Tips and Techniques

  When I opened a new package of three little Aquabord™ panels, I thought I was trying a new painting surface… a thin layer of fine white kaolin clay on a hardboard with a pebbly texture, heralded as ideal for use with watercolors. The surface absorbs watercolor pigment similarly to cold-pressed (textured) watercolor paper, but the paint can be easily removed. It’s sometimes known as scratchboard, and when I was a kid we created our own by covering heavy paper … Read More

  I have many passions; my newest painting combines two: watercolor and wildflowers. It’s of one of my favorite springtime woodland flowers, Bloodroot. The  3″ flowers are among the earliest bloomers in March in my Tennessee woods, unfurling their pure white petals in striking contrast with the dark, wintry forest floor. Bloodroot was traditionally used as a medicinal plant by Native Americans, as well as a natural dye. The red roots and the stems release a blood-color sap when cut, … Read More

  All my paintings in the past year were done in acrylics, and now I’m trying to ease back into watercolors. Over the years I’ve done many watercolor paintings using a limited palette – basically just red, yellow and blue – such as Jerry Van Music Man and Grandpa’s Fiddle Break. In those cases, I mixed the pigments on the palette to create new colors, then brushed the mixed colors on the paper. Now I’m trying another method: letting the … Read More

“Elle’s Tobacco Planter” I once visited a gallery where the artist’s bio said he painted everything from his imagination – this was hard to believe, considering his work was realistic, detailed, and covering a wide variety of subjects. I learned quickly when I began painting decades ago that I would need to rely on reference photos to paint from. Some artists work outdoors, on location – en plein air – but that requires the time and flexibility to get out … Read More

I love the creative opportunities I have when designing and painting a landscape. If I’m not depicting a “landmark,” as I described in my August post, then I have the freedom to invent my own scene. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I keep a big reference file of my own digital photos, from which I have fun borrowing and combining elements when painting a landscape. I often create landscapes with one main focal point, like a building or an … Read More

I remember my first ride in a Volkswagen Beetle. I was a young teen and my friend Cindy’s sister Martha was driving me home in her “bug.” To an impressionable teen, she seemed to be one with her car. I remember the left turn from Main Street onto the street where I lived; with no on-coming traffic she didn’t slow down much as she cut the corner. I watched her pull the steering wheel with her two hands right next … Read More

  March came ‘in like a lion’ where I live in SE Tennessee (with tornado warnings) and in many other parts of the country, so I’ll stick with that as the theme I had already chosen for this month’s features.  “Her Highness” was one of my first animal paintings, during what might be called my African wildlife phase. My wonderful friends Bill and Lois had been on safaris in Africa and came home with amazing photographs. They invited me to … Read More

Reference photos from my extensive files After the challenge of “In The Spotlight,” my second recent watercolor painting took me back into my comfort zone:  an old truck, a farm building, animals, and barbed wire. My goal was to incorporate and connect some diverse elements, hoping I could create a path for the eye to follow through my painting. My inspiration for this painting began with the old fire truck, retired from service from the nearby mountain community of Coker … Read More

“Third time’s a charm” was a proverb I hoped would prove true as I decided to capture this scene in watercolor after two previous unsatisfactory attempts. I had taken photos about 4 years ago on an October evening in the mountains with my friends Debra and Mike. When Mike took a seat under the floodlight and started playing his guitar, I snapped a few shots with the intention of giving them to him. Later, when I reviewed the photos, I … Read More

Some of my reference photos Painting “Elles Tobacco Planter” has been on my mind for a long time. I have taken oodles of reference photos of this quirky piece of farm equipment, from various angles, in different seasons, close up and distant. The planter sits on the edge of the drive into the farm of my friends Carolyn and Mitch. This is an old 2-man tobacco planter which Mitch used long ago. (Read below how it is used). There are … Read More