center of the head and then divide the lower half into thirds. The center of the nose is one third below the eyes. The center of the mouth is two-thirds below the eyes. This has worked for me forever.

Materials List
  • Karlyn Holman Signature Series Brush Set
  • Script Brush
  • 1/2″ Kalish Brush
  • HB Pencil
  • Palette – Round, Filled
  • Half sheet of Arches cold press 140# paper
  • Spray bottle filled with water 
  • Kneaded Eraser
  • Masking
  •  Q-Tips
  • Tissue to lift dark areas that may get too dark

Bonus Lessons

Lesson #10 Watercolor Portraits & Mixed Media with Tonja Sell

Guest Artist Tonja Sell 

Untraditional watercolor portrait with added pastel touches

Tonja is a gifted artist who can draw or paint anything. She also makes pots, blows glass and works in pastels, oil, watercolor and just about all media.

Tonja will demonstrate one of her unique techniques that she uses when painting a portrait in watercolor.  She will start with demonstrating drawing the shapes of the face and then paint several features such as lips and eyes. She then makes a hot glue mask to fit over the portrait. She draws her portrait with a Derwent Inktense black watercolor pencil. This pencil activates when she wets it and becomes stable when it dries.

Tonja starts painting large shapes of intense color and activates the pencil drawing. She then places the hot glue mask over the wet paper. She adds more color and makes sure the color is wet under the mask.  Allow this to dry

Tonja removed the mask and starts to add dark colors. . Tonja works dark to light which is different from most watercolor artists. She continues to add skin tones and shapes the face.

The special techniques continue to be shared and Tonja ends up with a beautiful, yet untraditional portrait. She adds final touches with powdered pastels and pastel pencils.

Check out Tonja’s website at www.doartworx.com  Tonja teaches classes and leads International trips. She has studied fine art and is represented by galleries across the country.

She has a fifty-two session self-paced online art instruction course titled “Merging Watercolor and pastel”. Contact Tonja at doartworx@gmail.com.

Materials List
  • Saran Wrap
  • Gauze
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Wax Paper
  • Pan Pastels
  • 300# Arches Hot Press Paper
  • Pastel Pencils
  • Magic Eraser
  • Stencils
  • InkTense
  • HB Pencil
  • Mister

Lesson #11 Waterlilies

Waterlilies

Draw subject with HB pencil.  Mask the water droplets.   Paint the flowers, reflections, lily pads and the frog.  When completely dry mask everything but the reflections of the buds.

Clip or tape your painting onto a board.  Wet only the front of the paper.  Paint in a ladder of primary colours, leaving a white space between the triad of color.  I used Windsor yellow in the middle, Quinacridone rose on each side and cobalt blue out to the edge if the paper.  Spray a light mist starting at the yellow and moving that color to the edge of your paper.  Then spray the blue and have that move towards the centre of the paper.   Keep tipping and balancing out the movement of the colours.  Add darks under the lily pads but not the buds.  Best of all, draw some connecting darks horizontally through the composition to tie the shapes together.

When dry, remove the masking.   Wet the scrubby brush and gently soften any areas missed by the masking.   To make the water droplets, wet the shape and drop in color similar to the area surrounding the droplet.  When the droplet dries, paint in a very dark elliptical shadow under the droplet.  Use a razor blade to pop out a white highlight.

Materials List
  • #11 Water Lilies Lesson Kit
  • Saran Wrap
  • Incredible Liquid Masking
  • Palette Knife
  • Watercolor Palette
  • Clear Acetate Paper
  • Mr Clean Magic Eraser
  • #1 Brush
  • #8 Brush
  • 1 1/2″ Brush
  • Fine Mister
  • Scissors
  • Half sheet Arches 140# Cold Press
  • Salt
  • Scrubby brush

Karlyn’s Caper with Jonathan Walburg

Lesson #12 Fall Landscape "Finger of God"

Fall Landscape

Draw your composition using an HB pencil.  Wet both sides of the paper and apply a non-staining triad of primaries.  Start at the light source with Aurelian yellow and circle Quinacridone rose and lastly cobalt blue in a circular movement to the edges of the paper.  Spray a light mist starting at the source of light and move the color to the edges of the paper.  Splash some fall colours unto the wet surface to start painting the fall foliage.

On dry paper, drop a pattern of a primary yellow and quinacridone gold to form patterns of yellow foliage. Be sure to zig and zag the shapes.  Try not to go in a straight line.  Then drop another pattern of scarlet lake orange and quinacridone burnt orange.  Add Antwerp blue to create dark greens.  Be sure to drop some collage onto the ground area to become fallen leaves.

When this dries, paint in the tree trunks between the foliage patterns.  I used quinacridone burnt orange and French Ultramarine blue for the dark brown.

Paint the foreground foliage in shadow colours, such as cobalt blue mixed with Windsor orange..  This provides the contrast for the “finger of God” light coming through the trees.

Be sure your painting is bone dry when you attempt to create the “finger of God” with a toothbrush.  Place your painting under slowly running water and scrub the light out with a soft toothbrush.  Slowly allow the color to exit your painting.  Use restraint when lifting the shapes coming through the trees so it does not become a perfect pinwheel.

Materials List
  • Materials List
    • #12 Fall Landscape Lesson Kit
    • Fine Mister
    • Hauke Brush
    • Palette Knife
    • Wax Paper
    • 1 inch Flat Brush
    • HB Pencil
    • Table Salt
    • #6 Brush
    • #8 Brush
    • Toothbrush
    • Oriental brush

    Colors Used

    • Winsor Yellow
    • Cobalt Blue
    • Permanent Alizarin Crimson
    • Scarlet Lake
    • Quinacridone Coral
    • Quinacridone Burnt Orange

Lesson # 13 One Point Perspective

One Point Perspective

Lesson Description:

Karlyn will draw the white houses of Frigiliani, Spain and explain one-point perspective.

The shadows of the white houses were painted with a gray tone made by using cobalt blue and Winsor orange.

The grays were varied by the amount of water used to dilute this mixture.

 

Materials List
Materials List
  • Arches
  • #6 Brush
  • Script Brush
  • HB Pencil
  • Oriental brush 

Colors Used

  • Cobalt Blue
  • Winsor Orange
  • Scarlet Lake
  • Quinacrodone Rose
  • Quinacrodone Gold
  • Antwerp Blue
  • Alizarin Crimson
  • Phthalo Green
  • Winsor Orange

Bonus Lesson

Storefront with windows in old San Gimignano, Italy
This lesson shows a straight on view of a close up storefront with a window. Windows reflect as well as mysteriously allow an image from within to peek out. This lesson uses a layered approach. The cool colors of cobalt blue and permanent magenta are used to capture the cast shadows. Then the warm colors are layered over the cool colors to create the grays.

Lesson # 14 Two Point Perspective

Lesson Description:

Karlyn draws this scene from the Placa in Athens, Greece to demonstrate two-point perspective. This is when parallel lines along the width and depth of an object meet at two points on the horizon.  Establishing the horizon line or eye level is the first thing that you must determine.  After you have figured out the horizon line, grab your HB pencil and begin your drawing.    To create the shadows, mix together cobalt blue and Windsor orange to make a gray.  Use more orange in the sunny areas and more blue in the shadow areas.  Use more water for a lighter gray and less water for a darker value.

The foliage has more vibrancy if you apply the yellows and blues and allow them to mix on the paper.  Place primary yellow first, then Quinacridone gold and finally the Antwerp blue.  Mixing Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Antwerp blue will make that dark green needed for the final details.  The sky area was wet first and then French Ultramarine blue was applied next to the buildings.

Materials List
  • Materials List
    • #14 Two Point Perspective Lesson Kit
    • Arches
    • HB Pencil
    • Eraser
    • #1 Brush
    • #6 Brush
    • #10 Brush
    • 1/2 inch Flat Brush
    • Spray Bottle
    • Oriental Brush
    • Script Brush

    Colors Used

    • Winsor Orange
    • Cobalt Blue
    • Quinacridone Burnt Orange
    • French Ultramarine Blue
    • Aureolin Yellow or Winsor Yellow
    • Quinacridone Gold
    • Antwerp Blue
    • Raw Sienna

Lesson # 15 Color Temperature

Lesson Description:

A subtle but very enriching understanding of controlling the warm and cool color temperatures found in our composition.

The subject stairs at a 17th century convent in Frayssinet, France.

This new lesson focuses on capturing the gray shadows, using a mixture of cobalt blue and Windsor orange. While this mixture is still wet, charge in pure warm and cool colors. This added enhancement is so exciting.

Areas in the sun should have a warm temperature and colors in the shade should have a cool temperature.

Materials List

Materials List

  • Arches
  • HB Pencil
  • Eraser
  • Fine Mister
  • Round Brush
  • Script Brush
  • Table Salt
  • Oops Eraser

Colors Used

  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange
  • Cobalt Blue
  • French Ultramarine Blue
  • Scarlet Lake
  • Quinacridone Gold
  • Winsor Orange
  • Winsor Yellow
  • Manganese Blue Hue

Lesson # 16 Waterfalls

Lesson Description:

Painting waterfalls is a very exciting and actually a really fun subject. After much trial and error, I decided that painting everything that frames in the waterfalls is the best way to approach this subject. This lesson is about values and keeping the initial framing in very dark makes the waterfalls look light.
Draw your subject with an HB pencil on Arches 140# cold press paper. Using a palette knife, flick a fine spray where the water hits the base of the falls. Be very generous, these fine particles of mist and spray really make the finished painting sparkle. There are two ways to paint the rocks. The foreground rocks should be very precise. Wet the rocks in the foreground very carefully with water. Add a warm color, and then add a cool color in the bottom two thirds of the rock and let the colors mingle on the paper. I used Quinacridone burnt orange, followed by cobalt blue.
Place wax paper over the wet surface and let it remain until almost dry. When you remove the wax paper, adjust the textures and values so that the darkest value is on the bottom third of the rock. The middle of the rock should be mid tone and the top of the rock is the lightest area. Add more darks on the bottom of the rocks if necessary.
The rocks in the background should be misty and atmospheric looking. I wet the rock area in the background rocks beyond the actual rock area. Place a warm color down, followed by a cool color. Place a cut out wax paper shape of your rocks over this wet area. The area beyond the wax paper will just dry as a soft wet area. This will create rocks that look like they are in the atmospheric mist from the falls. Continue painting all the rocks that frame the falls. Remove the wax paper when dry.
Paint the background trees very soft and atmospheric. Mist the surface with water before you start painting the trees. Continue to soften the colors, leaving a few white dry shapes. Painting the trees frames in the water. You need the trees so you know where to paint the reflections in the water.
Paint the water on dry paper. This way, when you throw or dry brush the paint onto the surface, you will leave little white, random shapes that look like surf. The horizontal water is much darker than the falling water. The dark values in the water are created by the surrounding rocks and trees reflecting in the water. The falls are the lightest value, going all the way to the white of the paper.
When painting the falls, start with a mid- tone value at the top of the falls using a mixture of Quinacridone burnt orange and cobalt orange. Add pure water and tip the paper so gravity forces the water to fall downward. When the water reaches the bottom of the falls, lay the painting flat and immediately lift away the color with a tissue to create the misty part. Also add table salt to this misty area. When the painting dries, remove the masking and salt.
(My demo starts out on 140# cold press half sheet paper. The water part is done on a full sheet stretched over a wooden frame. The stretched paper will require a finish of either Dorlan’s wax medium or four coats of Acrylic spray with UV protection.)

Materials List

Materials List

  • Arches on Frame
  • Arches
  • HB Pencil
  • Eraser
  • Incredible White Mask
  • 1/2 inch Flat Brush
  • Fine Mister
  • Oriental Brush
  • Script Brush
  • Table Salt
  • Q-Tips
  • Oops Eraser
  • Wax Paper
  • Scrubber Brush
  • Dorland’s Wax or Acrylic Spray

Colors Used

  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange
    Cobalt Blue
    French ultramarine Blue
    Antwerp Blue
    Scarlet Lake
    Quinacridone Gold
    Winsor Yellow

Lesson # 17 Dried Sunflowers

Lesson Description:

Dried sunflowers.

Karlyn draws this composition from life on 140# cold press Arches paper.  This tutorial takes liberties with randomly adding QOR Cold Press gesso for texture.  This ground also functions as a glue when adding the Unryu and Ogura papers. After this surface dries, watercolor paint was added.

Materials List
Materials List
  • 10 gram Unryu Oriental paper
  • Ogura Oriental paper
  • QOR cold press ground
  • YES! Paste
  • Collage Papers
  • Stamps
  • Kimberly black watercolor pencil (in gift bag)
  • HB Pencil
  • Palette Knife
  • 1″ Flat Brush
  • Krylon UV Coating or Dorland’s Wax

Colors Used

  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange
  • Quinacridone Gold
  • French Ultramarine Blue
  • Permanent Magenta
  • Raw Sienna

# 18 Guest Artist Barbara McFarland

Creating collage paper & applying Caran D’Ache Crayons

Guest Artist Barbara McFarland

Lesson Description:

Barbara is a wonderful artist that prepares her own colorful collage papers.  She combines these lovely papers with Caran d Ache watercolor crayons. Barbara will take us through her process to create these colorful papers and then apply crayon lines to her image of a bear.  We will also tour her lovely studio on a sunny winter’s day.

Materials List
Materials List
  • Caran d’Ache Watercolor Crayons
  • Watercolor Paints
  • Collage Papers
  • Krylon UV Coating or Dorland’s Wax

Bonus Lesson

#19 Grapes (A Double Feature!)

Grapes

Lesson Description:

Painting grapes is a fantastic lesson to share with a friend or grandchild. You should pick the grape leaves and freeze them until just before you need them. This makes the leaves more relaxed and they make betterstamps. These leaves can remain frozen for a long time and still be effective.

Grape Lesson 1
Fold wax paper like paper dolls and cut out many round or oval shapes of grapes at a time. Start by wetting the paper on both sides.
Design soft warm colors in a path onto the wet surface. Using a flat brush, apply Windsor yellow, quinacridone gold to the veins on the back of the leaf. Press the leaves firmly onto the wet surface with a tissue paper. Continue until you have placed all the leaves onto the wet surface. Place a few grape shapes over the wet surface. Paint a circle of your desired grape color and place the wax paper circle on top of this color. Continue until the grapes are designed into hanging grapes. Stretch gauze over the leaves and the grapes to form branch-like shapes in the background. Paint in a path of dark through out the painting. The addition of ultramarine blue around the leaves creates a lovely dark outline. Add salt near the white areas. Spray metallic gold into the gauze lines if desired.

Grape Lesson 2
Using a HB pencil, draw some vines for the leaves and grapes to form an attachment. Using thinned YES Paste for glue, I designed in some light-toned collage papers. Be sure to overlap some of the papers and to keep the papers close to the vines. Cut out some round or oval shaped grape circles to use for the grapes. Leave the paper dry and apply quinacridone gold and Windsor yellow on the veins on the back of a dry leaf. Place on the paper and press with a dry tissue. After you have completed stamping the leaves on the dry paper, wet the entire rest of the paper and apply some pure warm or cool color ( I used quinacridone burnt orange) in a path to start your painting

Add additional pure complementary color (I used Antwerp blue) next to your first application of color. Be sure to use a fine mister to keep the paper wet or touch the edges of the color with a wet brush to keep the edges soft. Stretch the gauze behind the leaves and through the grapes to suggest branches and vines in the background. Place the cut circles of wax paper onto the wet paper. Add additional color if desired before applying the grape circles. Add salt if desired. Place a stencil over the wet surface and sand watercolor pencils into the stencil using a 100 grit sandpaper. Spray with a fine mister to be sure that those watercolor particles really melt onto the surface. When completely dry, remove the grape circles, gauze and leaves. With a HB pencil, draw in shapes to enhance the composition. On dry paper, paint in the shapes and negatively paint around other shapes. To complete the painting, I lifted out the grape shapes with a stencil of the grape shape cut out of acetate and a damp Mr. Clean magic eraser. Lastly, I added green Caron D”Ache crayon over some leaves and on parts of the background. I also added more collage paper using thinned down YES Paste. I also sprayed gold marbleizing spray.

Materials List
Materials List
  • Arches Cold Press
  • Frozen Grape Leaves
  • Stretched Watercolor on Frame
  • HB pencil
  • Wax paper
  • Scissors
  • Collage paper
  • YES Paste
  • Gauze 
  • Table salt
  • Gold webbing spray
  • Stencil
  • 100 grit sandpaper 
  • Caron D’Ache watercolor crayons
  • Ruler for lines
  • Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
  • Acetate 
  • Salt
  • Unryu Paper
  • Dorlands Wax or Krylon Clear

Bonus Lesson

#20 Mat Board Street Scene

Lesson Description:

This underpainting was prepared by gluing down pieces of newspaper with YES Paste.  White gesso was applied with a small piece of mat board or an old credit card over the newspapers and in selected areas on the surface and allowed to dry.

Mix a sepia tone color using Quinacridone burnt orange and French Ultramarine blue.  Using a piece of mat board, add shapes of paint to form the windows and the large shapes.  Keep cutting the end of the mat board off so you always have a clean surface to work with.  Whenever you want a soft edge, spray water onto the surface and work over it with the mat board to soften the colors. Use the tip to make more precise shapes.  Last minute, I decided to add a red color accent to the umbrellas.

This scene was drawn on location in San Gimignano, Italy.  It took over an hour to draw but only a few minutes to scrape the color over the surface.  This “alla prima” approach adds a lot of life to the subject and does not look overworked.  Any combination of compliments would create a lovely gray to scratch over the linear shapes.

Materials List
  • #20 Mat board street scene kit
  • Archival Pen
  • Acrylic Gesso
  • Newspaper
  • Mat Board
  • Yes! Paste
  • Scissors

#21 Split Compliment – Italy

Lesson Description:

Choosing color compliments and color accents.

Limiting your colors to compliments can add more impact to your paintings.  This subject was drawn with my black Stadler pen in a small village in Tuscany.  Limiting the shadows to a green tone helped to simplify the already very gray subject.  Adding the red Vespa was an idea suggested to me by my co-teacher Pauline Hailwood from New Zealand.  I love motorcycles so adding this red Vespa really put the finishing color accent that this painting needed.

This motorcycle subject was drawn in a small village on a Northern Greek Island.  Pauline also told me about the black Stabilo watercolor pencil.  This small tool is always with me when I travel and paint.  You can paint in the gray shadows in minutes and then add the color over these shadows anytime.  The motorcycle had to be red for that added color accent.

Materials List
  • Black “woody” watercolor pencil 
  • Aqua-Flo Watercolor Brushes
  • Black Stadler pen 
  • Script Brush
  • Oriental Brush

Colors Used

  • Winsor Yellow
  • Quinacridone Gold
  • Quinacridone Coral
  • Antwerp Blue
  • French Ultramarine Blue
  • Alizarin Crimson
  • Scarlet Lake
  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange

#22 Northern Lights

Northern Lights

Lesson Description:

Northern lights   THis tutorial shows two different approaches to painting wet into wet, saturated night scenes of the Northern Lights.

The first approach uses non-staining colors and that will lift out the movement of the shapes on the wet surface.  Check out the color chart included with your free gift box and you will notice that all my colors indicate which colors are staining and non-staining.  Choose only non-straining  colors for this lesson.  Use a one half inch flat brush to lift the color.

The second approach can be painted with any color.  This lesson depends on saving the light shapes by painting around them.

Materials List
Materials List
  • 1″ Flat Brush
  • One half inch flat brush
  • One forth inch flat brush to apply color on the stamps
  • 140# Cold press Arches, eighth of a sheet
  • Landscape stamps
  • Plastic Razor 
  • Popcorn Salt
  • Tissue
  • Acetate Paper
  • Magic Eraser
  • Tape

Colors Used

Part 1

  • Aerolin Yellow
  • Quinacridone Gold
  • Quinacridone Coral
  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange
  • Permanent Rose
  • Permanent Magenta
  • French Ultramarine Blue
  • Indigo
  • Manganese Blue Hue

Part 2

  • Quinacridone Gold
  • Quinacridone Rose
  • Cobalt Blue
  • Indigo
  • French Ultramarine Blue
  • Antwerp Blue
  • Manganese Blue Hue

Bonus Lesson

#23 Cave Paintings – A Double Feature

Lesson Description:

This lesson is a fun and free interpretation of the work created by our ancestors. My first introduction entering a prehistoric cave was an unforgettable experience. I hope to visit many more caves and keep inspired to paint interpretations of this subject.

Start your interpretation by wetting the paper on both sides. Paint the darkest colors mainly on the top and bottom of the picture plane and save the center for lighter colors. Tip the paper a lot to suggest the wet walls of the cave. Draw in the symbols for your composition with a watercolor pencil, a watercolor crayon or a small brush. Add wax paper, salt, stamping and color sanding.

Materials List
  • 1″ Flat Brush
  • One half inch flat brush
  • Hake Brush
  • 140# Cold press Arches, 1/2 sheet or Stretched Watercolor on Frame
  • Black Kimberly Pencil
  • Table Salt
  • Tissue
  • Magic Eraser
  • Watercolor pencils
  • Watercolor crayons
  • 100-grit sandpaper 
  • Wax paper
  • Gauze
  • Fine Mister
  • Paper with symbols separated by specific cultures 
  • Stamps
  • Dorlands Wax or Krylon Clear Acrylic
  • Microfiber Cloth (for buffing Dorlands Wax)
  • Marbleizing Spray (formerly known as Webbing Spray)

Colors Used

Earth Theme

  • Raw Sienna
  • Quinacridone Gold
  • Quinacridone Burnt Orange
  • Cobalt Blue

Blue Theme

  • Scarlet Lake
  • Winsor Orange
  • Cobalt Blue
  • Indigo
  • French Ultramarine Blue
  • Antwerp Blue
  • Manganese Blue Hue

#24 Alcohol Inks with guest artist Wei Lan Lorber

Alcohol Inks with guest artist Wei Lan Lorber

Lesson Description:

Wei Lan lives near the gallery and has been part of my summer watercolor workshops since 2005. She now teaches her own classes at the gallery and in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She has an enthusiastic group of followers. She loves nature, flowers, landscapes and abstracts. We have co-hosted an International art trip to France together. Wei Lan is retired from a busy career as a chemistry teacher in the public schools. She has designed a fantastic range of unique techniques. You are going to love watching her approach to painting realistically using alcohol inks on Yupo paper.

Materials List
  • Yupo paper (heavy weight preferred)
  • Alcohol ink, blending solution
  • 91% isopropyl ink
  • Blending solution, ethanol
  • Sprayer with 91% alcohol
  • Palette
  • Gloves (optional)
  • Straw
  • (sauté) Stick
  • Credit card
  • Q tips

 

*Warning- Potential health risk

Work in a well ventilated area!
Do not inhale fumes!

Bonus Lesson