If watercolor is part of your mixed-media repertoire—or you’d like it to be—I would love to introduce you to Jean Haines. This UK-based artist and author has tons of fantastic watercolor techniques to share with you, including warm-up exercises, color mixing, creating with mindfulness, plus tips for painting gorgeous flowers, animals, and more. In this…
Clothes? Check. Makeup bag? Check. Art supplies? Check. I may not always remember my toothbrush, but I never leave home without an art project. Almost every trip I have taken in the last 20 years has included a paint palette, a cluster of brushes, and watercolor paper in my bag. For the first decade of…
Crystal Neubauer’s August Art Lesson, Cold Wax Play, inspired me to try working with cold wax. Like encaustic medium, cold wax is made up of beeswax and resin, but unlike encaustic it also has solvent as part of the mix, giving it a paste-like consistency. It was time to play. I chose 300-lb. watercolor paper…
Watercolor has always intrigued me, and much more so since being introduced to Gina Lee Kim’s colorful work. Her artwork is approachable and the colors are always bright and inviting. Gina’s Fun with Watercolor series of videos has it all. I decided to check out Fun with Watercolor: Resist Effects, and I’m glad I did.…
I’m not one for jumping on a trend just because it’s popular, but the mixed-media watercolor trend lives up to the hype. The effects are incredible. No matter where you are in your watercolor practice, from never-touched-it to do-it-every-day, there’s an artist I’d like you to meet: Danielle Donaldson. Let me tell you why you…
Artists tell stories—it’s what we do. But sometimes we need fresh inspiration and a new way of looking at things to keep our stories dynamic and compelling. So I’m excited to tell you about a brand new kit called Storytelling Art Collection that’s all about helping you reveal your unique stories through your artwork while adding some…
If you’ve been following our magazine this year, you’ve likely seen the inspiring new Expressive Painting column from mixed-media artist and professional painter Annie O’Brien Gonzales. So far this year, she’s shared innovative ideas for creating expressive photo-inspired collages, acrylic paintings, and more. In this tutorial from our May/June 2017 issue, Annie walks you step-by-step through creating an oil and…
Before you embark on your summer travel plans, I have one request: Don’t send commercial postcards. I have a much better idea—send mail art on a postcard. This type of mail art doesn’t require a lot of time, the techniques are crazy fun, and the results are awesome. It’s called etegami, and Diana Trout explains it well…
In my new book, Artful Adventures in Mixed Media, I show different ways that observations and experiences can be turned into works of art. Wherever I go, one of the things I am always on the lookout for is texture. When I was in Chile last year I went to Valparaíso, a city that is…
Working with color is what makes our art exciting, what gives it a mood, an energy, and a feeling. We may have our favorite palettes, but when we shake it up a bit and try something new, breakthroughs happen. It’s like seeing the world with new eyes. Exploring color is something artists naturally love to…
