<![CDATA[FIONA VALENTINE

<![CDATA[FIONA VALENTINE - Blog]]>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 04:40:25 +1000Weebly<![CDATA[Unique Ways to Uplift Your Interior with One-Of-A-Kind Decor]]>Wed, 19 Jan 2022 23:02:51 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/uplift-your-interior-with-one-of-a-kind-decorGuest post by Julia Weaver

Crafting a home that brings you joy and uplifts your spirits is something many homeowners crave. If your home interior doesn’t reflect your personality or your style, it can leave you feeling uninspired. So, the ultimate question is: Do you feel connected with your space?

Incorporating one-of-a-kind decor into your home offers the personality, style, and texture that your space might be missing. Unique items that resonate with you can uplift your interior, whether it’s homemade or handcrafted by an artisan. We asked some of our favorite creators – from Vancouver, BC to Jacksonville, FL, to share their best ideas on how to enhance your space with one-of-a-kind decor.

Look for adaptable pieces

When purchasing handmade items, focus on work that can be moved around in the home, not just settling on the style of an individual room. – Jumping Creek Pottery

Find art that brings its own personality to the space

I think art placed in a home often adds the most when it is appropriate for the setting, yet also adds some element of intrigue, distinctiveness, or surprise. When artwork is overly color or theme-coordinated it will soon seem unremarkable or unimaginative. This does not mean that art in a home must be bold or shouldn’t be pretty or subtle, just that it will be strongest when it has its own personality that harmonizes with and stands up to the room in which it is placed. – Tania Dibbs

Collaborate with a favorite artist of yours

Reach out to an artist you’d love to collaborate with on a custom collection that creates the look and feel you want for your home. Ask about works on paper, drawings, and prints as well as paintings. Consult your interior designer to incorporate pieces you already own, large feature works, and smaller pieces hung together gallery-style. – Fiona Valentine

Find pieces that have a purpose

I decorate with ceramics by using them to hold kitchen utensils, makeup brushes, or as a one-of-a-kind flower pot. If you’re interested in a display, stack 2-3 coffee table books on a coffee table or bookshelf & place your special item on top. This gives it pride of place and ensures people will ask about it when you have guests. – Imani at Home

Choose ceramics that tell a story

Something made by hand is so special that it inherently adds soul and dimension within a space. The Urban Kiln believes that handmade ceramic home decor pieces have a story to tell and the beauty that lies in the imperfection of handmade pottery that is in your home, makes your home “you”. – The Urban Kiln

Consider the room you’re decorating

When choosing a new piece of handmade art, you can narrow down your options by considering the specific use of the room you’re decorating. A still life of a fruit basket, for example, is going to look more at home in the kitchen than in a bathroom. A vibrant graffiti-style cityscape might be too overwhelming for a bedroom, but it would bring a great energy to a living room or office. – VanDuinen Studio, LLC

Try displaying pieces in groups of three

Ceramics can add unique handmade home appeal. Choosing handmade ceramic pieces for your home brings in part of the earth, with a sense of grounding and home. Many people think of functional mugs, plates, and bowls. Ceramics can add variety from small textured teaspoon holders for your coffee and tea drinkers, to plates mounted vertically as wall decor. Vases can be for tables, hanging plants or wall accents. I like to pair pieces in groups of three. When pairing I choose three things the same size but different colors, or you could use the same colors but different sizes. Handmade ceramics can be functional and versatile but are also durable and an investment that can last generations. – Stoney Tree Studio

Bring home a part of Earth

Decorating with handmade pottery, especially wood fire pottery, can deepen our connection to the Earth – Clay. Water. Stone. Trees. The process uses the most basic elements from which we, and everything around us, come from. The pot’s paint is a captivating picture of how those elements were transformed by fire. – Sherman Ceramics

Showcase your unique style

That bookcase behind you in Zoom meetings, Facetime, and Alexa exhibit a visual representation of you. Wouldn’t you love it to be as unique as you? When searching for items to decorate your bookshelf, buy handmade or small original artwork. Small meaning, 4×6″, 6×6″, 8×8″ to 8×10″ paintings – these sizes fit wonderfully in a bookshelf and are economical. Look for artwork that will add a pop of color next to neutral-colored books and plants. Leave spaces between items on your bookshelf to allow the eye to rest in the whitespace before it takes in the next visual representation of you. – Stephanie Weaver

Your one-of-a-kind decor should reflect your style and interests

Knitted goods have long been associated with being old-fashioned or retro in the same way that knitting itself is associated with old women. However, in recent years there has been a resurgence of fiber artists and designers that defy generation, gender, and style. Do not let old stereotypes deter you from knit decor or even trying your hand at the craft. – Modern Made

Buy a handmade mug from a maker you love

There is great satisfaction that comes from drinking your morning coffee out of a mug that you bought directly from it’s maker. – Sarah Bak Pottery

Find an artist that creates with a purpose

When I design my ceramic pieces, I am anticipating them living in somebody’s home. I set out with one of two objectives in mind; 1- The utilitarian piece will be a collaborative object, showcasing what accompanies it. (ex. food and drink on tableware, flowers in a vessel) I don’t want the piece to compete visually with food/flowers, but to work in harmony together. 2- The piece is a stand-alone, eye-catching object for decoration, a conversation piece. My sculptural objects fall under this category through form, surface, and color. – Stephanie Galli Ceramics

Consider the message you want to share

When you’re choosing artwork for your space, you’ll want to consider what messages you want to share, how the artwork will fit into your overall aesthetic and color scheme, and who the artist is. The best choice for artwork is one that can tell a story – maybe you chose it because you’re a big fan of the artist and wanted to have something of theirs in your home as well as support that artist, or maybe the messaging is one that resonates deeply with you and is something you wanted to be reminded of daily and share with others. Any of these would be a perfect way to add that personal touch to your decor. – Belinda Kou

Choose the piece that you love

When you are decorating your living space, pick a painting you love, and don’t worry if it doesn’t match the drapes or couch. The surrounding area will ‘pull’ the right colors out and complementary colors and contrast rule. – Peach McComb, Art with Attitude

Incorporate quilted goods in the kitchen

Add warmth to your kitchen, while handling too-hot items, with pinup oven mitts and retro potholders. Dress up your cocktail bar with embellished happy hour tea towels. – Quilting with Margaret

Sometimes, the fewer the better

Less is more, so that there is space for the handmade ceramics to breathe. – Liu Qian Ceramics

Opt for strong color combinations for the best effect

As an abstract landscape painter, I believe that simple but strong color combinations (such as complementary colors like orange and blue) create the best effect. – Beki Borman

Personalize your space

Placing original art in your home not only brings joy but also personalizes your space by having a one-of-a-kind piece. There’s nothing quite like the energy exchange from an original painting. From my hands to your home. – Trish Land

Originally Published on Redfin.com

]]><![CDATA[HOW TO USE THE 80 20 RULE TO IMPROVE YOUR ART]]>Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:24:52 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/how-to-use-the-80-20-rule-to-improve-your-artby Fiona Valentine

Blog header - Use the 80 20 Rule to Improve Your Art by Fiona Valentine

Most of us have heard of The 80 20 Rule or The Pareto Principle. It's the idea that 20% of activity is responsible for 80% of results. You might have heard it said that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. In business, it's often 20% of customers who generate 80% of sales.

So, let's apply this rule to our art making. I think it's a game changer and here's why.

One of the things I love about art is that there is so much to learn it never get's old. There are so many styles, colours, techniques, subjects to get us excited that it's hard NOT to feel inspired. The down side of all this abundance is that we don't always realise the importance of focus OR we aren't sure what we should focus on.

Without focus and repetition we don't improve. Without focusing on the RIGHT THINGS we don't improve where it really matters. When we focus on the right things our ability can sky rocket!

In this blog post, I'm going to outline the 20% to focus on to see an 80% improvement in your art.

The 80 20 RULE TIP #1: Colour Theory

If you've been around me or my facebook group The Confident Artist long, you'll know I love to talk colour. I hear a lot of artists say they struggle to understand colour. I believe conquering colour theory is definitely a game changer. Focus on these aspects:

Working with a limited palette
Become familiar with the colour wheel so that you can remember HOW to mix colour,
Learn how to subtly adjust colour temperature
Understand the importance of value difference to the painting as a whole.

Making time to focus on colour alone will do so much to improve your painting and increase your joy in the creative process. This is definitely on my 20% priority list!!!! Need some help? Check out this blog post and my Colour Course to get your colour theory sorted.

My Colour Course will help you get your colour theory sorted.

The 80 20 RULE TIP #2: Learn How to Draw

Next, accurate drawing is a must. Keep working away at this one. Even if you can use technology, photos, projectors, transfer paper, light boxes etc, if you can’t draw you are not seeing accurately and that will affect your painting ability!

To learn to draw really means to learn to see. That’s why you need to make good drawing one of your top 5. It’s not just regular drawing, but learning how to draw well that will have you kicking goals by focusing on this skill.

I'm including in this category understanding light and shadow, perspective and proportion. Need some help getting started? This blog post has some great tips and tools to help you.

The 80 20 RULE TIP #3: Art Composition

Understanding composition is probably THE NO. 1 game changer and shift towards creating paintings with wow factor. When you start to think in terms of a handful of big value masses that create an interesting composition, your paintings will improve out of sight.

Often, we focus on these areas:

colour
brush work
detail
subject choice or
“emotion”

Although important, these are not going to make the biggest difference. It’s composition that is the key to wow factor.

You can read more about composition basics here.

The 80 20 RULE TIP #4: Creative Process

Next in our list of the 20% to focus on to see an 80% improvement in your work is the creative process. So many aspiring artists dive into pushing paint around before they have really thought about what they want to paint and how to go about it.

inspiration
the mood and message they are trying to convey.
design
references
the process and techniques this particular painting needs

These steps are some of the most enjoyable in the painting process and certainly the planning involved is KEY to successful painting outcomes, but many of us are so keen to get “painting” we rush this part or skip it all together.

Slowing down and learning how to build a creative process is so helpful. Painting is just one part of this. I’ve written about creative process in more detail here.

The 80 20 RULE TIP #5: Sharing Your Art

Once you have been working at these basics, you are going to want to share your art with people you care about. You may even be wanting to sell your art. Spending some time learning how to speak about your art needs to be on your priority list, for sure.

Thinking of the effect your words have on others and how to begin pricing your work is worth doing sooner rather than later.

Who are you sharing with? What do they want / need / like? Where are they hanging out on social media?

Spending time thinking about WHO you are creating for and what they need will help you come across with joy and confidence.

The last thing people need is to be made to feel like they did the wrong thing by giving you a compliment or expressing an interest in buying your art!

Beware the vulnerability and self conscious awkwardness that can make you say something that will cause the person admiring your art to feel uncomfortable or that they clearly have no idea or terrible taste!

If in doubt, just smile and say thank you.

If you'd like some help & encouragement as you focus on the 20% that will help improve your art by 80%, come join me and over 500 other artists and art newbies in my free facebook group The Confident Artist.

]]><![CDATA[10 HABITS OF A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST]]>Sun, 27 Oct 2019 21:23:33 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/10-habits-of-a-successful-artistby Fiona Valentine

Blog Header 10 Habits of a Succeessful Artist by Fiona ValentinePicture

As you are learning how to paint, time management & habits are probably not the first things that jump to mind, right? Building these 10 creative habits will actually make your learning to paint journey much more successful!

Here's to your art success, friend. Let's get into the How To of 10 habits of a successful artist.

Learn to Paint Habit #1: Show Up

Getting started is half the battle! Just showing up is powerful.

Know when and where you are going to work and stick to it. Use small rewards, timers, appointments booked in your diary, an accountability partner, whatever you need to be clear about your plan and then just keep showing up.

Learn to Paint Habit #2: Do The Work

You are an artist if you make art. So, you need to be doing the work of making art. Simple, but easy to avoid. There will always be something else that needs to be done.

Once you have shown up, be clear on your most important work and make sure you are doing THAT work, not fiddly unimportant work.

Prioritize the art that is your unique, most valuable work and spend your time on that.

Palette image from 10 Habits of Successful Artists blog post by Fiona Valentine

Good habits help you make more Art

Learn to Paint Habit #3: Value Inspiration

There is an important difference between putting value on inspiration and waiting for inspiration.

If you wait to be inspired, you’ll never get to the work.

By the same token, if you don’t respect and capture inspiration when it appears, it will be wasted.

Experiment with what works for you to record inspiration when it comes. A notebook. An app on your phone for capturing ideas. Snap a photo of something that prompted an idea for a painting.

Get in the habit of putting these all in one place to come back to. If you will nurture and value inspiration, it will grow.

Because you recorded it, it’s easy to come back to when you are ready to plan new work! Inspiration and painting don’t have to happen at the same time and I find they don’t, usually.

This awareness will help you not to have an unreal expectation of feeling continually inspired, but be free to just get on and work hard.

Learn to Paint Habit #4: Focus

Know what you want to create & stay in your lane. There isn’t time to do or be everything, so choose your favourite, your most inspired, what feels easy, simple, true to you and get really good at that.

Leave all the other stuff.

Learn to Paint Habit #5: Practice

Repetition of a specific, focused action is the way to build skills.

Practicing little and often works best.

From 10 minutes up to an hour or two maximum. Doing this 5 days a week on the next skill, you need is the way to make lasting progress.

If you aren’t sure what to work on, get some help to understand which basics you need to conquer first.

Oaks grow come from acorns and develop slowly. Small steps toward progress are so enjoyable. Unrealistic ideas of overnight mastery just lead to frustration.

Paint brush image from 10 Habits of Successful Artists blog post by Fiona Valentine

Small steps toward progress are so enjoyable

Learn to Paint Habit #6: Paint

In addition to practice time, paint the idea you are most excited to paint NOW.

Do your best. Don’t wait until you can “do it justice”. Just have a go and try your best to paint whatever it is to the best of your current ability. Be sure and press through the ugly "middle miles" and finish it. Not perfect, but done.

If you don’t like the result, don’t be afraid to try again and see if you can improve.

We have to paint as we can and not as we can’t. As long as you are doing your best and not holding back until you can get it “right” or “perfect” you will grow. It's easy to spend all our time preparing to paint or learning to paint and we need to have a go at actually painting despite the fear of getting it wrong.

It’s often fear of making mistakes that keeps you from painting. As Vincent Van Gogh said If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

Have the humility and courage to paint badly at first. This is where we start and in time, with practice, we will improve.

Learn to Paint Habit #7: Share

Most people love to hear that you are painting. Experiment with sharing what you are working on.

You’ll learn who NOT to show (because they make careless remarks that sting) and who is encouraging and who offers truthful feedback that helps.

You’ll find the balance in time, between protecting your vulnerable, sensitive creative self and having courage to say “I am painting.” “I made this” without offering justifications and explanations as to why it’s not better and self protective comments that criticize the painting before someone else has a chance to.

These small acts of bravery will help strengthen your ability to own your journey. Be brave while your skills are not what you wish them to be.

You’ll slowly find your tribe and take these friends with you on your journey of growth.

Learn to Paint Habit #8: Mindset

Be kind to yourself and say encouraging things.

Notice the limiting ideas that you have.

Work at replacing overly critical self talk with affirmations.

Read great books by artists who "speak your language" and encourage your heart and help you see how everyone struggles with these internal battles to creativity.

Try “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron and "Creative Authenticity" by Ian Roberts. "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown, "Real Artists Don't Starve" by Jeff Goins and "The Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy are also great reads to help grow a positive mindset.

Replace critical self talk with affirmations

Learn to Paint Habit #9: Manage Your Life

Your life affects your painting.

Getting enough sleep
Eating healthy
Exercising
Spending time with people who love you
Organising chores so they don’t take up your most value creative times.

These are all habits to foster that will help you paint.

Sometimes, managing your life for painting success is as simple as moving housework, shopping, appointments and catch ups to the afternoon, leaving morning time free for creative work on the days you are at home.

If you are working full time, it might mean making time early in the morning before work for 20 minutes of art.

Perhaps setting aside one night a week for uninterrupted work might be the answer.

Whatever your life looks like, spend some time thinking about how you can manage things (and people!) so as to maximise your studio time.

Learn to Paint Habit #10: Be You

There is only one you! Spend time finding out what you like, what works for you, thinking about your goals and objectives and make your own path.

Don’t copy another artists, but learn from many artists.

There isn’t one way to make art. Become a student of your own freedom and joy and notice the things that delight you and the things that you dislike. These will be a much better guide to your path than an “expert” who says things that don’t really resonate with you.

Find mentors who help you discover your path rather than insist you do things their way. There isn’t one way to make art and arrogant opinions that shut you down don’t deserve your time and attention.

Look for artists and experts whose words make your heart say “yes! I love that” and who inspire excitement and a feeling that you are understood and that you’ve got this.

Of course, you will have much to learn, but never belittle your intuition. It will help you find your path.

May these habit suggestions speed your painting journey and help you recognize that organisation and productivity are essential elements to productive, profitable, satisfying art making. Creativity isn't all freedom and mess!

For some simple affirmation of your creativity, my free pdf "Your Creativity Matters" is a good place to start. You can get it here.

Send me the PDF please!

]]><![CDATA[5 WAYS TO MIX BEAUTIFUL GREENS]]>Sun, 13 Oct 2019 13:00:00 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/5-ways-to-mix-beautiful-greensby Fiona Valentine

If you have trouble mixing greens, you are not alone. Green seems to be a colour mixing dilemma for many of us. If you want to learn how to paint, conquering green will be very helpful.

So here are five simple ways to mix beautiful greens to get you started.

Mix Beautiful Greens Tip #1

Mix a bright green with a cool yellow and a cool blue.

Understanding the difference between cool colours and warm colours can take some time. I dive deep into this in my Colour Course if you’d like some help figuring it out.

For now, let’s start by using a cool yellow like lemon yellow. This yellow is "cool" because it has a green bias caused by a little blue pigment combined with the yellow.

Now choose a cool blue. I like pthalo blue. It’s a transparent, staining pigment. Just try getting some on your finger, or your shirt or the carpet and you’ll see what I mean! Pthalo blue is cool because it has a green bias caused by a little yellow pigment combined with the blue.

This combination makes very bright greens. The blue is much stronger than the yellow here, so take a tiny bit of blue and mix with the yellow in increasing amounts and see how many different greens you can make from this combination.

Mix bright green image from blog by Fiona Valentine

Mix bright green from a cool yellow & cool blue

Mix Beautiful Greens Tip #2

Mix a dull green with a warm yellow and a warm blue.

Cadmium yellow deep and Ultramarine Blue would be good choices here as they both have an orange bias because a little red pigment is combined with yellow pigment.

Mixing these two colours together creates a mix with all three primaries present. Mixing yellow, red and blue will make mud – browns and greys. Dull colours.

So, having a little of all three primaries present in this green mix will make a dull green.

See how many dull greens you can create with this combination.

Mix dull green image from blog by Fiona Valentine

Mix dull green from a warm yellow and a warm blue

Mix Beautiful Greens Tip #3

This combination is easy! Mix a cool yellow with a little bit of ivory black. Keep adding more ivory black and see how many greens you can make.

Mix easy green image from blog by Fiona Valentine

Mix easy greens from cool yellow & ivory black

Mix Beautiful Greens Tip #4

This time, let's make tints. Make a tint by adding white to a colour.

Take each of the greens that you mixed in the first three steps and add a little white to each one.

Now add more white and paint these out, then more white again. Lastly, take pure white and add just a tiny bit of the green tint for a colour that is almost white.

You’ve now created 4 new greens from each original green!

Mix green tints image from blog by Fiona Valentine

Mix tints by adding white

Mix Beautiful Greens Tip #5

Mix yellow ochre with white and add a little cool green viridian. Viridian or Pthalo green is an intense emerald colour straight from the tube.

Viridian green image from blog by Fiona Valentine

VIridian green is intense & makes beautiful tints with white

Adding yellow ochre and a little white to viridian creates beautiful soft greens that are some of my favourites.

Viridian + Yellow ochre + White

By now, you should have an impressive array of green colours. It’s helpful to record the colour mixes you’ve created on a sheet of canvas or even index cards. I like to put the initials of the tube colours I’ve used for future reference.

For some fun green practice, grab a leaf from the garden and see if you can mix the colour you see. Picking leaves from different plants can help you observe more closely the huge variety of greens in nature. You’ll notice many of these natural greens are dull while a few are very bright.

Becoming confident with colour mixing will help you reproduce this variety in all it’s glory. Painting with colour straight from a tube will never feel as believable as carefully mixed colour. Tube colours feel unnatural without some toning down with white, black or the opposite colour on the colour wheel.

Should you find a green is a little brighter than you intended, add a small amount of red to dull it down. Different reds will give slightly different results, but because red sits opposite green on the colour wheel, this is a subtle and effective way to control the chroma or brightness of the green. Complements or opposites include the third primary colour, so they create a duller mix.

Interestingly, when painted side by side, complements make one another look even brighter! Isn't colour amazing?

There is so much more to say about using green and how principles of atmospheric perspective can help you create the illusion of distance in a painting, but that, dear artist, will have to wait for another blog post.

Happy colour mixing! You might find my colour terms pdf freebie is helpful. You can download it here:

Send me the freebie!

]]><![CDATA[ART ORGANIZATION FOR A HAPPIER STUDIO]]>Sun, 29 Sep 2019 14:00:00 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/art-organization-for-a-happier-studioby Fiona Valentine

Art Organization blog header by Fiona Valentine

Art organization is a brilliant idea. Artists have a reputation for being messy and it’s true, creativity can involve mess but that doesn't mean organization isn't an important aspect of a successful artist's studio.

In this post, I'll share how organizing my art studio and art supplies saved me time, money and frustration.

It has definitely made my studio a happier place. I have a simple 5 step plan that helped me through the process to a great result.

Art Organization & Lean Specialists

Now, I have to confess, I have an unfair advantage. I’m married to a lean specialist. A lean specialist is trained to identify waste and remove it.

My American specialist started young as a football quarterback, rock climber and eagle scout. He went on to work in emergency rooms and intensive care. Waste doesn’t stand a chance with this guy. He came to Australia and married an artist. Clearly, opposites attract.

I'm thankful to have not only my own specialist, but a dedicated art studio at home. Being a creative, my work can get messy and it's nice to be able to shut the door and leave a work in progress in, well... progress. But my studio is small and I was getting frustrated because I was running out of room and COULDN'T FIND THINGS.

When I saw a video about how much money lean systems were saving businesses, this one-woman-enterprise paid attention. If those businesses are saving that much time and money by getting organized, how much time and money was it costing me to hunt for art supplies, tubes of paint and lost tools, I wondered.

Mike showed me a system called 5S that changed my studio life. Here are my embarrassing "before" pictures of my studio makeover.

Before photos of studio from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

Embarrassing BEFORE shots

If productivity, creative mental space and uninterrupted painting appeal to you, read on, friend and I'll share how I gained a happier, more productive studio with a place for everything and everything in it's place. And of course, "after" photos!

Art Organization: What is 5S?

So,what is 5S?

5S is a Lean methodology - 5 steps towards efficiency. Statistics on how much money companies save by implementing 5S are astonishing.

In case you are keen to get started, let me explain each of the steps and how we went about it.

Art Organization Step 1: SORT

Step 1 Sort text image from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 1 SORT: take everything out of your studio that isn't essential to your process.

This step was much easier once I learned about White Tag areas. Everything nonessential gets removed and taken to your White Tag Area. (In my case, the nearby laundry.)

Any decision about what happens to these things is made later. This took so much pressure off making a decision about each piece and meant I could just dive in and get everything non essential out of the studio.

As a separate task, I later sorted what needed throwing out or giving away and what I might need to keep.

Possible keeper items went in my White Tag Storage area with a date (my items were smallish so went in a tub in the shed). In a year, if you still haven't used them... it's time to get rid of them.

I can't tell you how helpful it was to keep this task separate and do it later. It mustn't stop you from getting on with the process.

Art Organization Step 2: SET

Step 2 Set text image from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 2 is SET: a place for everything and everything in it's place.

I thought a lot about how to make the studio work for watercolour, oil, acrylic AND drawing without having to move everything as I worked from project to project. My patient lean specialist and I stood (wine glasses in hand) late one Saturday night and discussed options.

With a plan in place and my shiny new label maker (did I mention I love this label maker?) I created an insane amount of labels and found a place that worked for EVERYTHING.

With my SORT step already done, there was plenty of room available. In fact, I couldn't believe how much room in my not-so-big-studio with all of the nonessential things gone!

The specialist looked a little smug but resisted saying “I told you so”. I whad been sure I’d have to move to a bigger space. He had assured me I wouldn’t.

He was right. It was astonishing. I mean, the space I gained was astonishing, not that he was right. That happens more than I like to admit.

Art Organization Step 3: SHINE

Step 3 Shine text image from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 3 is SHINE - establish regular cleaning and repairs.

Getting everything sparkling was a breeze with only essential things in their proper place. By now, I was having fun.

It's easy to see what needs fixing or replacing, so that everything is ready to use.

I love that this space copes with being able to make a mess because, let's face it, art making is messy.

Having the studio sorted means I can reach for tools that are exactly where they are supposed to be and tidy up the mess super quick ready for a new day.

Art Organisation Step 4: STANDARDISE

Step 4 Standardise text image from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 4 is STANDARDISE - make it easy to maintain the order you created in Step 2.

Now that you’ve marked the place for everything with labels, photograph everything in it's place.

Print off the photographs and stick them up around your studio so you know EXACTLY what it's supposed to look like and where everything goes.

Art Organisation Step 5: SUSTAIN

Step 5 Sustain text image from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 5 SUSTAIN - Use a dated chart stuck up on the wall to tick off your weekly SHINE and have someone who knows your new system check off the chart once a month. They'll have your photos and labels to guide them. If it doesn't look like the photo, it's their job to point it out.

It's not just kids who "do what you inspect, not what you expect". The manufacturing industry has learned this is the way to keep this kind of change sustained so the benefits aren't lost.

It works for artists, too.

After image of studio from art organization blog post by Fiona Valentine

After shots of my organized studio

It definitely took some time, but a year down the track, my organised studio has saved me so much time as I'm not looking for things anymore.

The label maker was totally worth the money. If you don't have one, get one. Really. You can thank me later.

If you are sick of looking for things, end up buying new supplies because you can’t find the ones you already have or think you might be running out of space, I have a free pdf to help you on your art organisation journey.

Click here to download my free pdf to help you remember the steps and implement your own 5S System. I’d love to hear how it works out for you!

I NEED THE 5 STEPS to ART ORGANISATION PDF!

]]><![CDATA[HOW TO USE GRAPHITE TRANSFER PAPER]]>Mon, 16 Sep 2019 01:47:41 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/how-to-use-graphite-transfer-paperby Fiona Valentine

Blog header image How To Use Graphite Transfer Paper by Fiona Valentine

If you’ve been wondering how to use graphite transfer paper – this blog post is for you. If you are thinking “Transfer paper? What’s that?” it’s paper that has a layer of graphite on one side. It works like carbon paper to make a copy. If “why should I care?” is your next question – here are four great reasons you are going to love transfer paper.

You have a great drawing, but want it bigger.
You are just new to painting and can’t draw, but keen to get started with paint.
You want to preserve your beautiful drawing and use it for a painting.
You want to speed up your painting practice by repeating a scene to build skills.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in learning to draw. Drawing is all about seeing accurately and if you can’t “see” you can’t paint well. But if we all had to wait to learn to draw well before we got in to the fun of painting, we might never start.

I encourage my art students that learning to paint is like a triathlon – you need to be able to cycle, swim and run, but if you try to learn all of these at once, it’s going to be a little overwhelming.

Learning to paint AND draw AND mix colour is a lot. It's OK to tackle one skill at a time.

But transfer paper isn't just for beginners, oh, no.

Every artist knows that some drawings just work best when you aren’t trying too hard. So, what if you captured something amazing, but it’s on the wrong paper or in a little sketch book or you just want it bigger?

Take a photo, enlarge the photo and print it to the size you want.
THEN taa daa use transfer paper following the method below .
You’ll have all the shapes in place, saving you hours of re-work and can jump straight in to the shading stage or turn your fabulous drawing into a painting.

Image of Graphite Transfer Paper from Blog by Fiona Valentine on How to Use it

Graphite transfer paper may just be your new best friend

If you’ve ever used tracing paper, you know you draw over the image underneath, then draw on the back, then flip it over to once more draw over your lines, transferring to a fresh piece of paper. That’s 3 times!!! Using graphite transfer paper is an easier way.

So, if you are keen to speed up your practice, get started the easy way or just want to quickly transfer a drawing or photo to canvas or paper, let’s talk about how graphite transfer paper might just be your new best friend.

How to use transfer paper: Step 1

Grab the paper you want your drawing transferred to. Tape the paper securely to a board or table so it's not going to move during the transfer. Be generous with the tape and really rub it down hard so it grabs tight.

Trust me, you do NOT want this moving half way through your transfer.

If you are transferring to canvas, you can skip this step.

Image showing how to tape down paper for graphite transfer by Fiona Valentine

Step 1 - Tape your paper to a board or table

How to use transfer paper: Step 2

Step 2 is to securely tape a photocopy of your drawing or photo on to the paper at the top. Place it thoughtfully.

Not too close to the edge,
Positioned nicely on the paper from a design point of view.
Leave room for framing or trimming around the sides.

Again, make sure you rub the tape (with clean hands) so the image isn't going to move.

If you are transferring to a canvas, tape your photocopy to the canvas. You may need extra tape to make it stick securely.

Step 2 image How to use transfer paper blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 2 - tape your reference image to the paper

How to use transfer paper: Step 3

Slip the graphite paper between the photocopy and paper or canvas.

Place it dark side down, so the graphite transfers to the paper NOT the back of your photocopy! #been there #never doing that again

Step 3 image How to use transfer paper blog post by Fiona Valentine

Step 3 - Place transfer paper graphite side down

How to use transfer paper: Step 4

Now draw over your photocopy. I like to use a red pen as it shows where you have already drawn. A pen will give a firmer line than using a pencil.

You can transfer as much or as little information as you need.

If your transfer paper is new, you may need light pressure to keep the line from being too thick and dark. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Step 4 - Draw over image with a red pen

How to use transfer paper: Step 5

When you think you’ve finished, lift up the photocopy carefully and double check your drawing before moving the photocopy image. Once moved, it’s tricky to get it back in place exactly.

(It can help to draw double lines from the photocopy onto the paper in a couple of spots to hep you re-position if necessary. Marking the corners before you start can also help.)

After adding any missing lines, remove the graphite paper, then the photocopy and any tape. Don't be in a hurry, this step can take 15 minutes or more to really study the photocopy and your transferred image and make sure that all the lines make sense and you have all the information you need to finish the drawing or start painting.

Your transferred image is likely to be pretty grubby at this point, especially if your transfer paper was new. Take a kneaded eraser and knead it until it’s soft, then gently drag it over the drawing to pick up any graphite grubbiness. Even on watercolour paper you can do this firmly without damaging the paper as it’s very gentle on the surface.

And there you have it, an easy way to transfer a photocopy of

an original drawing
a photo you’d like to work from
or an image you’d like to try again in a different size.

You can even make your own graphite transfer paper by drawing all over paper with a pencil or progresso. It’s slow, but quite effective.

If you don’t have a large enough sheet, trying carefully taping a few sheets together. Transfer paper comes in rolls, so you could tape several long pieces together. Some brands do offer large sheets. Alternatively, just keep moving your A4 piece to a new section as you work.

Graphite transfer paper is reuseable, so although a 10 pack might cost $25, it will last a long time.

It’s a great technique to teach kids, too. I have the kids in my classes work on their drawing and once they have erased, corrected and finalised their drawing, they transfer it to watercolour paper ready for painting. We use washi tape to help hold their watercolour paper down and they love choosing a bright colour and taping it all up. This way they create a drawing AND a painting.

Step 5 - Clean up transfer with a kneaded eraser

If you are interested in learning to draw, check out my blog post on drawing here.

You can download a free practice sheet for drawing with a grid here:

I'd like a free drawing practice sheet!

]]><![CDATA[WISH OIL PAINTING WAS EASIER?]]>Sun, 01 Sep 2019 14:00:00 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/wish-oil-painting-was-easierby Fiona Valentine

Has learning how to paint in oil ever seemed too complicated? Intimidating, maybe? Me, too. I had oil painting in my “too hard” basket for years. Once I tried it, though, I LOVED IT! Now, I suggest my students START with oil because it is so forgiving and they can get amazing results quickly.

Honestly, I might have stuck with watercolour and acrylic forever, but thanks to a birthday present of oil paint from my husband about 7 years ago, I couldn’t resist any longer. I’m so glad I discovered how amazing it is.

Let’s break down oil painting into parts so you can find the courage to have a go, too.

Oil feels like the ultimate painting medium. It can be used in layers or painted alla prima (all at once). Oil is lustrous with a buttery quality that enables smooth blending. If you don’t like something, you can just scrape it off or paint over it!

Oil paintings can be built up in lots of ways.

with or without a detailed drawing
with a grey under painting followed by a colour layer perhaps with many thin coloured, glazes both transparent or opaque and final highlights.
Alla prima paintings are worked up “all at once”, wet in wet often with brush strokes visible other times with smoother, thinner strokes.

Armed with some basic info oil is wonderfully forgiving and can be managed with a minimum of fuss and mess.

So, how do you use oil? Let’s start at the beginning with materials you'll need.

Oil Paint Image from blog post on How To Oil Paint by Fiona Valentine

Buy artist quality oil paint

How to Oil Paint #1: Paint

Use artist paint as the pigment will be good quality and you will be able to mix better colour. Student grade paints often have cheap pigment and lead to muddy mixes which will be frustrating for you. Good pigment means you can mix bright, clean colour.

Winton by Winsor and Newton is a great starting place as their student paint uses the same pigment as their artist quality range. You will use more paint as the pigment ratio is lower, but at least your mixes will be clean and you don’t have to spend a small fortune to begin.

How to Oil Paint #2: Brushes

Both hog hair and synthetic brushes are suitable for oil. A variety of flat, filbert (these have a rounded oval top) and round brushes in a few sizes from very small to large will get you started.

Palette knives can be used, too, for interesting effects. I like to mix colours with my palette knife as it is so easy to clean in between colours..

Experiment with loading your brush with different amounts of paint both at the tip and on the flat side.
Try changing the angle of the brush from a right angle to the canvas to a low angle almost parallel to the canvas.
Move the position of your elbow - stick it out like a chicken wing for a new angle as well as close by your side.
Change your grip. Try holding it like a pencil, a conductor’s baton then a steak knife.

All of these will give you different ways of applying the paint and keep your painting varied and interesting.

How to Oil Paint #3: Palette

I love having a glass palette for working at home because it’s so easy to clean. Try using a glass shelf from Ikea.

Glass Palette image Image from blog post on How To Oil Paint by Fiona Valentine

A glass palette makes clean up easy

How to Oil Paint #4: Support

A support is just the surface you will be painting on. Panel, canvas or stretched canvas are all suitable. The support should be primed so the paint won’t be absorbed and fade. Many canvases can be bought “triple primed”.

Panels or canvas are basically the same as for acrylic. You can prepare your surface with gesso, which is acrylic and can have oil painted over the top. You can also select an oil prepared canvas.

Once any gesso is dry with or without texture according to your subject (perhaps smooth for a portrait, textured for a landscape) you can begin in several ways.

You can sketch your design on the canvas with pencil or paint

How to Oil Paint #4: Process

Sketch
Sketch your design – if you are working from a photo and don’t feel confident, try using a grid. If you need some help, I've written about drawing here. Once you are happy with your drawing (simple or complex) you can spray with a fixative to keep the pencil from merging with the paint to make an ugly grey.

Tone Your Canvas
Alternatively, to quickly cover the white of the canvas, try dipping a rag or brush in odourless solvent, add a little bit of paint and rub on some colour to tone your canvas. You can use several colours and block in your drawing very simply.

Paint
A third method of beginning is to take a small brush and draw in your basic shapes with paint. Thin paint without medium is best for control and so as not to interfere with the following layers. These methods of beginning can be combined, too.

Underpainting
Once you have your basic shapes, you can paint in brown or grey focusing on just value without needing to consider colour.

Although you almost paint the whole thing twice, it helps to just think about one aspect at a time and get it right.

The value (light or dark) is important in making the painting interesting and realistic. 3 values of dark, medium and light will do the job. The trick is to get them in the right places. This layer should be thin.

Alternatively, tackle a layered approach with a thin layer of colour first, paying attention to lights and darks and the main colour of each area and painting thinly.

Colour Layer
Once you are happy that the general shapes are correct, paint a little more thickly. Keep squinting to help you determine the values and try to use several colours in each area to keep things interesting.

Give careful attention to each stroke, especially the “Master Strokes” in your area of interest. Think about the direction, thickness and shape of each stroke before you touch the canvas. Make each mark count rather than dabbing at the canvas without a plan, hoping things will improve.

Alla Prima
Direct painting or Alla Prima (meaning "all at once") is a method of painting one layer, with brushstrokes placed mostly as you mean them to look in the finished painting. It's fast, fun and a great way to experiment. It can be done smoothly or with thicker paint.

You can still sketch in your shapes first with pencil or paint.

I recommend giving both a layered (indirect) way of painting AND alla prima (direct) painting a try. You won't know for a while which way you prefer.

Varnishing
Varnish is an important final layer to protect a painting from dust, smoke and grease in the air. Varnish can be carefully dusted or even removed and replaced, preserving a painting for generations.

Typically, Oils need to dry a long time before varnishing so the paint is not just dry on the surface, but all the way through the thickest parts of the paint. Oil dries by oxidation not evaporation. This can take weeks and even months – some say you shouldn’t varnish for six months or a year. One way around this is to varnish with a spray retouch varnish and then months later when the work is dry, apply the final varnish.

Gamvar is a great option and my personal choice. Once a painting is touch dry, you can varnish more quickly than the traditional time as the painting will continue to breathe. Don’t practice your varnish technqiue on your painting – practice on something that doesn’t matter. Use a brush that is only for varnishing and go for several thin coats, drying in between. Don’t go over areas more than once. Gamvar is my varnish of choice. It is much easier to apply than traditional damaar varnish as it is thinner. This link includes a helpful video by Gamvar demonstrating their suggested method of application.

There are so many ways to use oil paint

There is so much more we could say about oil, including mediums that can be added to thin or thicken oil paint for a variety of effects and various techniques to add interest and texture. It is such an exciting way to paint and gives so many options that you can choose from to create your own unique, lasting, beautiful work that expresses your ideas.

I hope you are inspired to have a go!

To encourage your creative journey, you can download my pdf freebie "Your Creativity Matters" here.

Send it to me, please!

]]><![CDATA[5 REASONS ACRYLIC IS AN AWESOME MEDIUM]]>Sun, 18 Aug 2019 22:55:39 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/5-reasons-acrylic-is-an-awesome-medium

Blog Cover Image 5 Reasons Why Acrylic is An Awesome Medium by Fiona Valentine

Acrylic really is a fabulous medium! If you are wondering how to paint with acrylic and if it might be right for you, here are 5 great reasons to give acrylic a place in your studio:

Acrylic is simple to use and easy to clean up
It has some of the attributes of watercolour AND some of the attributes of oils
You can paint with transparent washes or chunky texture or both!
It’s colours are rich and can be varnished to retain their gloss
If you don’t like something, you can just paint over it

So, I've spilled the beans and given you all 5 reasons already BECAUSE I'm hoping you are feeling a little excited about these possibilities. Ready to take a deeper look at some tools and tips on how to use acrylic paint and why it deserves consideration as your medium of choice?

If you are new here, you can also check out my thoughts on how to paint with watercolour. Click here to read why I recommend doing your research and choosing just ONE medium here.

Acrylic Paint blobs image from blog post on acrylic painting by Fiona Valentine

Acrylic paint can be used 1000 different ways

Acrylic How To: Paint

Acrylic can be used a thousand different ways. Use it straight from the tube, thin it with water or add impasto medium to make it really thick. So many options! Working from thin to thick is a good general rule of thumb. It can be helpful to draw your sketch first in pencil or with paint and a brush. If you like drawing with pencil, you can spray it with fixative to keep from smudging the drawing. If the smudge doesn’t matter to you, just start painting!

A tiny spray bottle of water is fantastic for keeping your paint from drying too fast when trying to blend on the canvas. It also helps keep paint moist on your palette while painting. If you need to dry an area quickly, you can use a hair dryer. It can be a huge advantage to control the timing of your painting and not have to wait a day or two for a layer to dry.

Acrylics will dry a little darker in value. This can make matching colour tricky, so always mix a little more than you think you need to ensure you don’t run out and have to try to match your mix. I like to test a colour then blow dry the sample to check the final colour value when I really need to be sure.

Acrylic How To: Support

A support is whatever you paint on. With acrylic, you have lots options; paper, canvas or board. It’s a good idea to first coat with Gesso, also known as a ground. A layer or three will help your support not to suck up all your paint and give you a clean, dry, surface that will ensure your painting is stable for many years to come. When preparing your surface with gesso, you can also incorporate some textured brush strokes which can become part of your finished painting.

It can be helpful to prepare several boards with gesso, wonderful brush texture and some light colour as a beginning surface for your paintings. Just scoop out some gesso and mix with just a little water if too stiff. Brush on to your board or canvas so that the surface is completely covered. Even if your canvas is primed, I still add a gesso layer or two. This will dry quickly and you can paint over it the next day. If you put it out in the sun, it’s sometimes ready in an hour or two! You can also add colour to this final layer of gesso to give yourself a head start.

Acrylic paint can be used under oil paint to speed up the early layers of a painting. I love doing this. Be aware you cannot reverse the order. Acrylic paint cannot be painted over oil. It’s a good idea to keep separate brushes for each medium.

Gesso on paint brush image from blog by Fiona Valentine on acrylic painting

A layer of gesso helps prepare a stable surface to paint on

Acrylic How To: Palette

A palette is where you mix your paint colours. I like to use a glass palette as it’s easily cleaned with a mist of water to loosen the paint and a safety razor blade. Plastic plates work, too and you can throw them out when finished for an easy cleanup. Plastic palettes can be hard to clean when the paint dries. There are specially designed palettes that acrylic paint will peel off. Tear off paper palettes are also a good idea also as they can be thrown away after use. If you want to mix a large quantity, I find takeaway containers will keep the paint workable for ages, even weeks or months. Spritz with a little water before closing carefully to keep airtight.

Stay wet palettes are another great option as they keep your mixes moist. You can pop the lid on and come back later to continue using the same paint.

Acrylic How To: Brushes

Hog bristle or synthetic brushes work for acrylic as well as oil. Brush quality is not as important as it is in watercolour. Some people are very hard on their brushes, so tend to buy cheaper brushes and replace them more often. Others like to buy quality brushes and find, with care, they last many years. It probably depends somewhat on how aggressively you like to apply your paint! I would recommend a few in different sizes so you can become familiar with how they work. Some artists use bigger brushes to work freely, others only ever use medium to small. Experiment. The more you get to know your brushes, the more you will be able to paint the effects you want.

Do be careful to wash your acrylic brushes thoroughly as paint quickly builds up in the brush making it stiff and unusable.

Acrylic How To: Layers

I find that building up colour in layers works well for acrylic. You can try both wet in wet blending and painting one layer over another, drying in between. A fast medium fixer is a transparent product you can paint over a dry layer to protect it before working another layer on top

I love to use this for skies. I’ll often work several layers to get a smooth transition from darker blue to a lighter colour near the horizon. Once I’m happy, I’ll use a fixer to seal this layer and let it dry. Then, if I’m working clouds or trees over the sky, I can just wipe away a mark I’m not happy with without disturbing the layer underneath. Being able to wipe off a still wet mark with a clean, damp sponge is very freeing! You can experiment without fear of ruining the good work you’ve already done.

Acrylic is so adaptable, it’s easy to combine chunky brush strokes, working with a palette knife for texture then painting thin to create even the tiniest of line details.

A useful strategy is to start thin, building up your detail and then increase the amount of paint and texture where you want the focus to be. You can add impasto medium to really chunk it up – this makes strands of hair, bark, grasses, rocks and is great fun to try.

Have a look at the range of acrylic mediums in your favourite art store and you’ll see you can add all kinds of things to make your paint more transparent or glossy or thick or textured. You can really go to town here!

Blue glaze image by Fiona Valentine from Blog Post on Acrylic Painting

Glazing over impasto texture works really well

Acrylic How To: Glazing

Glazing is also a wonderful option for subtly adjusting colour or value. A glaze is a thin, transparent layer of paint (mixed with water or medium) that is painted over dry paint.

Glazing on top of dried impasto or modelling paste textures works really well, so experiment with combining these two techniques.

Creating thick texture in acrylic dries so much faster than in oil which is a big plus as you don't have to wait so long to glaze over texture.

Acrylic How To: Varnishing

Varnishing is the final step to protecting a painting and acrylic varnish is really user friendly. Once your painting is complete and thoroughly dry, just give it a light coat or two of acrylic varnish and your painting will be protected for years to come.

Acrylic Paint Tubes Photo from Fiona Valentine blog post

Could acrylic be the right medium for you?

Acrylic is an affordable, easy to use, quick to clean up medium that’s very forgiving for beginners. My only criticism of acrylic is that blending is more challenging than it is in oil. A spritz of water spray or blending mediums can help, but there is nothing like the smooth buttery ease of blending colours and soft edges in oil.

I hope this quick summary of acrylic paint helps in your quest to choose the medium that is right for you. Acrylic painting has so much to offer, is great fun to work with and can help you work fast and get amazing results. As with any medium, choose quality artists paint for best results.

If this blog post has you motivated to get painting, grab my free pdf “Your Creativity Matters” to encourage and help you on your way.

Your Creativity Matters PDF Cover by Fiona Valentine image of paint supplies

I want the PDF!

]]><![CDATA[SUPER EASY BASICS ON HOW TO WATERCOLOUR]]>Sun, 28 Jul 2019 23:32:18 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/how-to-watercolourby Fiona Valentine

Super Easy Basics on How to Watercolour Blog header

Interested in learning how to watercolour? Have you wondered if it’s the right medium for you? Maybe you just want some simple watercolour how to tips? This blog post has my top tips on some super easy basics to keep it simple.

Watercolour is a popular favourite, known for its transparency and luminous washes. When you take some time to get to know her secrets, watercolour will do so many things for you with a minimum of effort. Rain, skin, water, petals, reflections, smoke. It’s a very exciting medium. You plan, get your materials ready and then BANG all the action happens in quick bursts while your paper is wet and you have a “window” to work in.

Let’s talk about equipment basics.

How To Watercolour Tip: Paper

"Choose great paper. The paper you use is your #1 tool for great results. Nothing else will make more of an instant difference to your watercolour than the right paper. Arches is my choice and I prefer the 300gsm rough. It’s a beautiful, thick paper and bought as a “block” it has a gummed edge that helps hold it flat while you work.

There are other types of paper and ways to stretch, but this is a super easy "get started" blog post, right? So, we are going to keep things really simple.

Autumn Leaves watercolour by Fiona Valentine

How To Watercolour Tip: Paint

Artist’s quality watercolours (not student paints) are the second most important choice. You cannot get great results without great paint. Give yourself the best chance of success. I like to use Windsor & Newton or Schminke paints. Daniel Smith are also fabulous.

If you want to learn more about which colours to choose and why, check out my blog post on colour. If you really want to conquer colour, I've created The Colour Course. It's a fast and fun way to dive deep into understanding colour mixing.

How To Watercolour Tip: Palette

A white dinner plate works great as a first palette. Squeeze out some of each colour around the rim. You can keep your paint and use it even once it has dried (unlike other mediums).

A little goes a long way! Just cover the plate to keep out dust and it’s all ready for next time.

A simple palette with wells for mixing colour is my recommended choice. Mixing fresh colour is great when you want a really strong mix for a larger area, but most of the time, I work from dried paint to create my mixes.

How to Watercolour Tip: Brushes

,As for brushes, you are looking for a great tip. Synthetic brushes are so good these days, you don’t need to invest in expensive sable brushes.

Ideally, get 2 or 3 of each size so that you can have a different brush for each colour, ready to move quickly while your paper is wet. A large flat or round for wetting your paper and big washes, a couple of size 8 rounds and then a rigger and some tiny brushes would be a great starter set.

Look after them by not leaving them standing in jars of water. Rinse wipe with paper towel and reform the tip, then leave to dry lying down. With care, your brushes will enjoy a long life. Clean up is a breeze with watercolour.

If you have only a small space for painting, short time windows or struggle with allergies, you may find that watercolour is a very convenient medium to choose!

Now that you know the basic gear you need, add some paper towel, two water containers and some masking tape to hold down your paper and you'll be all set. So, let's talk technique.

Watercolour is a very convenient medium to choose - clean up is a breeze!

How To Watercolour Tip: Flat Wash

Mix a little puddle of water and colour – stronger than you think, because watercolour dries lighter. Mix until all the paint is evenly distributed and suspended in the water. No lumps.

Prop up a board so it’s on a slight angle. Gravity will draw the wash down and keep it from flowing back into a damp area which will leave a mess.

Now brush evenly over the paper. Repeat, overlapping and staying just above the “bead” of paint that forms.

Continue loading your brush and evenly building rows of colour letting the bead travel down the paper

Wipe your brush and remove the damp bead at the end.

Check out this quick video to see a flat wash in action.

You can create smaller shapes on dry paper in much the same way. You could actually complete an entire painting using just this technique alone!

Allowing each shape to dry completely, you can create another layer on top. Letting each layer dry can be sped up using a hair dryer. Drying in between layers without fussing the paint while it's drying is one of the MOST important things you can learn to do.

Understanding this helped me take a giant leap from messes to paintings when I was starting out.

How To Watercolour Tip: Wet in Wet

Mix a puddle of stronger colour to compensate for the fact that the wet paper will dilute it.

Wet your paper with clean water and a clean brush so it’s SHINY wet.

With your brush fully loaded with colour, brush across the wet paper.

Some paints will charge out into the wet paper and others will spread less aggressively. Get to know each one and how it behaves.

Watch what happens here with Pthalo Blue!

How To Watercolour Tip: Damp Paper

This time, wet your paper with clean water and wait until the sheen goes DULL. The paper should be just damp.

With a damp brush loaded with colour, brush or tap gently on to the slightly damp paper and leave it.

This is a great way to create soft, out of focus edges. In this quick video, I'm using several colours to create a background.

These 3 techniques make up the core of how to watercolour. Working with different sized brushes, different colours and varying the timing and amounts of paint and water a huge variety of effects is possible.

There is so much more to say, but if you can think in terms of these 3 simple washes and practice with quality materials, you will be well on your way with watercolour.

Combine your new skills with good references and an accurate drawing and have some fun.

I hope seeing watercolour simplified like this helps you as you decide which medium to focus on. For more on WHY I recommend focusing on just one medium, check out this blog post.

Be sure and grab my free pdf "Your Creativity Matters"

I'd like the PDF!

]]><![CDATA[WHY CHOOSING ONE MEDIUM IS THE SECRET TO PAINTING SUCCESS]]>Sun, 21 Jul 2019 22:56:44 GMThttps://www.fionavalentine.com/blog/why-choosing-one-medium-is-the-secret-to-painting-successby Fiona Valentine

This blog post is a painting how to with a difference. Before I dive in to why I think choosing one medium is the secret to painting success, let me say that I love that there are SO many options for painting. Each medium offers a unique set of skills to learn, characteristics to explore and story telling possibilities. Painting just never gets old! The more how to paint techniques we learn, the more we realize we need to learn, keeping us challenged and interested.

There is always a new artist to discover and get to know who opens our eyes to the possibilities of painting in a fresh and exciting way. And don’t get me started on the excitement of buying new brushes and paint!

With all of these options, it’s easy to try to do it all. How to paint watercolour, how to paint oil, how to paint acrylic. Like a humming bird, we sip and try and flit about from idea to technique to workshop to “shiny new thing” following our bliss. There is certainly a lot of fun to be had exploring our options.

The down side of all this abundance is that we still only have 24 hours in a day. Each medium or technique takes dedicated practice before we can achieve the results we dream about. For this reason, focus is a bonus. Choosing one medium to focus on is the secret to painting success because we make faster progress.

How To Paint with Success: Focus

Focusing on one medium helps us find the joy of regular painting

Choosing one medium and practicing the basic techniques at length might seem “boring” when there are so many exciting ideas to explore, but in my experience, the real joy of painting is in having a painting routine and bite sized goals.

Showing up, having a plan and enjoying the simple pleasure of regular practice is worth it . The process of learning to paint is delightful. Sure, we have moments of frustration over disappointing results, but if we find joy in the process we have arrived!

The joy of the journey is what keeps us painting and although we all want to create paintings we can be proud of, a little patience and willingness to make bad paintings on the way to making good ones is helpful. As is taking the time to practice skills.

Sometimes, we don’t even know how mastery happens. We just keep showing up and one day, that elusive skill that our instructors make look so easy that has been a mystery to us for months opens up and wonder of wonders, we can do it! That, my friend, is an exciting moment.

Have you ever had the experience of attending a live workshop or watching a DVD by an artist you are excited about, watching them do their thing and thinking “Oh, I can do that! Now I get it.” only to try what they made look simple and fail miserably. It’s tempting to think “I don’t have what it takes” or “Why do I bother? I’ll never be any good!” That is not a feel good moment.

The trick is to remember how many “fails” that artist had before they stood up in front of you and demonstrated their brush strokes with all the freedom and finesse of a figure skater gliding around the ice.

The value of focus is that all that repetition is moving your skills forward rather than spreading your experience too widely to be effective.

Practice is just math. Enough hours and you'll get there.

How To Paint With Success: Practice

Practice is math, really. Repeat the correct technique enough times in the right way and you will master it. The problem is, we put crazy expectations on ourselves of achieving mastery on the first try, or the third try or even the 10th try. Been there? Me, too.

The reality is it’s probably going to take a few more tries than that. I know you know this, but that little voice in your head that says “Oh, why do I bother?” needs to hear it again. You just reply right back. “Thank you for your feedback. I think you are being rather harsh and I’m willing to be patient in waiting for results.” It’s quite effective. I promise. Your inner critic needs to know who's boss. Just don’t let anyone catch you talking to yourself.

So, rather than jump around viewing all the exciting painting options and trying new ones in the hope of finding “the one” we can conquer quickly, let’s remember that it’s not the thing I do once that leads to success, it’s the thing I do often, over and over that leads to success.

I have found such joy in changing my goal from finishing a great painting to showing up and enjoying my creativity today. It’s helpful to divide whatever painting time you have into painting something you like as best you can and time where you practice a particular skill.

I enjoy my painting time so much more when I set small goals to practice the skill that’s next for me and paint as I can not as I can’t. I’ve learned over the years, that improvement isn’t visible at the daily level, but over time. That skill I practiced six months ago for a few weeks without seeing ANY improvement has all of a sudden become a skill I have.

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow it did. It helps me show up and keep trying on the NEXT skill I need, knowing if I just keep going for a few weeks, one day I’ll look back and I’ll be able to do this technique, too!

Be kind to yourself

This might all sound obvious, but I’ve found I need to remind myself of the obvious often. Kindness to myself and thinking encouraging thoughts really helps me keep at it. I need affirmations like

"repetition is the mother of skill” and
“it’s not my job to do this perfectly, it’s my job to keep trying.”
“I’m not expecting to see results immediately, I’m putting in my brush miles and next year, I’ll look back and see a huge improvement in my work.”

This kind of simple self talk is CRUCIAL to staying with it long enough to paint the way we long to. The trouble is, it wouldn’t make for a very exciting workshop. Can you imagine?

“Here, workshop students, watch me talk to myself out loud. First, I’ll play the villain, then I’ll counteract that bit of sabotage with a cunning bit of affirmation.”

I hardly think we’ll sell tickets, but in our own studios, it’s dynamite to shut down our inner critic with some creative truth.

So, put on some music, write down that skill you need to work on and get practicing! Book some time in your diary for practice along with time for painting a subject you are excited to try.

How To Paint With Success: Bite Size Goals

I like bite size goals. Painting a flat wash. Painting a gradation. Soft edges vs hard edges. Mixing greens. Tree foliage practice. Cloud studies. Atmospheric perspective. Something I can practice often for a few weeks. Even 10 or 20 minutes helps! Sometimes just aim for quantity. Other times, slow down and aim for quality. Both are important.

Try these goals on for size:

My first 10 paintings
My next 100 mistakes
My first colour chart
I’m going to make 10 attempts at a sky this month
I’ll practice trees every day this month.

artist rinsing watercolour brush in glass vase making a blue cloud

Bite sized goals lead to a creative process we love

Bite sized goals lead to a creative PROCESS we love. Unrealistic expectations of painting a master piece every time I show up to paint just lead to discouragement and overwhelm.
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With all of that in mind, choosing one medium to focus on is a great help! If you can spend all of your time practicing the skills, brushwork, colour mixing and techniques for that one medium, you will see results so much more quickly than if you are trying something new every time you paint. Cycle through the basics of Colour, Drawing, Composition, Brushwork, Edges to name a few.

Having one painting really work can give you the boost you need to work through the next 10 dreadful paintings, knowing sooner or later, you'll get a another good one.

So, choose the one medium you can't live without, set some practice goals and keep at it. Before you know it those skills will be yours! You can grab my practice worksheet freebie to help you choose some quality practice objectives.

Happy practicing!

I want the practice worksheet!

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Look for adaptable pieces

​Find art that brings its own personality to the space

​Collaborate with a favorite artist of yours

​Find pieces that have a purpose

​Choose ceramics that tell a story

​Consider the room you’re decorating

​Try displaying pieces in groups of three

​Bring home a part of Earth

​Showcase your unique style

​Your one-of-a-kind decor should reflect your style and interests

​Buy a handmade mug from a maker you love

​Find an artist that creates with a purpose

​Consider the message you want to share

​Choose the piece that you love

​Incorporate quilted goods in the kitchen

​Sometimes, the fewer the better

​Opt for strong color combinations for the best effect

​Personalize your space