Joe Miller Free Videos on Painting Techniques

On his website www.cheapjoes.com, Joe Miller has 10 free instructional videos demonstrating watercolor techniques. Here is a link about mixing color and scraping http://media.cheapjoes.com/09-joe-miller.html

Rules of Watercolor

  1.  Paintings always look better when you smile when you paint.
  2. Enjoy what you do. The process is more important than the product.
  3. Don't be hard on yourself if it doesn't turn out the way you imagined it in your head. Look for what you have learned from that experience.
  4. You will probably never do the "perfect" painting. So, rather than tearing into yourself every time you do a painting and seeing the "bad" area, try to find the good in it and not dwell on the negative. Next painting will have a different "bad" area anyhow!
  5. The more you practice, the better you will be.
  6. Spend the extra money for quality watercolor paper and brushes. For classes blocks are handy.
  7. Passion is more important than talent.
  8. Spend time just mixing color or painting small studies that aren't actually paintings. Better yet, start a journal of these practice sessions.
  9. Paint what appeals to you.
  10. Strive to develop your own style rather that copying someone else's style.Your style will develop as to your color preferences and what size brushes you prefer and how much detail you include.

Still Life Tips

  1. Create a still life out of objects you can relate to, maybe your favorite things like coffee cup, books, paint brushes. Odd numbers are better than even numbers.
  2. Move the objects around to get the best composition. Try the light from different angles.
  3. Select the size of the paper to compliment the shape of the masses. There should be interesting positive and negative shapes.
  4. Never be in a hurry. If you are not concentrating an doing your best, take a break or come back the next day to work on it.
  5. Let some edges be lost.
  6. Be realistic about what you can handle.
  7. Letting your brush move without a plan can lead to problems.
  8. Carry your color scheme throughout the painting. If you have red roses, have that color somewhere else in the painting, such as a petal on the foreground cloth.

Watercolor tips and tutorials

 

Liquid Masking Tips:

  1. The  masking fluid products shelf time is about a year. So it may be better to buy a smaller cheaper bottle as opposed to a larger more expensive one. Most brands work well. However, I do not use Winsor Newton brand as it is thicker and turns to rubber in the botte.
  2. Store your bottle upside down so that the gummy stuff settles to the bottom of the container and not the top.
  3. I use stimudents to apply the mask for areas that need precise detail.
  4. Need highlights on a river. Pour masking fluid is a shallow dish. dip the flat end of the bull clip in the liquid and stamp it on the portion the paper that you want shimmering highlight. The stamping gives an imperfect line and looks more natural than just painting on lines of mask.

Transfering a photograph image to a blank page.

  1. Materiqals needed: Photograph , scanner, Photoshop program on computer, inkjet printer,Golden Medium Matte Medium (an acrylic medium),sponge
  2. Scan the photograph into Photoshop
  3. Print off on inkjet printer
  4. Cut out around the outside of the image.
  5. Coat the front of the image heavily with Golden Matte Medium
  6. Lay it face down (image side down) on a sturdy surface. I used a blank book board.
  7. Let it dry overnight.
  8. Use a sponge to wet the back. The white side  of the computer is what you see now.
  9. Use your finger and roll off the paper.( I actually find that spitting on my finger and rolling the paper off works better that the sponge).
  10. What will be left when you get the paper off is the ink of the image transferred by the matte medium.
  11. It isn't perfect. With a little doctoring up with colored pencils or acrylic paint you have a great art piece that will have a likeness that others think you painted from scratch.

Masking with Gum Arabic

This project works best with a heavier weight of watercolor paper (200 to 300 lbs). Draw design on the watercolor paper. Paint all of the positive shapes with a thick coat of Gum Arabic. Let that dry. Next wet the negative part of the painting and alternatively float in watercolor paint and black India ink. When this is almost dry, take it to the sink and run water gently over the paper. Don't worry if some of the ink or paint goes on to the positive shapes as the gum arabic acts as a resist. This stage is very unpredictable. Let it dry . Now you are ready to take off some areas with a frisk scrubber or magic erasersponge. Add color on with watercolor, gouche, white gesso and colored pencils. Here's a sample of the technique.

Under painting using crucifix pattern

This is a hand out that I created for my Monthaven Watercolor class.