How to Paint a Still Life with Watercolors Step by Step

About John Fisher

I was born and educated in England, graduating from the Luton School of Arts (now Barnfield College) in 1945. It was my hope to become a graphic artist, but at the end of the Second World War returning service men and women had first crack at the few jobs available, and rightly so. I took a number of jobs while I tried to break into my chosen field, and ended up being a reluctant carpenter. Many years passed and I emigrated to Canada in 1952, married a Canadian woman, started a family, and in 1955 finally started on a career which took in graphic arts, owner of my own graphics arts company, art director at an advertising agency, and careers in marketing, advertising and public relations.

I wish I could claim that my passion for art burned brightly throughout those years, but alas, the need to make a living took prominence. As with many people, I always promised myself that when I retired I would get back to painting again. That time came in 1989, when my wife and I were living the winter months in our condo in Destin, Florida. Robert Long, a talented watercolour artist, was offering private lessons from his nearby condo. He was my mentor, and made my retirement years infinitely richer.

In those days Robert taught only technique, and there were rarely more than four to six of us in those early classes. From Robert I regained my interest in photography as an adjunct to painting, and as the cliche goes – I never looked back. I have had many paintings accepted and hung in exhibitions in Florida and Ontario, where I now live. I’ve won some prizes, come first in some exhibitions, and occasionally won the Citizens’ Choice awards. But I mainly paint for fun – hence the choice of name for this site.

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Step by Step Watercolor Painting Tutorial

About Barbara Fox

Barbara has achieved a tremendous following on both the national and international level as a watercolor painter with a vivid and unique style.

Her paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including the Phillips Museum of Art in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, Mexico; the Salmagundi Club New York City; The Neville Museum in Green Bay Wisconsin; and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

Barbara is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society, the International Guild of Realism, the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, and the Northeast Watercolor Society, among others.

She has been published in the major watercolor publications Splash: the Best of Watercolor Painting, and  Secrets of Watercolor Masters. Barbara has been a featured artist in the leading national art magazines American Artist and Watercolor Magic.

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How to Paint Silver with Acrylic Paint

Here is a superb video tutorial taught by Artist Paul Taggart that will demonstrate how to paint the metal silver using acrylic paint.  If you paint in oils, you will still be able to follow this tutorial as the same techniques will work with oil painting.  This video demonstration is part of a series on how to paint metals.  I will be adding the rest of this series in the coming weeks so please stay tuned, or  subscribe to my newsletter or rss feed here and to be notified whenever a new tutorial is added.

Painting objects made of silver can be a very difficult undertaking for beginners, especially since silver is a reflective material, similar to a mirror.  The color of silver can vary depending on the objects that are nearby.  The colors can also vary depending on how shiny or tarnished the silver is.  So there are certain factors to take into consideration.

The following tutorial is only one artists approach to painting silver, but I believe it is one of the best I have seen, which is why I am posting it here.  Paul breaks everything down in this demonstration making it very easy to understand and follow along.  This video is approximately 1 hour in length, so please be sure to set aside some time to watch the entire lesson.  I hope you enjoy!

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Acrylic Painting Video Tutorial – How To Paint a Cactus

I found a really interesting acrylic painting video tutorial today from a very talented artist by the name of Rudy Kistler. This is a still life painting lesson using a subject that I do not see many artists painting, a cactus.

This tutorial is broken down into 10 different steps for your convenience making it easy to follow. Below is a short summary of the steps in this video.  Please watch the video below to follow this tutorial in its entirety.

Follow this link to visit Rudy’s YouTube Page to watch more of his videos.

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Still Life Painting Demo in Oils

About Brian Simons

Being a self-taught artist, I have derived much of my inspiration from the “Group of Seven”, the French Impressionists and the Writings of Baha’u'lla’h (Bahá’í Faith). My family and I moved to Vancouver Island from Alberta, where I first began to paint approx. 25 years ago. Prior to that time, I focused mostly on drawing and sketching. I began showing my work in 1988 and have been represented by numerous galleries on the Island. From 2006 to the present, I paint on a full-time basis and have had many successes and confirmations in that period, including numerous commissions for a television production company, architects several corporate and private collectors both in Canada and the United States. I also conduct acrylic painting workshops British Columbia, Alberta and the United States….

Follow this link to visit Brian’s Website

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Watercolour Painting Demonstration – Painting An Iris

By Rex Beanland

I was born in England, raised in Canada and now live in Calgary, Alberta.  I paint full time and am very active in various art groups in Calgary and British Columbia.  My work is know for a bold use of colour and value.  I work in watercolour and acrylic and I am very inspired by the land, the people and the moods of Western Canada.  I was a public school teacher for 20 years and this has helped me to earn a growing reputation for teaching drawing and painting.

I am really pleased to announce that I have just created a brand new web site. In addition to featuring my art, it also includes my almost daily blog of the up to the minute twists and turns of my art journey.  It also includes another blog featuring the work of my students.  If you get a minute check out the student blog and scroll down to the drawing class images.  It’s unusual to see people improve so much so quickly.  Visit my site http://rexbeanland.com

Along with his wife, Susan, I also run a videography business so creating art instruction videos is a natural integration of art and video.  I love being on both sides of the camera.

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Watercolor Still Life Painting Step by Step

This lesson is courtesy of Rod Webb. Rod is a veteran Watercolorist from New Zealand. You can learn more about Rod and view more of his work by following this link to reach his Website.

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Watercolour Painting  My Way :Still Life

Note from the author: Since authoring “Still Life Painting, My Way!” I have had a lot of emails, from folks all around the world thanking me for the demo. Some have asked for a line drawing. I have created a line drawing for folks who are interested in following along. It is a large image, so a good size printout is possible without becoming too pixelated. To view the actual line drawing,  follow this link, or click on the thumbnail to the right. To save it to your hard drive, SHIFT-CLICK on the link, and save it out to your PC. Enjoy!
	Set up the still life study outside in the sun. Background and base are pieces of masking board. Adjust items for best  composition and then photograph using a digital camera.You could use a normal camera and have the photo scanned at your local photo shop.
	Using your computer image software, first crop the image and then adjust contrast/brightness to give a faded image. When printed in mono this will use far less ink.
	Set up your printer to the size required for your watercolor paper you normally use. Mine is set to 34cms wide and 31cms high. As this is larger than A4 the poster and smooth resize will need to be ticked. Set to mono , we do not need a color print.
	This is the output from the printer. Four sheets of paper with image divided between them.
	We now trim and paste together.
	Glued and lined up, repeat and trim all four ready for tracing.
	I use “Graphite Transfer paper” which should be available from your local art shop. If not cover the back of the printed sheet with soft lead pencil or charcoal pencil. Then drawn around outlines you want transferred to your watercolor paper.Don’t press too hard or you will damage the paper!
	Here is the transferred image on “Saunders 300gm Not”  paper stretched and held with gummed paper strip. We are now ready to start painting.We have our sketch and the original image can be displayed on the computer while we are painting. This has the advantage that you can now eat the apples while painting.
	Masking fluid is applied to the glass, apples and jar to save highlights. The brush shown is an old one. The bristles have been trimmed and washing liquid applied to protect by stopping the masking fluid collecting around the ferrule. With this brush, I can apply fines lines of fluid.
	Mix up plenty of wash for the background, mixture of ultramarine and touch of light red. With the painting upside down, I applied a flat wash around the objects and to the top of the painting. See the nice bead of paint collecting at the edge? This is typical when applying a fluid wash with the board tilted at 15 degrees. Don’t throw away the remaining background wash, save it you will need it later. Don’t worry if it dries in the palette, water can be added when required.
	We have applied the wash over the glass, as the background can be seen looking through it.
	Before the wash is dry. A piece of blotting paper is used to lift some of the paint, giving the reflective look of glass.
	Using some of the original wash, add Payne’s Grey to darken and paint the shadow between the jar and glass. Shadow of glass was painted using background wash and darkened at the bottom with Payne’s Grey. Shadow inside glass painted with background wash and Payne’s Grey dropped in while wet into the center portion.
	Using the edge of a piece of blotting paper lift lines of paint on glass shadow on a curve, to represent ripples of light.
	Dry thoroughly using a hairdryer and remove masking fluid from the glass.
	The white of the paper now shows through for highlights, and ripples show in the shadow where paint was lifted.
	Pencil marks erased using a putty rubber.
	Some edges are softened by brushing on clear water and dabbing with a tissue.
	Computer aid: if a part of your painting is easier to paint from the side, rotate the image on your computer to match. You can’t do this with a normal still life setup!
	The fine edge for the top of the glass is added with a sharpened watercolor pencil. The pencil is used dry, but can be softened if you wish by lightly brushing with clear water. Detail is added to the shadow using the original wash. Add the band around the top rim and random curves across from top to bottom.
	Shadow inside glass darkened slightly at the middle.
	Progress so far: background, glass, and shadows completed. The jar will be tackled next!
	First, we have to define the jar and give it some shape.
	The shading is added using a mixture of burnt umber, Payne’s Grey and a touch of light red. While it was still wet, some extra was added around lid edge to darken. Side handle shown simply by painting in the shadow.
	A light wash of raw sienna painted over all of the jar to give it an off-white china look. Masking fluid is visible on lid and front edge.
	A strong rich blue mix was made from winsor blue and ultramarine. The pattern is painted in and edging darkened before first paint dries.
	When painting detail, magnify the image on your computer. It helps!
	After painting the pattern on the side, the left was lightened slightly by lifting some paint with a tissue.
	Fine detail added after first was dry using a rigger brush. Masking fluid removed from jar, sparkle can be seen on lid and top edge, where the preserved white paper now shows.
	Progress so far. Next step is to paint the apples. By the way they were delicious.

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View Part 2 of this Watercolor Lesson >>

Watercolor Still Life Painting Step by Step – Part 2

This lesson is courtesy of Rod Webb. Rod is a veteran Watercolorist from New Zealand. You can learn more about Rod and view more of his work by following this link to reach his Website.

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This is Part 2

<< Part 1 | >> Part 3

	Masking fluid applied to save highlights.
	Wash of light yellow and a touch of sap green painted over apple.
	Before the wash dries, some areas are lifted with tissue, giving a lighter shade.
	Results after applying wash and lifting with tissue.
	Wet all of the apple with clear water. Using a mix of Alizarin Crimson and Light Red drop in some color wet into wet.
	Wash can be controlled, placed and moved around with your brush. If you get paint in the wrong place lift immediately using tissue or blotting paper.
	Always make sure paper is thoroughly dry before you re-wet the surface. Then it will not disturb the original washes.
	First glazes have been applied to both apples.
	The color was too weak, so I added another wash of yellow!
	Masking fluid painted on stems to preserve lighter shade. Shadows added showing core shape and shadow of stem.
	I re-wet the apple with clear water. Lower your head and look across the paper, you should see just a shine on the paper. No sign of surface water.
	While the paper was wet, I added a reddish brown wash to top of apple and around the core to get a bit more shape. If the paper starts to dry, stop! Let it completely dry the re-wet it and start again. If you continue to add wash to drying paper, you will get a cauliflower effect.
	A watercolor pencil can be used while the paper is wet. Fine red streaks added this way. Or you can use with paper dry and if necessary softened afterwards by lightly brushing with a soft wet brush.
	Shadow around stem darkened. I first applied pencil with paper wet then added final sharp lines when dry. The apple stem is also defined using pencils.
	The masking fluid was removed. Larger highlights had edges softened by wetting and dabbing with a tissue.
	Now I have two apples defying the laws of gravity. Lace cloth will be the next task. That should tie everything down!

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Watercolor Still Life Painting Step by Step – Part 3

This lesson is courtesy of Rod Webb. Rod is a veteran Watercolorist from New Zealand. You can learn more about Rod and view more of his work by following this link to reach his Website.

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This is Part 3

<< Part 2

	Shadows added to show folds in cloth and holes in lace painted at the back. Light grey with a touch of green used.Whoops, I just spotted a mistake. I painted the blue background right down to the cloth over the table top.
	Soon corrected. I laid a plastic ruler along edge where table should be to protect the background wash. Then used a wet sponge to lift the paint, still left a slight stain but that will be covered with the green.
	Both sides were sponged off.
	Green table surface painted. Made darker at the back and lightened at front.
	Holes in lace painted with the grey/green mix. Remaining graphite sketch lines erased with the putty rubber.
	Lines following the folds and curves of the cloth painted in.
	Dots added over lines for weave effect. Strength and pattern varied.
	Stronger shadows placed around apples to anchor them down, up to now they appeared to be floating.
	Shadows on rear folds strengthened, pale yellow added to front fold to bring out the middle fold.
	Some dots were darkened in the weave, rear shadows touch of blue added, yellow shadow near apple and touch of red added to front shadow. There is only just a hint of each color, although it is difficult to see in the photo.
	Decision time, is it finished?. I usually wait a few days and have another look before deciding.
	Placing a tempory matt around painting makes a lot of difference. Find a nice spot for you signature.  Don’t know what color matt or frame I will use, any suggestions? The image to the left shows what I considered to be my “final painting”.  However, after showing this piece to several of my fellow artists, I discovered that there were a few things I could do to improve this painting. Want to see those changes? Good, then keep reading!
	Added some color into the background to break up the solid blue.
	Left apple. Read more

Still Life Oil Painting Demo Using the Flemish Technique – Part 1

About Delmus G. Phelps

Statement of purpose within the work:

I’ve been an active painter since the mid 70’s creating works in the Realist tradition. Being inspired by the nature around me and in the things we tend to collect, I produce still life and floral oil paintings in the Classical/Contemporary Realism style on canvas and panels.

With a particular interest in sharp focus realism I produce still life works of incredible detail.  My floral pieces exude a peace and serenity much needed in today’s hectic lifestyles.

Using the Flemish method of 7 layers, a 400 year old technique perfected by the Dutch Masters of the renaissance era, my paintings are meant to stand the test of time in lasting quality. Read more

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