Let’s paint a Candy Cane with Watercolor Pencils and Watercolor! Full relaxing tutorial!

Hi friends! I saw a beautiful reference photo on Instagram by Dennis Pfeil Artworks, he hosts the #foodpaintchallenge where artists can create a painting from his weekly reference photo and share it. I thought that was just the thing I felt like doing, so I did!

I hope you will paint along with me. This video is step-by-step and in real-time. Feel free to share it with your friends and all paint along together!

Supplies (affiliate links used)

• Watercolor paper: Paul Rubens sparkle paper, hot press, roughly 5″x7″
• Derwent Watercolor pencils (36 set) Amazon or Blick
• Utrecht watercolors
• Bleed proof white: Blick or Amazon
• White gel pen
• *My craft amo brushes and a #1 round (only a few sets left!)

I hope you are having a lovely holiday season. I have some wrapping and a little more crafting to do before the weekend but I actually feel like I have enough time to enjoy it, knock on wood! Happy crafting!

Paint a Purple Cupcake in Watercolor Pencils!

Howdy friends! The other day I shared this watercolor pencil painting I did in my sketchbook:

I had a few requests to do a tutorial so I thought I would for our beginner tutorial this week. I have been posting beginner (probably over explained but I just want to make sure even beginners can follow along) tutorials on Wednesdays and I hope they are useful:) Let me know if they are just too simple or if I hit the mark:)

Photo credit: thescranline. If you like baking check them out. Their Instagram account is fabulous! (I don’t bake so I follow their IG account for the pretty photos and they encourage fan art!)

Supplies: Affiliate links used. Watercolor pencils and paper from Arteza *Use coupon code FRUGAL10 for 10% off if shopping on the Arteza Website.

• Arteza Expert Watercolor pencils (also on Amazon)
• Arteza Watercolor sketchbook (also on Amazon)
• Arteza Waterbrushes *I prefer this type to the other ones they sell as the push button on the side is handy:) (also on Amazon)

As always use whatever watercolor pencils (or watercolor crayons) you have to follow along. Heck try it in watercolor or regular colored pencils is you like. It’s your art and I want to inspire you to create with whatever you like! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Fox in Watercolor Pencil and Giveaway!

Hi friends! Today we will paint a fox in watercolor pencils!

You can use any watercolor pencils you have but if you are in search for a good quality and inexpensive set check out this set of 36 from your sponsor AMAZROCK. You get 36 vibrant colors in a reusable storage wrap for $21.30 (Regular $47.98) They are even offering an additional 10% off coupon if you sign up on their website.

Watch the video to see the real-time watercolor pencil tutorial.

Supplies:

• Watercolor Pencils (Amazrock)
• Paper 6″x9″ 140# 100% cotton Aquabee Watercolor Paper
• Watercolor brushes *I recommend small synthetic golden taklon brushes such as Royal & Langnickel Aqualon or Majestic
• Water bucket, paper towel and a board to tape your paper down to
• Printable pattern
• Reference Photo

GIVEAWAY!!!

Amazrock is giving away a set of 36 watercolor pencils with carrying wrap to THREE lucky viewers. Click this link to enter the giveaway.

I am glad that companies are offering good quality watercolor pencils at a low price and this kit will be in my go to summer travel kit. I think I might even be able to wrap it around my travel watercolor palette and DIY watercolor block due to the extended strap length. I hope you give today’s tutorial a try and good luck in the giveaway! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Easy-Peasy Watercolor Pencil Project: Carnations!

 

Hi friends! I have had a lot of requests for watercolor pencil projects lately so I though I’d whip up an easy, beginner real-time project for you.

You only need 4 basic colors that should be in most sets of 12. I wanted it to be accessible to everyone and also I think it is smart to try a limited supply project if you are new to a media so you can see if you like it before spending a lot of money on supplies. All you need is a red, yellow, blue and green, cool huh? Watch the video to see how I did this (and how you can too!)

The great thing about a recorded video is that you can speed it up or slow it down or pause if needed so you can go at your own pace.

Supplies:

• Watercolor pencils (red, yellow, green, blue) Spectrum Noir Aquablend
• Watercolor greeting cards
• Artist Photo Reference: flowers (book)

I made a playlist of my watercolor pencil projects if you like the media and want to learn more.

There are many great brands of watercolor pencils out there but the best ones are the ones you already have so break them out of the box and play! If you don’t have any yet the Spectrum Aquablend ones I used in the video are very good and affordable.  The other thing I like about the Spectrum Aquablends is that if you start with the primary set and love them you can buy other sets and there are no duplications between the sets of 24 as opposed to other brands where if you buy the 12 set and then get a bigger set you end up with 12 doubles. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Watercolor on YUPO Live at 12:30pm ET today! Southwest Landscape Tutorial!

Hi friends! Have you ever wanted to “loosen up” in your watercolor painting? If so, I have just the thing for you: Yupo!

Yupo is a synthetic paper that is loads of fun to play with! A lot of people are using it for alcohol ink these days but I have always loved it for watercolor (so much so that I bought a ream of it about 18 years ago and I am still using it up! Luckily it is synthetic and doesn’t go bad LOL.) Yupo is a very smooth thin white sheet of plastic that never buckles or warps while you paint on it. If you don’t like your painting you can rinse it off and try again. It easily takes watercolor pencil too which was a fun surprise I discovered today and it is awesome even with less expensive paints! I used to use this with my M Graham watercolors (which are my favorite but since they are in my big studio palette I rarely use them on camera because I can’t fit the palette in the video) but I often found the surface to be sticky due to the honey content I think but I don’t have this issue with my Prima watercolors which are really nice watercolors at a low price aimed at crafters. Are you curious? Well you can paint with me live today at 12:30pm ET and find out more! You can see the live broadcast or replay in the player below but if you want to chat live be sure to tune in on the YouTube watch page.

Supplies:

• Yupo paper (you can also use this paper with alcohol inks, acrylics and other media!)
• Watercolors (Prima watercolor confections: Decadent Pies) *On sale for $17 currently. I also recommend the Tropical set as a good inexpensive mixing set.
• Silicone tools (the set I have has tripled in price and take 2 months to arrive but I found a cheaper set that are single ended.
• Brushes:*I am recommending this set of Royal Majestic brushes on sale for $16 as they have good control and do not hold as much water as my Mimiks because we are working on Yupo. Yupo is a plastic paper and water does not absorb so if you use a lot of water it will take a long time to dry.
• Watercolor pencils Spectrum Noir Aquablend Naturals Set. The primary set would be good to have too. *you can get by with just the naturals set for today’s tutorial. I am seeing 12 piece sets coming out that are as are selling for as much as the 24 pencil sets linked above so I am not sure if they are changing them, if so grab the bigger sets now while you can:)
• Other: Paper towel, bucket of water
• I combined 3 photos from the Artist Photo Reference book Landscapes to make this picture. This series of books is wonderful if you can get your hands on then at a reasonable price. I was able to get the full set of books piecemeal from several used book sellers on amazon.They come and go, check back often here.

My Original artwork is available for sale!

Have you ever wanted to own one of my original watercolors? I have a selection available for the month of February on my website, first come first served.

We will be adding a new collection of paintings every month and removing the old. You guys have been asking me to offer these for years and now hubby has made it happen. Thank you for the encouragment to do this. 🙂 We’ll see you at 12:30 for some wet and wild watercolor on Yupo! Til then happy crafting!

Sketch Everyday! A Fluffy Ducking!

Hi friends! The best habit you can do to improve your art is to sketch a bit everyday. Taking just 20 minutes a day to practice will serve you better than on 2 hour session on the weekend. Think of it this way, would it be better to lift light weights for 20 minutes 5 days a week or carry a piano up a flight of stairs once a week? Daily exercise of course! Hey, if you can draw or paint for an hour a day that’s even better but for now just aim for 15-20 minutes. If you are afraid that you won’t have anything to sketch just draw what you see. I also recommend making a personalized reference file folder where you can keep photos you might want to paint or draw. I use an expandable file folder and I collect clippings from magazines, seed catalogs, computer print-outs and photographs I have taken. I have been collecting these snippets for years and I learned to do this from my art teacher who had a filing cabinet full of folders of images. I learned to draw in the pre-internet days of the 1980s so if you needed a reference image you went to your folders or the library! I find that the internet can be a massive distraction so if you can access the visual info without getting sucked into the rabbit hole all the better. So if you are wondering how you will ever find 20 minutes to sketch each day might I suggest turning off the computer or smart phone. At least that is where my time seems to get sucked away. Present blogs excluded, this is not a waste of time LOL:)

I have decided to film some of my morning warm up sketches to share my process. Feel free to sketch along! One more thing, I want to stress that drawing from life is probably the best way to understand light and form so be sure to sketch your cat or the fruit on your table or anything else you see in real life. It will make the work you do from reference photos look more authentic. Here is the reference photo I used and I chose to only sketch the duckling that was fully visible.

I added a vague puddle and stones to complete the sketch. Please not that I did not get the feet right at the start and notice what I did to adjust them during the sketch. Watercolor pencils are nice for this rework-ability but feel free to use a regular pencil if you prefer!

Video!

Supplies

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolor pencils
• Synthetic paint brushes
• Water bucket and paper towels

*Above are affiliate links to Consumer Crafts. They had the best prices on the supplies I used today!

Coming up tomorrow!

It ‘a day of live painting classes on YouTube, I have teamed up with Angela Anderson and Cinnamon Cooney to bring you a day of live painting! Angela will be live with an acrylic castle tutorial at 11am, I will follow at 12:30pm and Cinnamon Cooney (the Art Sherpa) will paint after me in acrylics! It will be a lot of fun and don’t worry, we will record our classes so you can watch them later if you can’t make it live! I am so excited to be a part of this collab. I will have more info in this tomorrow morning,til then, happy crafting!

 

Iris in Watercolor Pencil Tutorial!

Today we are going to make a mixed media painting using the supplies that came in this month’s Smart Art Box.

Learn to draw and paint this iris flower in watercolor pencils by following along with today’s video!

Supplies:

• Watercolor pencils
• Watercolor paper
• Brushes
• Reference photo

This project is perfect for a beginner to watercolor pencils. Feel free to use the supplies you have on hand and even add watercolor paint to the mix if you want! If you would like to receive a box of supplies delivered to your door every month check out the subscription boxes from our sponsor Smart Art Box. A subscription also makes a great last-minute holiday gift! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

LIVE! Watercolor Pencil 101 12:30pm ET Today!

Hi friends! Today I am going to answer all of the questions I get about watercolor pencils (and I have gotten a lot over the years!) We will go over bet paper to use, best brushes and also what pencils are the best for each budget and application! I will cover both fine art applications and rubber stamping/crafting applications.

 

We will be live here and on YouTube at 12:30pm ET but the replay will be available if you can’t make it. If you have a question and want to chat live be sure to watch live on YouTube during the broadcast. I will also respond to questions in the comments section after the broadcast it over.

Resources!

• You can find most of the pencils I will talk about (all the “art” brands) at our sponsor Jerry’s Artarama!
• I will also mention a couple of craft company brands that are very nice: Spectrum Aqua and Prima and they can be found here.
• The stamps I am using are from Rubbernecker
• Blender pens for use on cardstock so the paper doesn’t pill

Want more info on watercolor pencils or drawing? How about a class? Any Craftsy classes you buy via my link (including my class! Here is the 50% off link for followers) supports my channel and keeps my daily videos free for you! See what’s on sale at Craftsy!

I hope to see you for an hour (or so) of watercolor pencil fun! Happy crafting!

 

Paint with me LIVE in 2 Hours: Peony in Inktense!

Hi Friends! This week during our free live Friday class we will draw and paint this beauty! We go live every Friday at 12:30 Eastern Time, so mark it on your calendar!

If you have Inktense water soluble pencils it is a great time to use them, if not you can paint along with the watercolor pencils or paints you have. If you have been thinking about getting Inktense pencils check this out, I will go over the benefits of these pencils as well as the drawbacks so you can see if it is worth the investment. You can watch the live stream or the replay in the player below but if you want to hang out and chat with your fellow painters make sure you view it on the YouTube watch page.

Find Supplies at our sponsor Jerry’s Artarama!

Inktense pencils: (or use any watercolor pencils)
Inktense colors used:
Mustard #1700
Cad. Yellow #210
Apple Green #1400
Fall Green #1530
Iris Blue #900
Carmine Pink #520
Shiraz #600
Fuchsia #700

Paper: #140 hot press watercolor paper or 100% cotton Printmaking paper (I am using Fabriano Artistico HP)  (I tear down a full sheet to 7″x11″ or 1/8th of a sheet)

Brushes: #4 cats tongue/filbert or round brush, #8 round

Other: Paper Towel and water bucket

Reference photo by Paolo Vieceli at Paint my Photo

 

I hope to see you in the cat during the live class. Sarah will be here to take any of your questions during the broadcast so don’t be shy if you don’t understand something, we are here to help. Until then, happy crafting!

PS, if you want more cool art techniques professionally filmed and in HD quality check out my Craftsy class and save 50% today!