Here in the Midwest we don't have the most interesting terrain, but the sky can really take your breath away. I'm captivated by the light in the sky always, but especially at the end of the day.

It can be intimidating to include people in your paintings, and there is only really one way to get past this intimidation, and that is practice, practice, practice.

It's good to isolate the skill...

As a Midwesterner, there is something about old barns that inspire me. No doubt it is connected to the time spent as a little boy exploring my grandparents' farm, finding treasures in their old bar...

When you're a novice, your attention might go, straight-away, to the most detailed part of a scene. There might be that one thing in the scene you're dying to paint, and that's where you start. In ...

A primary interest of mine as a watercolor artist is creating believable and captivating light. Whether I am painting an interior, a street scene, or a landscape, light is a dominant consideration ...

This painting is one that was accepted into an exhibition in 2024. I loved the light in the scene, and want to show you the steps to painting a building awash in light. 

It almost feels like magic when you're able to create an illusion of distance on a thin sheet of paper. And when you're working on a scene that spans miles and miles, you've got to use every tool a...

What's incredible about watercolor is that you can paint a fresh, beautiful scene fairly quickly. But the flip side of that is that it's not super forgiving or correctable. That's why the ending of...

There have been many lessons learned throughout my 10 years of painting watercolor, and my mission is to share them with others who want to master this medium, improve their paintings, or streamlin...

The same corner of the same street can look different from day to day. Daytime, nighttime, dawn, dusk, rain and snow can change the whole mood of a street corner or landmark. So I often revisit dif...

Simplify Your Paintings

What Supplies Do I Need to Paint This Scene?

I am painting on Saunders Waterford Cold Press 140lb paper, and I have my surface tilted to 35 degrees.

I use a variety of br...