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German Albrecht Dürer carefully kept sketchbooks and reference drawings and paintings for personal use throughout his career. Dürer's watercolor sketches of "mountains and river scenery anticipated the art of landscape painting." He was highly sought after by the church and noblemen for his skills in portraiture and rendering the human form. The religious woodblocks, engravings and etched prints Dürer sold were prized by his patrons and counterfeiters alike. He was forced to keep careful records of the inventories and copyrights of his printed work. His exacting and careful studies of nature, many done while convalescing in his early 30s, are...

Have you ever heard of Payne's Grey? It's a beautiful bluish-grey color that's commonly used in paintings and has become a staple in the art world. But did you know that the color is named after a painter named William Payne? Learn about Payne's life, his contributions to the art world, and his innovative watercolor painting techniques that have made him a pioneer of modern watercolor art.

Embellish your written words through the clever use of watercolor and calligraphy. This watercolor technique shared by Linsey Bugbee is a step-by-step crash course on watercolor calligraphy for beginners.

Watercolors California watercolorist Kathleen Alexander has been painting watercolors with an eye for beautiful places and things for over 20 years. Her web site offers a select gallery of her landscapes and florals that are excellent for studying watercolor technique. Her paintings hang in many private collections and she has a variety of high-quality prints available for your perusal.

American J.W.S. Cox is known for having first "invented" and explored the full possibilities of the wet-on-wet watercolor technique, the technique of painting on water saturated paper. Cox was born on May 18, 1911 in Yonkers, New York, the son of an architect and his wife. He grew up in Bruynswick and Wallkill, New York, and from an early age sketched landscapes. He graduated from Pratt Institute in New York City (1933), while working at various jobs during the Great Depression. From 1928-1936 Cox studied the works of El Greco for composition, Feininger for design, Turner for color and Cèzanne...

Charles Sheeler, an American artist American artist Charles Sheeler, was a "precisionist" who used precisely defined forms and smoothly brushes surfaces to reveal the appearance and experience of American life. Always aware of the importance of abstract design, Charles Sheeler's paintings reflect, as subject matter, the industrialization and isolation of American life. Using photography to isolate the abstract design in realistic images, Sheeler needed "a complete conception of the picture" in his mind before he began painting. His paintings and fine art photography are in numerous international collections. — Watercolor Masters: Charles Sheeler © 2010 Greg Conley — Charles Sheeler,...

American "James McNeill Whistler, the painter of that most American of works--the very icon of American motherhood--"Arrangement in Grey and Black" (better known, of course, as "Whistler's Mother"), ironically left the United States at the age of twenty-one, never to return. Whistler lived as an expatriate, alternating between London and Paris depending on the local artistic climate at the time. Egotistical, abrasive, and yet extremely talented, he stands as an isolated figure in art history, never directly associated with a specific style or school of painting. As a result, Whistler's work has in modern times rarely received the attention it...

Watercolor Temecula CA, USA David Musser's popular watercolor classes and demos are a regional favorite in southern California. Although he mainly works in watercolor, David is fluent in drawing, pastels, oils, and acrylics and teaches drawing, pastel, and watercolor at UC Riverside, CA. He is a plein aire painter who has won eighteen Best of Show or First Place Awards. David was working as a professional musician before a degree in applied art from San Diego State University led to 12 years working as an illustrator, animator, and art director in the motion picture/TV industry. After opening his own gallery...