With mostly red and burnt umber, I worked into the middle tones. I didn't stay working in one area for long. I usually spend 10 seconds here, then 10 seconds there. It is important to keep your attention on the overall painting, paying attention to the color temperature and balance while you work into the smaller areas...
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Painting an 11-year-old child from a live sitting is a quite challenge. Mainly because my model will shift her position quickly from time to time, and hard to keep the head in the same direction and angle for long. So that it is very important to spend much time as possible to study the model, get a solid picture what the final watercolor painting will look like in your mind, and define the outlines in pencil...
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For a portrait painting, I usually start with a good pencil drawing. This is the step where I plan the composition, sort out the perspective, relationships, proportion and balance, size and distance. A good drawing is a good base for a painting; it can give you more confidence, so take as much time as you need to in this step...
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Medium: Watercolor Painting

Lesson highlight: In this watercolor demonstration, you will learn how to step by step from gathering reference materials, sketch, to finish a watercolor portrait painting. When painting a portrait, it is most important to know the subject. To do this, I visit her in her home in order to understand her family, her personality, and listen to her stories...
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Medium: Watercolor Painting

Lesson highlight: In this watercolor demonstration, you will learn how to start a watercolor portrait painint from "born" and "dry". I did a few preliminary drawings and decided on the final concept and design for the portrait. I also took a number of high-resolution digital photos. Back in the studio, I started the painting process by drawing a likeness of the subject, using a 2H pencil on high-quality watercolor paper.
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fter I had the tones and color balance settled, now I further defined the shapes and darker area of the eyes, nose, mouth and others. With a another fine-toning touch and adjustment to the color temperatures, this quick water color portrait painting finished in about 20 minutes...
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(This lesson provided by Mary Churchill)
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. Everyone seems to be infected with the spirit of the season. One of the lovely traditions of this season is the exchange of greeting cards with friends and family. Sending cards shows the recipient that you care.

We at YongChen.com want to help you make your holiday cards original, wonderful and memorable.
View the tips how to create your holiday cards
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(This lesson provided by Mary Churchill)
Start painting sky with blues and violet. Leave a bit of white for clouds. The dark part of sky is at the top right. Remember the sky moves in one direction. I used the hair-dryer to dry the sky before I started the ocean, so they don’t run and blend into each other...
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(This lesson provided by Mary Churchill)
Start painting sky with blues and violet. Leave a bit of white for clouds. The dark part of sky is at the top right. Remember the sky moves in one direction. I used the hair-dryer to dry the sky before I started the ocean, so they don’t run and blend into each other...
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(This lesson provided by Mary Churchill)
I found a tangle of reeds a challenge to paint; therefore I used masking fluid to draw the reeds. After the mask dried, I painted the negative areas. I painted a few layers and let them dry. Next, I removed the masking and painted the positive areas...
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Using a round brush with medium among of water, I first get the yellow up to the middle part of the brush, and take the red only with the tip. I lay the brush about 10-degree angle from the paper surface, and move it slowly. A beautiful blend of colors, from red, orange, to yellow has been created with one stroke...
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There are a number of ways to begin a watercolor painting. In this demonstration, I started the painting from the main subjects which are the bananas, the mandarin oranges and the persimmons. I first put yellow into the area for the bananas, then I mixed yellows and reds to define the areas for the mandarin oranges and the two persimmons. As you may noticed, I left some blank areas within the oranges and the persimmons which will be used for the highlights and leaves of the fruits...
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Medium: Watercolor Painting (This free step by step watercolor lesson provided by Mary Churchill)

Using a large brush, I start with the background to get color on the paper. Determine which side the light will come from. Remember that shadow is the action of light. Don't be afraid to use color. I use several colors on my brush at the same time since all things are made up of its' own color and reflected colors. You will use many layers of paint on your finished painting...
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Medium: Watercolor Painting

Lesson highlight: In this watercolor demonstration, you will learn how capture the light and shadow use a green apple. We are going to focus on the value of the color, and learn how to paint layer by layer, and step by step to build-up the value and forms.
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Medium: Watercolor Painting

Lesson highlight: In this watercolor demonstration, you will learn about creating surface texture techniques. Bagels have a soft surface. In this demonstration, I will capture the feel of the skin of a bagel in the final painting, the beautiful colors and very fine details.
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Medium: Watercolor Painting

Lesson highlight: In this watercolor demonstration, you will learn how to arrange a still-life setting for compostion with simple subjects. Composition as important as the value study in a still-life painting. In this demonstration, we are putting two subjects together in a setting. This will add a new challenge and dimension. We will see the setting as one subject and the balance between the objects in the setting as another.
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Color Study is a process of experimental color composition and value arrangement. It is especially helpful when you need to combine two or more reference pictures for a painting. For example, in my recent watercolor painting commission, my reference pictures were two photos of maple trees, and a picture of a morning scene of the house...
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Medium: Watercolor Painting

Lesson highlight: When the sky area was dry, I started painting the front of the house. First, I applied some yellow color to the left side of the house, and continuously washed the rest of the wall with a mixture of blue and burnt sienna. For the other side of the house next to the red maple tree, I started from the left upper corner with yellow and added more and more red towards the lower right corner of the wall....
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Medium: Watercolor Painting (This free step by step watercolor lesson provided by Mary Churchill)

Make a strong drawing. If you have weak drawing skills, you can make Division marks vertically and horizontally with a pencil on both your photo if you are using one, and your paper. Use LIGHT markings since you will want to remove these later. There is no need to erase your drawing though.
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As soon as I received the manuscript from my editor/ or art director, I started to read the story many times, then the story became a movie in my brain. The people with ages, locations, and emotions. Then I used a big piece of drawing paper and started sketching, to turn the movie floating in my mind down on my drawing paper, from scene to scene...
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Medium: Watercolor Painting (This free step by step watercolor lesson provided by Mary Churchill)

Tape your paper to the board with masking tape. You can either use a table and prop your board somewhat, or an upright easel. Choose a photo. (If possible), make Division marks Vertically and horizontally. Mark your paper in the same manner but use LIGHT markings ( you will want to remove these later). You may want to use this method until your drawing skills are strong to avoid frustration and a sense of failure. My students use Professional Products to avoid disappointments.
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Original watercolor paintings by Minda Cabrera, Suggestions by Yong Chen

I found that some artists started painting from the subjects, that they love in their daily lives, for example, flowers. This is happened to most of us. Final all, art is a good way to express ourselves through the common subject that we can relate to...
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Original painting by Anne Davis, Suggestions by Yong Chen

This watercolor painting has been submitted by artist Anne Davis. The craft and techniques used in this painting are great. The colors are vivid and the style is relaxed and loose. The painting is beautiful as it is, but my suggestions for further experimentation are to add more depth and values to the painting which would improve the balance of colors...Adjust the color balance and value, enrich the neighboring colors, add variety of colors to the vertical area, add darker value to the background...
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Original painting by Chrystal Robinson, Suggestions by Yong Chen

I like this painting, the artist expressed a strong emotion. Somehow it seems there is still room to express more. Maybe the fires should be bigger, maybe there is more motion movement. And the colors seem a bit weak...
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Original painting by Kenrick Tsang, Suggestions by Yong Chen

I would like to give my thoughts for possible improvements. Here are what I consider to be the issues for this oil landscape painting: 1) There is not enough depth of space between foreground and the background. 2) There is no focal point. 3) There is a lack of motion within the painting.
This is how I would modify this painting...
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Original painting by Kai Chen, Suggestions by Yong Chen

Sometimes when you look at a painting, you may feel uncomfortable, and not be quite sure why that it is. The techniques are fine, the details are rendered well. So what is it? What could be laying inside of these obvious things? This is what is called: design elements in a painting...
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