Turner Natural Rose Madder Watercolor Review: Beautiful but Fugitive Purchase this paint ONLINE Turner Natural Rose Madder is a genuine single-pigment NR9 watercolor made from Natural Madder Lake. It is a beautifully transparent, low-staining red that lifts easily and, in my tests, produces some absolutely wonderful blossoms. But there is an important catch. Genuine Rose…
Winsor & Newton Cerulean Blue (PB35) is a granulating, green-leaning blue with noticeable opacity and a moderate value range. I especially like it for charging into dark washes, creating atmospheric fog, adding granulation, and placing cool accents over darker passages. Purchase this paint ONLINE Winsor & Newton Cerulean Blue (PB35) is a color that took…
Watercolor Essentials: Finding the Best Green Watercolor Paint Green has traditionally been the color I struggle with the most. I don’t particularly enjoy painting greens, and for years I avoided using many tube greens in my mixtures. Why? Well, I don’t like most tube greens. Then one of my students called me out on my…
Winsor & Newton Ultramarine Blue (PB29) is one of the essential colors on my watercolor palette. This affordable blue produces dramatic granulation, lifts easily, and mixes beautiful darks and near-blacks—especially when combined with Burnt Sienna. Watercolor Essentials: Ultramarine Blue (PB29) Purchase this paint ONLINE Ultramarine Blue is one of those colors that simply belongs on…
Watercolor Essentials: Burnt Sienna Winsor & Newton Burnt Sienna is one of the foundational colors on my watercolor palette. This granulating, low-staining earth color lifts easily and mixes beautiful grays, darks and near-blacks with blues. Purchase this paint ONLINE Burnt Sienna is one of the few colors I have on EVERY single watercolor palette I…
Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue is one of the foundational colors on my watercolor palette. This classic blue is low staining, easy to lift, and incredibly versatile for skies, water, shadows, and color mixing. It’s also expensive—but Cobalt Blue is one of those pigments I consider worth the price. In this watercolor review, I’ll look…
Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria Neuschwanstein Castle—the “Disney Castle”—is probably Germany’s most famous castle. Maybe Europe’s. Rising above the Bavarian countryside, it sits high on a hill surrounded by the foothills of the Alps. It is absolutely beautiful and completely deserving of the hype. Purchase the original painting & fine art prints I first visited…
One of the biggest challenges I have when teaching watercolor is convincing students to follow the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Silly. You don’t need 30 colors, expensive brushes, or three days to make a successful watercolor painting. Some of the best exercises use just a couple of colors and a few layers of paint….
The Outer Banks are one of North Carolina’s biggest tourist draws—and for good reason. Miles and miles of narrow barrier islands, beaches, dunes, little towns and, of course, lighthouses. I’ve vacationed there plenty of times myself. But I also have a problem. I like photographing buildings. A lot. My obsession with architectural photography is pretty…
NCSU Bell Tower Watercolor Paintings, Art Prints & Graduation Gifts I’ve lived in Raleigh for years, so I’ve probably driven past the NCSU Bell Tower thousands of times. I teach watercolor classes at Pullen Arts Center, which means I also have the pleasure of regularly navigating the traffic circle next to the Bell Tower—a traffic…
