Greg Conley

For this Independence Day special, we'll show you how to practice basic watercolor techniques as we tackle all the stars, stripes, and folds of an American flag!

Paul Klee, a Swiss-born German artist German-Swiss artist Paul Klee brought his personal expression about in the form of fantasy and whimsy. His perception of the "modern" world was rendered in brevity with a simplistic, primitive style which he drew from children's and primitive art. A member of the Blue Rider School, he believed in the unity of nature and emotion and derided illusionistic art. Using simple line and forms of men, animals, and fantastic creatures, his gentle commentary on human weakness and folly exploited the symbols, signs and archaic patterns of the collective unconscious. Klee's works are replete with...

East Boothbay, Maine, USA Tony van Hasselt's workshops are still very popular. They should be, this whole "watercolor workshop" thing is largely his fault. As an immigrant-pioneer-art student, he and his friend, artist Jay O'Melia launched the first Painting Holidays workshops in 1963. In 1972, Tony van Hasselt was elected to the American Watercolor Society and in 1992, with Judi Wagner, he co-authored the Watercolor Fix-It Book. They introduced the "8 Building Blocks of Painting" concept to simplify creating, analyzing, and fixing paintings that have gone astray. Tony has been featured in American Artist, Southwest Art, Australian Artist, and his...

Phi Divine Proportion and the Golden Spiral Pleasing shapes, interesting coincidences, existential ramifications, and some mathematics reality... using this unique set of mathematical concepts can create an innate linear balance when used formally for composing your artwork. This is one of those weird places where science interacts with visual aesthetics, philosophy, and the meaning of life. Maybe. : Phi = 1.618033988749895... The Golden Number, prounounced "fi" as in "fly." In the Golden Rectangle with A as the height and B as the width, the ratio reveals itself: A is to B as B is to the sum of A and...

After underpainting in bright basic hues, I develop a field and the tree line in high silhouette. This was a fun experiment. Materials used: Brushes 1 1/2" (381mm) Flat Winsor & Newton Series 965 #10 Winsor & Newton 820 round red sable #5 Scripto Red Sable Rigger #8 Winsor & Newton 820 round red sable #6 Grumbacher Watercolor Classic Red Sable Paints Sap Green Hooker's Green Dark Cerulean Blue Cobalt Blue Dioxazine Purple Alizarin Crimson Permanent Rose Raw Sienna Burnt Umber Indian Yellow Pthalocyanine Green Paper Watercolor Block (12" x 16") Arches #140 cold pressed Miscellaneous #2 Pencil Kneaded Eraser...

Let's beat the summer heat with a cool watermelon watercolor painting! In this tutorial, Yasmina shows us how to use basic watercolor techniques to create a vibrant and juicy fruit painting - perfect for a sunny day!

This is your cheat sheet for mixing colors accurately.

Stretching your watercolor paper has certain aesthetic advantages. You'll end up with a perfectly flat surface on which to work. This surface will stay relatively flat as you work and the finished painting will dry perfectly flat. The only disadvantage is that it takes some effort and dedication to do it consistently. Any paper of less than #300 weight is bound to warp according to the amount of water absorbed in the painting process. Synthetic papers generally do not warp at all. Watercolor paper in prepared blocks will dry flat also, if left on the block to dry. There are...