Watermedia Discovery Bundle

Carla O'Connor's painting process promotes unique, personal expression and rapid, artistic growth. In this watercolor video workshop, she uses the human form as a springboard for powerful, expressive design. Each logical step in her process addresses a specific design issue.

Carla O'Connor's video workshop stresses the importance of the steps you take to create a painting, not the final product. To Carla, the process is the most important aspect of her art. Her approach is one of incredible discipline and expressive free thought. She follows the "what ifs" and then focuses on a different design principle at every stage of her work.

In the tradition of the old masters, she brings up the entire painting at every stage. She starts big and broad then slowly adds detail.

Each stage of her thinking focuses on a different design principle. She starts with a quick gesture drawing of her model. This loose, abstracted sketch, which Carla calls the "set up," serves as the framework for her painting. Carla works flat, integrating her main shapes into the background before transferring her image to watercolor paper. As she works with gouache, Carla shows you how to break down the steps of your painting process and concentrate on one aspect of design at a time. She demonstrates building rich color and texture through many layers of paint.

Carla delves into more than just the technical aspects of laying paint onto paper. She discusses the importance of emotion in your work and when to tackle difficult subject matter. She offers ideas on making your paintings more personal and encourages you to take risks as an artist.

Animal Portraits in Watermedia with Pat Weaver

Pat's direct painting approach and limited palette help you strip away distractions and work fast on fur, whiskers, feathers, and other eye-catching textures. In this workshop you'll complete five watercolor and acrylic paintings on a variety of surfaces, so you're sure to find the right combination for all your favorite animals. Pat emphasizes shape relationships as she draws from photographs. Whether she uses dot-to-line sketching or a direct approach, you'll have clear views of her reference material throughout the workshop. She makes the most of her limited palette by carefully managing moisture. You'll learn to control value by balancing fresh pigment and water, and Pats color-mixing shortcuts help you create anything from bright red to black in seconds. Pat simplifies animal painting with judicious brushwork. You'll create convincing fur without painting individual strands, and you'll layer color to allow glowing hints of your underpainting to peek through. This workshop will teach you to see your pets in a new light!

 Capture your pet's personality with watermedia artist Pat Weaver. Pat's direct painting approach and limited palette help you strip away distractions and work fast on fur, whiskers, feathers, and other eye-catching textures. In this workshop you'll complete five watercolor and acrylic paintings on a variety of surfaces, so you're sure to find the right combination for all your favorite animals.

Pat emphasizes shape relationships as she draws from photographs. Whether she uses dot-to-line sketching or a direct approach, you'll have clear views of her reference material throughout the workshop.

She makes the most of her limited palette by carefully managing moisture. You'll learn to control value by balancing fresh pigment and water, and Pat's color-mixing shortcuts help you create anything from bright red to black in seconds.

Pat simplifies animal painting with judicious brushwork. You'll create convincing fur without painting individual strands, and you'll layer color to allow glowing hints of your underpainting to peek through. Learn to see your pets in a new light in Animal Portraits in Watermedia with Pat Weaver.

Innovative Watermedia with Nicholas Simmons

Unconventional and innovative, Nicholas Simmons brings a breath of fresh air to water-media techniques.

Join the 2007 National Watercolor Society top prize winner as he works large-scale and reveals how challenges unique to water-media can be turned to the artists advantage, with stunning results. He incorporates blooming, crawl-backs, bleeding and puddling, and demonstrates methods for integrating masked areas with wet-in-wet painting.

Nick mixes watercolor with fluid acrylic, encourages the paper to buckle, and boldly wields a spray bottle to achieve textural effects. Anticipating his own tendencies, he works safeguards into his process, and offers compelling commentary along the way. This approach is perfect for artists striving to achieve a looser look, while still maintaining control of the final painting.

Whether you work in watercolor or acrylics, you'll find a new take on your favorite medium in Innovative Water Media with Nicholas Simmons.

The Artistic Process on Yupo with George James 

George James will push your painting to the next level! George's masterful handling of the media makes it fun to watch and learn. Join National Gold Medal winner, George James as he shares his artistic process and philosophy with you from a painting's concept to completion in the Yupo and watercolor instruction video, "The Artistic Process on Yupo".

Gain insight and skill: What makes a painting an artistic expression / art as communication / creating mystery with darks/design considerations for communicating your personal statement or metaphor into your art / numerous Yupo painting techniques you can apply to your work. This watercolor instruction video teaches much more than just how to get paint on paper or technique. A rare opportunity to learn how an accomplished artist thinks. Take your painting to the next level.

The magic of George James's painting doesn't just happen. It is the result of maintaining an open channel for creative juices while building a painting, a process that seems almost counter intuitive. It is a process that must be followed in order to create paintings of authenticity and meaning.

George is a gold-medal-winning, innovative artist with a lifetime of teaching. He has championed the use of synthetic paper. In this film, George teaches the artistic process he uses to create his fabulous paintings. His work is a harmonious joining of technique to concept. He sequences the building process to best express both.

He begins with a simple sketch of a married couple having dinner over a bottle of wine. The challenge is to represent the relationship of the couple. With a simple line drawing, George demonstrates how subtle gesture establishes mood and reflects the dynamics between two people. He then uses design principles to enhance the scene. He creates a design scaffold and builds the painting.

George discusses the use of metaphor and mystery to draw the viewer into the painting and reinforces the message with mysterious darks and pleasing pattern. You hear George's reasoning for why he places shapes, his use of rhythm and balance, and color harmonies. George takes advantage of Yupo's ability to build rich textures and design flexibility, right up to the conclusion of the painting.

You see him use his techniques of ghosting, burnishing, glazing, and spritzing, finishing with a series of homemade stamps. He uses the alterations and adjustments, always keeping in mind the strength of design and how it supports his message. The resulting variation completes his design and makes each corner of the painting fascinating in its own right.

At the end of George's artistic process, the painting that began with two individuals turns out to be about relationship. You see the delicate balance between design, technique, and content and how George James keeps the flowing creative process strong and vibrant. Join George James in The Artistic Process on Yupo Paper.