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What is a focal point in art?
A focal point attracts the attention of the viewers and draws them into our paintings.
A painting may or may not have a focal point. It may have more than one focal point.
Artists have multiple tools for creating a focal point.
How do we paint good art?
Display the heart of the artist with good art painted with “The Big Three”.
Composition attracts people, Color evokes emotions, Values create a good painting.
Use the big threes to paint good art.
How to Paint a Butterfly with oil paint
Have you ever wanted to learn how to paint a butterfly? Many artists are inspired by their colors and interesting patterns.
This painting uses the basics of oil painting. You can use the same techniques for more butterfly paintings or any other subject you desire.
How do we start a painting?
Learn how to start a painting with five easy steps to start any art painting.
Use these steps to start your own creations and to practice the painting tutorials
Begin Painting with Answers
You want to begin painting, but you need answers to frequently asked questions.
What should we paint? Is it expensive to start painting art? What paint should we use?
What colors do we need? Do we have to draw? What materials do we need to start?
How do we start painting? How do we store our paint?
Try a Mixed Media Painting
Feel the joy and freedom of painting mixed media.
Create awesome paintings with this easy painting technique. Do a textured underpainting with acrylic. Then do the watercolor painting on top of the dried acrylic.
This creates a wonderful difference from the normal watercolor painting.
Painting Daily Will Make You a Better Artist
Can painting daily really make you a better artist?
You bet it will!
Regular painting will put your art into overdrive! You don’t have to paint perfect. Just paint more often.
Continue reading "Painting Daily Will Make You a Better Artist"
Use the Principles of Art In Your Paintings
Use the principles of art to create successful paintings.
Learn how artists create pleasing compositions by using the art elements according to the principles of painting art.
Continue reading "Use the Principles of Art In Your Paintings"
Beginning Watercolor
Watercolor doesn't have to be scary. It's an easy medium to start painting.
Learn the 101 basics of watercolor for beginners.
Then paint a Rufous Hummingbird and flower with the step-by-step tutorial.
Mixing colors is fun!
Artists use the color wheel when we are learning how to mix colors.
Use only three or four colors for a painting and then mix any additional colors. This creates color harmony.
We can mix the greens, darks and tints for our paintings. We don’t buy them.
Creating Good a Compositon in Art
Good compositions in art draw the viewers into our paintings. How do we paint a good composition?
When we are painting, it's important to remember the rule of center lines. We normally do not place the main subject on the center lines. Why is that?
What are good ways to create a composition in art?
It's time to plant bare root roses.
Spring is on the way. The Daffodils have been blooming. It's time to tidy up our rose gardens.
If we are going to plant bare root roses, now is the time. They need time for the roots to get established before warm weather.
How to Make Skin Colors
Someone requested how to mix skin colors. It had been forty years since painting a person, but I gave it a whirl.
Skin colors can be mixed from only 3 colors.
Once we have the basics of mixing colors, we can mix the colors for any subject.
Learning How to Paint Watercolor
Learn how to watercolor with confidence and knowledge. Paint a Rufous Hummingbird with a step-by-step tutorial.
Watercolor is clean easy and good for beginners.
How to Grow Roses
Everything you need to know about how to care for roses, watering, fertilizing, pest control, where and the time to plant a rose, pruning roses, and rose bush types.
Painting Watercolor Step by Step
Get started painting watercolor step by step.
What materials do you need? How do you use watercolor? What are the steps and methods of painting watercolor?
Paint a colorful Koi Angelfish while you are learning how to paint watercolor. Follow the easy steps for the beginner and get started painting watercolor.
Choose Colors for a Painting: Create beautiful, harmonious paintings
How do we choose colors for a painting? You can create beautiful, harmonious paintings. How do professionals create beautiful paintings with only 3 or 4 colors?
Continue reading "Choose Colors for a Painting: Create beautiful, harmonious paintings"
Rule of Thirds makes dynamic compositions
Artists use the rule of thirds to create dynamic compositions. It is the shortcut for easy composition. It creates balanced paintings that attract the viewers.
Continue reading "Rule of Thirds makes dynamic compositions"
Painting a Lion tutorial
A tutorial of painting a lion with oils. Follow three easy steps and create your lion painting. First underpaint the colors, then paint, last detail and finish.
Best Painting Medium
What is the best painting medium for the artist? What mediums are good for beginners while they are learning? What are the popular painting mediums for today?
Home Art Studio
What every artist need to know: setting up our home art studio. What to include in our own private art painting space, so the creative juices are free to flow.
How to Paint a Landscape
Every artist needs to know how to paint a landscape. Use aerial perspective, values, colors, texture and detail to create an appealing mountain lake painting.
How to Paint a Waterfall
Paint a waterfall in a colorful fall landscape.
You can add a lovely waterfall to any of your oil paintings with only three steps.
It’s fun and easy! Get the full instructions.
The Secret to Painting
Why do we paint?
The real secret to painting is we paint to express ourselves, what we see around us.
Painting makes us healthy, helps us relax and relieve stress.
Different Types of Butterflies
Painting butterflies is one of my passions and so is growing flowers. The two go together beautifully.
When I lived in Florida there was such an abundance of butterflies. They like warm weather just like people.
So I started planting more flowers just for the butterflies. My favorite butterfly flower is Lantana. They come in a variety of colors. And some colors will over-winter, even in northern Florida.
Then I started learning how to identify the different types of butterflies. It's fun to learn the butterfly types, so you know what you are painting.
New Butterfly Painting!
This butterfly flew in to wish everyone a Happy New Year!
A watercolor painting of a White Peacock Butterfly on blue Delphinium flowers.
New Hummingbird Painting
Ladies like pink flowers. But here is a male green hummingbird hunting for flowers and he found some lovely Hibiscus flowers to feed from.
New watercolor hummingbird painting, "Hibiscus Hunter"
How to Paint a Horse with Watercolor
Paint a prancing, white horse with watercolor paints.
Have fun painting the colorful dark background that shows off the white horse.
Follow the steps and do your own stunning horse painting.
Landscape Paintings
Landscape paintings are a good place to start painting. We are all familiar with the things around us, so we do a better job of painting them because we understand them.
My mother got me started painting and we started with landscapes. Once you learn the basics of how to paint one thing, then you can apply the same painting principles to any subject.
So I started painting with landscapes, but now some of my favorite things to paint are birds, butterflies and other critters.
You can bring the peace and beauty of the outdoors into your home with landscape paintings of barns, swamp, seascapes, forest, prairie, mountains and more by Carol May
Paint an Ocean Step-by-Step
Follow the easy steps and do your own ocean painting.
First, put a line sketch on the canvas.
Block-in the colors of the sky, water and rocks.
Then paint the shadow colors.
Paint the sunlight colors.
Detail and finish your ocean painting.
It's easy, you can do it!
Paint a Watercolor Hummingbird
Learn how to paint watercolor.
Paint a Rufous Hummingbird visiting a big yellow daisy flower.
Follow the easy steps, learn about watercolor and create your own hummingbird painting.
It's easy and fun!
How to Mix Your Art Painting Colors
Learn how to mix the colors for your paintings.
You can mix many of your painting colors. You will save money at the paint store because you don't have to buy a whole bunch of different colors.
Create color harmony in your paintings by mixing your own colors. It's easy!
How to Paint Roses
Flowers are one of my passions. Either tending the flowers in the garden or learning to paint them.
There is a page on painting watercolor flowers. It covers painting an Iris, Echinacea and Oriental poppies.
A daisy painting page shows painting daisies with oil paints. This rose page is painting with oil paints. You can paint either a red rose or a beautiful multicolored rose. Try it, you can do it!
Watercolor for Beginners
The new website design will make it easier for you to use. I am revising and moving pages around. Two watercolor pages have been put together for the beginning watercolor student.
Learn what watercolor is, about watercolor paints, the surfaces you can paint watercolor on, good colors for the beginner. Plus there is an easy 5-step tutorial that you can use to paint any watercolor paint. Enjoy!
