When you read the title of this post, what image popped into your head? Clapboard siding, picket fences and porch swings? Colorful flowers tumbling over stone walls? Well, this adorable cottage has all that and more. 12″ x 8″, ink & watercolor on 140 lb. paper The house is framed by pretty white picket fences… […]
Category: Tutorials
Commission #4: “The Pecan Grove”
I’ve done a wide variety of custom artwork over the years, everything from pet portraits to illustrated recipes, but this is the first time I’ve been asked to paint a grove of trees. This idyllic scene of a family walking through a Georgia pecan grove was a challenge for many reasons. “The Pecan Grove”, 12″ […]
Commission #2: A Stately Home in Atlanta
House portraits require quite a bit of back and forth communication with my clients. I usually ask for lots of photos of the property from different angles, so I can choose what works best for the composition. The client often requests a change of season for the painting, so there are discussions of what type […]
Commission #1: “Memories of Home”
I promised before Christmas that I would show you all the commissioned paintings I’ve been working on lately. Most of them were intended as gifts, so I couldn’t spoil the surprise and reveal them before the holiday. Well, now that the decorations have been packed away and things are getting back to normal around here, […]
Step-by-Step Watercolor: Fattoria Bacio
In one of my recent posts, I promised I would show you the step-by-step process I used to paint a sketch of Fattoria Bacio, our workshop location in Tuscany. The villa is perched on top of a hill, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves. One pretty fall morning, I walked out along the ridge, about […]
Sneak Preview! Step-by-Step Watercolor Painting: Terracotta Tile Roofs
In just a few short months I’ll be going back to Italy! I can’t wait to see the Tuscan hills again and enjoy the endless delights of fresh, delicious Italian food. And the gelato…don’t even get me started on that! October 3-10, 2015, will find me teaching a week-long workshop in Sketchbook Journaling at Fattoria […]
Step-by-Step Watercolor: Winter Farm Scene
My Christmas gift to you…a new watercolor tutorial! The Minor Farm, Greene County, PA, 17″ x 10.5″, ink & watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. paper Come on into my studio and look over my shoulder as I paint a rural farm scene from Greene County, Pennsylvania, where I live. This painting was done […]
Fall Harvest Journal Page + Step-by-Step Border
This page from my new nature journal shows a selection of what I collected the other day when I took a walk in the woods near our house. I wanted to see how many “crops” (seeds, nuts, and berries) I could find as fall dwindles down and winter moves in. Ink & watercolor, two-page spread […]
Step-by-Step Watercolor: Lake Scene
I visited my mother last week at Alpine Lake, West Virginia, and while I was there spent a wonderfully relaxing couple of hours following the walking trail that meanders through the woods along the shoreline. There are so many pretty, sketch-worthy scenes, but I finally chose this one: Stillman & Birn Zeta series sketchbook, 7″ […]
Step-by-Step Watercolor: How to Paint a Blue Hydrangea
Everybody loves hydrangeas. They’re big and showy, and the range of colors runs from the palest baby blue to deep burgundy and purple. I love them all, but my favorite has always been the traditional blue mophead hydrangea, and I thought you might enjoy seeing step-by-step photos of how I go about painting one. 6-1/2″ […]
