Innholdsfortegnelse for Fall 2025 i Watercolor Artist

Robin Erickson is having a moment. One of her paintings, Window on Via V. Emanuele (page 17), earned an award in the American Watercolor Society's juried exhibition last spring. Another work took an award in the National Watercolor Society's juried exhibition last year. Given artistic accolades such as these, it may be surprising to learn that Erickson was trained not as an artist, but as a mathematician, who— up until 2003—was working as an analyst for the Naval Research and Development Laboratory, in San Diego. Erickson figures that the more mathematical left side of her brain informs the artistic workings of the right side of her brain. She shares a story about one of her collectors, who's also a mathematician and a professor in Chicago. “She told me she knew right…

Artist’s Toolkit SURFACE • 140-lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper BRUSHES • Chinese weasel brushes in various sizes; No. 2 rigger by Tintoretto; No. 8 round by Borciani e Bonazzi PAINTS • French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, cerulean, sepia, burnt sienna, raw sienna, raw umber, green gray, verditer, jaune brilliant, ivory black, translucent orange, lavender Step 1 Iocco begins with a “very, very quick” drawing in pencil. He holds the pencil loosely “like a sword.” This prevents him from getting bogged down in details. He also applies some thin washes, leaving the strongest-lit areas blank. Step 2 Darker washes are applied to define the areas of the painting with the deepest shadow. Step 3 Several different colors are used to describe the vegetation, while quick parallel lines indicate the tiled roofs. A…

The newly released 2025 edition of The Best of Watercolor is a 112-page showcase of the 100+ finalists of the annual Splash competition— now in its 26th year. In this special sneak peek, we're delighted to share a selection of paintings from the publication—works that are especially remarkable in their compositional design, that underlying structure that guides the eye, sets the tone and gives a work its sense of balance. From the golden ratio to dynamic asymmetry, from traditional frameworks to rule-breaking layouts, we think you'll find these winning watercolors both inspiring and enthralling—and the artists' behind-the-painting stories illuminating. Seeing the strong morning light shining across my coffee table inspired the composition for Time to Circle Around. I quickly arranged some fruit and crystal objects in a setup with the…

Step 1 In this portrait of my grandson, I started with a detailed drawing and then applied masking fluid on some of the strands of hair. Step 2 I went over the entire painting with a second layer of wet-into-wet washes. Step 3 I added color throughout the painting and applied a base coat to the eyes. I worked the T-shirt area with several washes, trying to get it as close to finished as possible so I could focus on the face. Step 4 I added more color to the face and washed the background with a grayed yellow. It was necessary to place some color next to the head to enhance the white hair. Step 5 I continued building and refining the thin, white hair, which was a challenge…

The Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS) recently wrapped up its annual online members exhibition, “Waterworks,” which showcased the work of 75 talented members of the watermedia organization, chosen by Juror of Awards Michele Usibelli. More than 400 paintings were submitted from the society's worldwide membership, including artists from across the United States, neighbors both north and south of the border, and across the pond from Europe. Usibelli noted that it was no easy task to select only 75 watercolors. “I was awestruck by the caliber of the submissions,” she says. The juror awarded Second Place to artist Dana Wiggins for her portrait, Amazing Grace (above). “This figurative watercolor captivates with its exceptional composition, effortlessly guiding the viewer's eye through the piece,” says Usibelli. “The perfect drawing skills bring life and accuracy…

Carolyn Lord While plein air painting on a windy afternoon, the rose bushes I intended to paint were in constant motion, so I couldn't interpret them in my usual manner. The word “confetti” came to mind, which prompted a different strategy. Instead of grouping the motif into larger masses or creating a coherent composition, I painted spots of color across the whole page, and then stitched them together with fill-in shapes. I like to describe this as “visual scattering,” an approach that reminds me of paintings by Bruegel, Klimt and Pollock. Vladislav Yeliseyev A key principle of painting is to develop all areas of the composition simultaneously, ensuring that—when it's time to focus on the focal point—it's surrounded by balanced tonal relationships. This rule is especially important in watercolor painting,…

Erickson has developed a number of working strategies, techniques and preferences over the years. Here are some of her suggestions for making the most of the medium, but every artist has their own style and way of working, and she notes: “For all these things, you eventually learn what works and what doesn't.” • MIX YOUR COLORS. “I mix all my colors. I work with a palette of about 10 colors. One of the first watercolor books I read was Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie. She recommended mixing colors from three primaries—cobalt blue, cobalt yellow and a pink [I use quinacridone rose]— to mix all other colors. I add a sienna and a gold to my palette, and a few others that I can't mix, but I otherwise follow…

Many of Barbara Kempe's recent paintings include the word “wild” in the title, and that descriptive reference actually says a great deal about the artist's densely packed watercolors. In Bromeliads Gone Wild (page 34), for example, Kempe was attracted to “the tangle of complex colors and shapes of the blooming bromeliads, clustered leaves, climbing vines and ferns spilling from pots and over walls,” she says. “I tried to emphasize the diversity and beauty of the intricate botanical forms.” In similar fashion, Garden Gone Wild (right) depicts an overgrown flower bed along a quiet residential street. “What drew my attention was the beautiful mixture of flowers and plants,” Kempe says. “It's exactly the abundance of detail and casual configuration of nature that I look for in my botanical watercolors.” Perhaps the…

The glowy mist of light suffused throughout Canadian artist Jennifer Olson's work looks almost as if it has always been there, waiting for you to pass by and notice. It has a stately sort of permanence and a hint of nostalgia; a beam of sunlight through an attic window cast upon some forgotten but dignified antique. Th is kind of meditation is carefully planned, and while the viewer's job is purely one of enjoyment, Olson works hard to create the intangible feeling of a moment caught in time. Th at work begins with the design. Olson has been a painter her whole life, but was formally taught the framework of design while pursuing her bachelor of fine arts degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design (now the Alberta…

Because I’m traveling continuously to teach or to participate in various painting events, I have the privilege of experiencing many beautiful locations. I’m not sure anything is as lovely, however, as the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains near my home, and I love nothing more than driving along Virginia’s backroads. A 20-minute drive will take me to scenes that are not only beautiful, but also historic. The remnants of Civil War battlefields circle the region from south to east, with the mountains situated north and west. As winter ends, a tinge of green touches these rolling hills, and the mountains sink into a lavender mist. The Revolutionary and Civil War-era stone houses and barns are tucked neatly into the crevices of the hills—carrying the memories of generations past. I take…

August 2–February 1, 2026 National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. nga.gov Two centuries of watercolor paintings capture the nation's beauty, from sea to shining sea, in a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art: “American Landscapes in Watercolor.” In the country's early years, explorers used watercolor for mapping and documenting the topography of the land. By the 19th century, American painters such as Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Winslow Homer (1836-1910) and others had begun to translate their observations and experiences of the American landscape into larger, carefully finished works of art. Featuring 30 works, mostly drawn from the National Gallery's Corcoran Collection, the exhibition explores how artists with different backgrounds and styles captured some of the most iconic places in the United States—from the Hudson River Valley and the choppy…

My love for painting is applied metaphorically with a wide brush; any subject can offer inspiration if it grabs both my eyes and my heart. I constantly find myself looking at the world through a creative lens, seeking artistic possibility in everyday things. What makes a painting emotionally powerful? For me, it's a thoughtful application of design elements that allows me to communicate visually and share my emotional connection to my subject. As I find myself drawn directly to the emotional heart of my subject, it's not just about rendering what I see; it's about translating what I feel. Some of my most effective tools for making unseen emotion visible are four elements of design—value, color, shape and texture—each serving as a visual bridge between the subject's story and the…

“I'm Roman. I live in Rome,” Massimiliano Iocco states multiple times during our interview, as if that explains everything. It only takes one look at his many cityscapes to see the kinship the artist clearly feels with the places and people of that city—where, he says, “Every corner is good to paint.” How do you frame a composition while surrounded by thousands of years of history everywhere you look? Iocco's answer is to portray life on the street. He works in a tradition, dating back to the 1600s, of using Italy's monuments and ancient ruins as backdrops to the less grandiose, but more interesting, activity of plazas, courtyards, cafés and markets. “I could paint the Colosseum, of course,” he says, “but that would be a bit boring for me.” THE…

No matter what subject she’s tackling, Kempe— who calls herself “an enthusiastic colorist”—fills the 30 wells in her porcelain palette with a kaleidoscope of colors. Her basics are lemon yellow, new gamboge, raw sienna, burnt sienna, cadmium orange, vermilion, quinacridone red, permanent alizarin crimson, rose madder, permanent rose, permanent magenta, mauve, indigo, French ultramarine, cobalt blue, cerulean blue, manganese blue, Winsor blue, Winsor green, viridian, sap green and olive green. When she needs a dark color that comes close to black, she mixes permanent alizarin crimson with Prussian blue or Winsor green, or she combines burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. She uses a variety of brands, but particularly likes Winsor & Newton for its consistency and Holbein for its vibrancy. As for brushes, Kempe prefers quill-mop synthetic brushes that have…