Once again our days have been as swift-footed as the Olympic runners. I’m sure yours have been, too. I’ll try to quickly bring you up to speed with our lives by recapping the high-points:

March and April brought garden preparations and planting for me, while Steve was busily moving his studio to a recently-vacated bedroom. (He loves his new studio, and our youngest daughter loves her new rental.)

May brought the 2024 Plein Air Convention and Expo at Cherokee, NC for Steve, while I was busy with gardening and grandchildrens’ end-of-school festivities.

June saw us celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary at the Grand Canyon and visiting relatives in Phoenix, AZ. Steve was able to do some plein air painting at the Canyon, and made a couple of videos from Canyon photo reference after we got back.

July was heavy garden harvest and food preservation time for me, while Steve stayed busy painting and creating videos to the melodic “sh-sh-sh” tune of our stove canner.

Now the grandkids are back in school, the garden is winding down and things are settling back into our normal routines. As I mentioned last time, a painting of Steve’s received an honorable mention and was included in The Best of Watercolor magazine, Splash 25, currently on magazine stands. Please check it out if you have few moments. The Best of Watercolor contains so many inspiring works by artists around the world.

As always, if you happened to have missed any of our March – July videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all. Included among them are all 4 workshop episodes from Steve’s 2023 Strathmore Workshop on Spontaneous Painting. Have a look if you’ve not already.

You will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

One of the Most Magical Glazing Techniques I Know for Watercolor

The power of glazing in watercolor is well worth exploring. We’ll do just that in this video with perhaps my favorite way to do it.

Talking Plein Air, Daniel Smith Watercolors, Composition and Escoda Brushes – Ft. Gabriel Stockton

Grab some popcorn or a cup of coffee, sit back and take in this enjoyable conversation with artist Gabriel Stockton, YouTuber and excellent plein air and landscape artist.

Moving My Studio. I Can’t Believe I’ve Done This 12 Times!

Here we go again. 12th times a charm. Really excited about moving into a proper art studio.

Is This The Easiest Way to Stretch Watercolor Paper? Sunset Cloudscape With The Otto Stretcher.

Maybe! I plan to find out. Regardless, join me for a relaxing sunset, cloudscape demo.

Are Forced Expectations Keeping You From Learning? Misty Mountain Watercolor Landscape.

Learning to control watercolor is an important step but letting watercolor surprise you, collaborate with you and show you things you didn’t know it could do is equally key.

Never Thought I’d Be Doing Art For Stuff Like This Again + Studio Tour & Other Announcements

Design assignments are something I thought I had retired from. Not so fast! Plus, let’s take a look at the studio now that I’m all moved in.

Painting with 100’s of Other Artists. Plein Air Convention and Expo 2024

I’m back from #pace24 and here’s my recap. What a great experience!

Sketches in Watercolor and Gouache on Toned Tan Paper. Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon vistas are indeed grand and complex. But doing quick studies of that or any complicated subject means you may need to zero in on a few sample areas to keep from being overwhelmed. I’ll show you my process for doing 2 Grand Canyon studies in a toned-tan sketchbook.

Learning To Use Color is Much Easier When You Do This! 5 Benefits to Limited Color Schemes.

Sometimes you just need to forget color theory and simply use your colors. Experiment and see what a set of colors will do one small selection at a time. Here are 5 reasons to paint with limited color schemes.

Let’s Finish This in Gouache! Plein Air Watercolor from the Grand Canyon.

I had barely 45 minutes to get in a plein air watercolor sketch at the Grand Canyon. That was enough to get a good start. I enjoyed finishing this one at home and gouache was the way to go.

Part 1 Spontaneous Painting How to Start – Strathmore Workshop 2023

This 4-part Strathmore workshop from 2023 on spontaneous painting is in the books now but I’m uploading here for your repeat viewing convenience.

Part 2 Spontaneous Painting. Wet in Wet Starts – Strathmore Workshop 2023

This 4-part Strathmore workshop from 2023 on spontaneous painting is in the books now but I’m uploading here for your repeat viewing convenience.

Part 3 Spontaneous Painting. Wet on Dry Starts – Strathmore Workshop 2023

This 4-part Strathmore workshop from 2023 on spontaneous painting is in the books now but I’m uploading here for your repeat viewing convenience.

Part 4 Spontaneous Painting in Your Planned Work – Strathmore Workshop 2023

This 4-part Strathmore workshop from 2023 on spontaneous painting is in the books now but I’m uploading here for your repeat viewing convenience.

Patreon Exclusive Content

Studio Tips – Improving a Photo for Reference – Here is a quick look at my process for improving a dark, flat-valued photo so that it’s better for painting reference. https://www.patreon.com/posts/studio-tips-for-100376521

Studio Tips – New Arches Sketchbooks – Just a quick look at the newest Arches sketch journals. Plus a brief look at other Arches options. https://www.patreon.com/posts/studio-tips-new-101264631

Sketchbook Peeks – Spacial Composition Studies – Looking at and studying one aspect of composition. Negative space. https://www.patreon.com/posts/sketchbook-peeks-102028451

Video Extras – Touring Samples From a 40-Year Career As an Artist – As promised I’ll take you on a behind-the-scenes look at some samples from my 40-year commercial art career. Moving, sorting and de-stashing my portfolio storage became a walk down memory lane as I relived many of the projects I’ve been involved in during those years. https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-extras-40-103296451

Video Extras – Sunset Painting Commentary – A brief commentary on the sunset painting part of my Otto Stretcher Review https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-extras-103742991

Sketchbook Peeks – 4 Color Studies – Continuing on with the compositional thumbnails I did in a previous video. I’ll take them to color as studies for potential finished paintings in the future. https://www.patreon.com/posts/sketchbook-peeks-105325335

15-Minute Artist – What Shapes Do You Mean? – Paint or Draw the Shapes? What on earth are they talking about? Time to explore this oft-given advice .https://www.patreon.com/posts/15-minute-artist-107396600

Video Extras – Watercolor vs Gouache Over Graphite – Join me as I explore coloring a pencil study with watercolor and gouache and make a comparison. This drawing had pretty heavy graphite so the experimentation was beneficial for its effect on color. https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-extras-vs-108332158