Artist's Blogs

In watercolor you learn from others. You learn by seeing and watching, not just by doing. But you will need to do plenty of doing as well. You'll notice that the styles of a lot of the following artists are very loose. That's what I like and that is what I am trying to learn. If that's not your thing, you may need to seek out other blogs and other artists. Studying the work of other artists inspires and sometimes makes something click.

Jane Blundell's Blog - Jane doesn't post too often, then some will come in a spurt. I consider the world's authority on color and color mixing. While she works mostly in Daniel Smith she has color swatched and evaluated many brands of watercolors. Reading through her posts might help to choose what brand or brands of watercolor you want in your palette as well as what colors. Why do I like Daniel Smith so much? Aside from the Buff Titanium that Jane turned me on to, it's because they have one of the darkest, richest Raw Umbers. That is what I use to measure all of the other brands. Some hold their own and some are left wanting.

BrushesWithWatercolor - I really like John Haywood's style. He posts once a week which makes his blog manageable. He also describes his process and his commenters are positive and instructive. There is lots of sharing.

Doodlewash - Charlie O'Shields, perhaps the master of the daily sketch. Worth subscribing for the giveaways. He also runs World Watercolor Month in July.

Iain Stewart - I took a workshop from him and it was fabulous. He doesn't post a lot.

Gurney Journey - James Gurney illustrated Dinotopia. Love the books. Love the blog.

Watercolour Log - Peter Ward does some beautiful work.

D. Katie Powell Art - along the lines of Jane Blundell but much less focused. Some very interesting posts and photos of palettes, work areas and such.

Brenda Swensen - Her blog is a mini-workshop. She has blog posts that are tutorials on how to paint.

Urban Sketchers - They have a group blog that has contributors from all over the country and the world. Really interesting.

Marc Taro Holmes - He's written several books including The Urban Sketcher and the newly released Direct Watercolor.

Several vendors have blogs on their websites (Cheap Joe's and Greenleaf &Blueberry come immediately to mind) and quite a few artists have them on their websites (such as Jane Blundell and John Haywood). If you see a blog, click on it and give it a look.

You may find some of these artists on YouTube, either with their own accounts or videos of their workshops by other people.