A First Watercolor Lesson. It's about paint handling, and "value"
Here is a simple “coloring book” exercise which will equip you to dig into your first painting.
You will learn how to make a “wash”, and how to adjust the “value” (the relative difference between dark and light) of your wash.

Painting Trees – Part 1
You need to get a “handle” on trees. They are fairly easy if you know how to approach the task.
Tree color is also, an issue. In reality, I paint trees in any color I feel like at the moment, but the beginner is going to want at least a little credibility. You need to know how to get the right kinds of greens. And greens can also mean reds or blues or yellows when it comes to trees. This lesson is full of tips and tricks for watercolor painting of trees.

Painting Trees – Part 2
It’s good to know how to approach painting a tree, but that’s not enough. Part 2 is a demonstration of how I do it, at least at the beginner level.
You will see how to paint in the leafy areas and then how to handle the trunk, branches and twigs.
We will examine “Sky holes”, and the general “look” of a realistic tree painting.

Preparing paper for wet in wet painting
It sounds easy, but you gotta do it right.
it is easy, but its not intuitive and the lesson is really short. Give it a watch unless you are very confident in your wet in wet watercolor technique.

A small barn makes a nice beginner landscape painting
In this simple yet far ranging painting will cover the beginnings of perspective drawing. You will become conscious of light sources and the shadows that result from them. There will be some easy, yet sophisticated concepts, introduced. These include implied edges, and massing objects to solidify composition. Its also the first lesson which I am truly happy with. ( That dopes not mean that I don't see flaws sticking out like mad. )

Skies -Smooth and Blue - Blue Realistic Skies With Birds And Light Fluffy Clouds
This anything but simple lesson demonstrates how to paint realistic skies. We cover smooth graded washes, lifting clouds out of the background, and painting birds into it. We can use clouds and birds as design elements or to cover blemishes in the otherwise perfect sky. We are going to use our sky to paint a with a wet in wet marsh.
Then we will finish off the painting with a lesson on white. That's right, white watercolor. We will use it if wee need to to accentuate our clouds.

Skies - Sunrise / Sunset --- PREREQUISITE> Preparing paper for wet in wet painting.
This three part watercolor painting lesson covers so much: smooth sky (smooth washes), "wet in wet" technique, the "lifting" of paint from the paper, how to paint water. Beginning with a fully prepared we paper, we paint the sky, from the top, blue then red then blue. while its wet we add an island to the mid ground, which effectively separates the air from the ocean. Still wet we add foreground islands which creates a channel between them. Then we let the watercolors dry. Once dry, we add a little vegetation to the edges of the foreground islands, making them very real. Finally, using blue masking tape, we easily lift out a lighthouse near the horizon. After painting in the details of the lighthouse we declare the painting done. This scene we paint is an important part of my life. it really exists, and I have painted it many times, in many different lights and in many different moods. I have made "Snake Hill Channel" narrower than life, and I have moved the lighthouse. The island on the horizon is Fire Island. It contains two State Parks, many public beaches and towns.Only the two ends of this 35 mile long strip can be accessed by car. The rest is ferry access from Long Island. From the ferries you must walk to wherever you are going.

How To Paint Dawn and Sunset Skies - Sunrise / Sunset - Part 1 - Skies with multi hues.
These skies need to be smooth yet are very interesting. Here we paint a sunrise with an orange red horizon fusing smoothly into a blue green sky. We are after convincing the viewer that they are looking at what might be a photograph. The sky is not the focus of the painting, rather the backdrop for a seascape, landscape. The mid ground is the actual subject but it is subtle, so it needs a dramatic frame to focus the eye. That is supplied by the intense value of the foreground.

How To Paint Water and Islands - Sunrise / Sunset - Part 2
Poetically speaking, these are islands in the sky. In reality the are the props for the subject,which is my favorite lighthouse. There is Fire Island off in the distance, and two other islands with the "snake hill channel" between them forming the dramatic foreground. Ya gatta love the drama in this painting and its all done with a few simple elements. The trick is the intense value and color contrasts

Lifting and Painting The Lighthouse - Sunrise / Sunset - Part 3 - Lifting out the lighthouse.
Here wes see one of the many techniques used for lifting watercolor paint.Even though the background sky is painted with a richly staining paint, we can lift enough of the paint to give the impression of a white lighthouse. This is a real scene, and this is a real lighthouse. it is Fire Island Light. It is part of my everyday world, and you can probably feel my reverence for the place.

Aspens – A snowscape.
The basis of this lesson is scraping away wet paint. It’s an important watercolor technique. In this case we will create a forest with very little effort.
The forest is the background for a double trunk tree surrounded by snow. Snow is a challenge to paint until you know how. Shadow and color is the basis of convincing snow.

Bouquet of Flowers - A Wet In Wet Floral Painting
The queen of watercolor painting techniques is wet in wet. This difficult but rewarding way of applying paint will amaze you, once you master it.

We work with the "sedimentary" properties of our paints. They diffuse outward and settle downward at different rates. This gives us the "wet in wet effect". On a small scale, the color is very broken. On a larger scale the edges are soft. We get electrifying results painting this way, and I will show you all of my tips and tricks.

How To Paint A Basket - Part 1
Baskets are favorite subjects for watercolorists, and they always look so difficult to paint. In this lesson I will show you the easy way.
Part of the lesson will be the use of watercolor medium’ gum Arabic” and also the use of masking fluid.

How To Paint A Basket - Part 2
Here we finish the painting by adding the fruit and shadow to the basket.
This part covers a little about warm and cool colors and a little about shadows in general.

Creating Depth
Depth is perhaps the single most important element in any landscape painting.
Creating depth requires several different skills. You will learn how to do it, and, most important, why.

Using shadows in landscape paintings.
There is so much to know about shadows in the landscape. There are objects in shadow which cast shadows on other things. There are shadows under overhanging surfaces. And there is the special case of foreground shadows which create the feeling of sanctuaries.

A sunny day lifts our spirits. You will learn that the hallmark of a sunny day is blue shadows. The emotional content of a painting is carried by the colors in that painting. The use of the color blue in this case, will definitely communicate a feeling of happiness. You may also come to understand the "blue period" of many famous artists.

Monoprinting using plastic wrap - Easiest Painting ever..
This as a fabulous way to generate interesting patterns in watercolor paint. Sometimes they are so beautiful that you just want to frame them< "as is". I usually use them as a "start." I use a start as the basis for a painting. The final work is always very dramatic, ( or a failure). if its a failure, that's no problem. I just wash off whatever paint I can, an then use it as another start,

Abstract Art – A discussion.
Even if you hate abstract art, you at least need to know what it’s about. If you are a beginner who loves abstract painting, or an old hand who is getting bored, this is for you.

Lessons On Composition

Color For Beginners - Mixing Colors

A lesson on how to mix any color at all, and how to mix it for maximum effect.

Color is my favorite subject. Here you will learn to use the dual primary palette, ( I use it ), and why. We can make every color at all with only 6 tubes of paint. We can also darken them, even to a black, and lighten them to almost white.

Color For Intermediates - Color Schemes

A lesson on how to select color schemes for your paintings. This is not just a watercolor lesson, but is useful with any medium. oils, acrylics, pastels, anything. It is not only a painting technique, but also a technique for your personal life. It's useful for selecting your wardrobe, the clothes you put on now, and interior decorating.

Color Advanced - Warm And Cool Colors - The Emotional Content Of A Painting

In the previous two color lessons we covered the "nuts and bolts" of color. This lesson covers the "touchy - feely" part of color. First it offers a few tips and tricks about speeding up the color learning process. The next part covers the use of color for contrast, such as creating a center of interest. We also learn to use gray to potentiale colors. The main part of the lesson is how to use color to convey feelings.

Lessons On Materials

Watercolor Paints – What they are and what you will need.
The word, “palette” means two different things. First it’s what you put your paint on. Second, it’s your available paints, in other words, not only the number of paints, but what their specific color and properties are.
There is no perfect palette, and what works for me may not work so well for someone else. Therefore what I am offering is a starting point. Hopefully you will also find it to be all you need.
We will cover the sedimentary properties of colors, which are what makes watercolors look so unique, and what makes them so beautiful. We will also cover a palette for mixing any color at all.

Watercolor Paper
The “look” of your painting, will be determined by the paper it’s painted on. Cheap paper can often be a very good choice, but good paper is a pleasure to use.
Also the ease and cost of framing will dramatically change by selecting the right size paper to use.
This lesson will cover what you need to know about watercolor paper.

All About Brushes.

This lesson covers the different brushes I use and how to use them. Also what these brushes are made of, and what what are the implications of the fibers regarding quality. durability and cost. implications of the fibers regarding quality.

Watercolor Brushes – What to look for when buying them.
Buying watercolor brushes can be an overwhelming experience. There are way too many choices. 
Brushes come in many different sizes and different are made with many different fibers. They also come in different shapes, and it’s bewildering to confront a catalogue or store display. There are way too many choices.
Experienced painters don't use dozens of brushes. Often they use only a few. You too can have just a few brushes that can do everything you want to do.

Watercolor Brush Care

Without the proper care, brushes don’t last too long. It’s not hard to care for your brushes. Funny thing is, in my experience, not one single teacher has told me how.

We will also cover how to repair a brush that has gone bad.

Watercolor Tools

Besides paint paper and brushes, there are a bunch of tools which make painting faster and easier.
Of course there is your palette. You will also need the right pencil and eraser, which is surprisingly simple. Other tools like scraping tools are easily made from credit cards and plastic spoons.

Written Lessons