There is more to painting watercolor roses and rose oil paintings than meets the eye. Here I have captured pink roses in oil and red roses in watercolor. It is difficult to tell which medium I have used for which rose.

'A côte de la Fontaine'
- Oil on Belgian Linen -
© Susan Harrison-Tustain

'Josephine Bruce'
Watercolor on Arches hot pressed paper
© Susan Harrison-Tustain

You will find it is easier to determine whether a painting is watercolor painting or whether it is an oil painting - if you view it in an art gallery of course.
Looking on-line - you will find the background probably helps you to determine which is which. The red rose is the watercolor.
I am sure you are wondering how can these velvet-looking red roses can be painted in watercolor.

Art on line Lesson:
Observation is the key. These are the things you need to ask yourself:

• What does the surface of the rose petals tell you
• What does the texture of the rose petals tell you
• Are they opaque or are they semi-transparent?
• How does is the light affected by the surface - is it absorbed into the surface or reflected and bouncing off the surface?
• Are the highlights hard-edged or muted and flared? Compare the front vertical surface of the upper, right red rose. Does that have the same texture as the inside surface of the rose? Is it as velvety? How do you know it is more shiny and smooth?
• You will have now established that the surface of the inner side of the petals is velvety. Velvet absorbs light and gently flairs the highlight rather than allowing it to appear hard-edged.
• Compare the upper leaf - on the right hand side of the painting. Can you see how that appears shiny?

Now let's take a look at the pink rose:
Ask yourself questions about the surface and textures you see on the pink rose petals:

• Are the petals opaque or semi transparent? How can you tell?
• Do the petals have a velvety texture or are they smooth surfaced?
• In this case the main bloom has a few petals that are wet from the nearby fountain. How can you tell the top left petal is wet? Think about how I have suggested a wet surface?

We can be the best artist in the world at welding a watercolor brush and mixing color - but if we do not observe and analyse our subjects well - our paintings will struggle to be more than just an attractive wall hanging.
As artists we are story tellers. Become as adept in observation as you are at painting, and you will have a winning combination.
This is how to watercolor and how to oil paint - but it is also how to create paintings that speak to the viewers of your work.
There are just a few of the considerations we artists need to be aware of when wanting to know how to paint watercolor and how to paint oil paintings of roses or anything at all for that matter. Teach yourself to understand what is in front of you and you will find your paintings will eventually become masterworks.

These are just some of the observations, good analysis of art will reveal to you. Without this information and analysis, artists would find it difficult to capture the 'feel' and the sumptuous nature of this rose - or any other subject.

Teaching watercolor and oil painting is a passion for me. My teachings, on-line workshops, one on one workshops and of course my art instruction DVDs - all with their sound and in-depth teaching - give the artist a solid base to grown from exponentially. Knowledge and understanding bring confidence and drive to move out of the usual comfort zone, off that plateau and to discover a whole new world of possibilities and artistic potential.
Have fun!
Susan

Free watercolor painting lesson!

This is one of my early paintings showing you how I used to paint before I discovered how to paint in watercolor using my Priming Method.

 Take a look at the hard edges, shadows and the raw washed-out colors in this early painting.

Now take a look below at the difference in the next painting (just four paintings beyond this one above).

Free watercolor painting lesson!

Teaching myself how to paint has meant that I learned to understand how to paint in watercolor and how much water to use and how to create fine layers of color, how to mould form using color temperature (warm and cool colors), how to create soft folds in fabric and petals and how to paint leaves using my yellow underwash technique. Can you see how I have created glowing shadow colors? Painting roses or fabric, the sea, the sky, a portrait, still life - all in watercolor - is not difficult - you just need to learn how to observe, and learn how to understand warm and cool color and how to build layers of color to create delicate transitions, rich depths of color and glowing richness - all without creating mud.

Here is your Free watercolor painting lesson. You will find this an invaluable tool that you can adapt to any subject matter you may choose.

It all begins with my Priming Method ©

Here are my instructions so you, too, can enjoy painting using this magical method.

My Priming Method:

In the initial stages of most of my paintings I use my Priming Method to create

luminous glowing transitions of color.

The Magic of my Priming Method:

Step 1

Wet area to be painted and allow it is sink into the inner layers of the paper.

Step 2

When the sheen from the first clear water wash has just disappeared from the surface of the paper – lay in a second clear water wash.

Step 3

Lay your pigmented wash immediately into the second clear water wash.

There you have it! That is all there is to it!

Why is this watercolor lesson so invaluable?

If you use a transparent palette of hues as well as a very finely ground paint such as the ones I use (Schmincke) – you will find your pigment will be absorbed into the inner layers of your paper. Once bone dry you can add as many washes of color (using my Priming Method) as you wish. But do remember to let each pigmented wash become bone dry.

I always build up the first few layers of my color using my Priming Method. Once I have established my initial smooth blending - if the size of area is not large – I will then progress to using a wet-in-wet method. This wet in wet method is exactly as the name suggests: it is simply a matter of dropping wet paint into a wet surface. My final layers are often wet on dry and dry-brush.

You will find by using my Priming Method on the Initial layers of your painting, you will be able to create a reality and a 'substance' in your work. You can then build your subsequent layers using the traditional wet in wet, wet on dry and dry-brush methods. There are many wonderful benefits in this watercolor lesson:

• It is a free watercolor lesson
• My Priming Method allows you to create seamless and gentle gradations of color
• You can easily multilayer your color (to create beautiful luminous depths of the one hue) or a multitude of colors laid on top of each other (once each is bone dry) and this will result in jewel-like final color that glows from within.
• You can easily create soft edged shadow colors using this free watercolor lesson on my Priming Method
• This method will revolutionize how you can paint so many subjects:

1. How to paint a luminous clear sky or sunset where the gentle transitions of color flow seamlessly into each other.
2. How to paint a porcelain bowl
3. How to paint skin
4. How to paint fabric
5. How to paint black, brown and blonde hair
6. How to paint the sea
7. How to paint fruit
8. How to paint water
9. How to paint reflections
10. How to paint animal fur
11. How to paint leaves
12. How to paint roses
13. How to paint flowers
14. How to paint figurative works

You can see the list is endless. The free watercolor painting lesson above can revolutionize your painting skills and lift your painting level if you practice, learn and use it in the early stages of your paintings. You can see how it impacted on mine!

With this method I am able to capture a true sense of being there – a presence - a substance that feels tangible - as if you can reach into the painting and smell the rose or touch the dewdrop on the leaf.

You may like to watch some of the Youtube videos I have created - this one below is the step by step layering of my still life painting for my DVD. You will see how I build soft delicate shades as well as rich deep or vibrant shades of color - all using my Priming Method:

I have created many Youtube videos that may help you on your journey. Search for my name on Youtube to find them.

My DVDs are also jam-packed full with all of the watercolor breakthroughs that have made all the difference to my watercolor journey.

Have fun - watercolor is a magical and exciting medium full of revelations!

I hope you have enjoyed this free watercolor painting lesson.

Susan

Untitled
10  1/4" x 5  3/4"
260 mm x 145 mm
Watercolor on Arches 300gsm Hot Pressed paper
© Susan-Harrison-Tustain

New Watercolor Painting release

The aged door of a dry stone cottage built in 1904. Set high on a hill overlooking Fruitlands Central Otago, New Zealand - Mitchells Cottage stands as a poignant reminder of New Zealands early settlers.  Within these walls we feel their struggles and their challenges - but this home is also a testament to the resilience and incredible natural beauty of this area of New Zealand.

This is not just a watercolor painting of the time-worn door lock and latch -  and a tongue and groove wood door. This piece has a timeless character that epitomizes an era that was austere and very real. I wanted to capture the wholesome rawness of this place, but also a feeling of 'home fires burning'. My attention was drawn to this handle and the people who have used it, worn the patina on the old brass and lived their wholesome, hard lives with focus and enduring fortitude.

I was compelled to capture the emotion I felt when I stepped into this cottage. When I look at this watercolor painting I can feel there has been a presence of these stoical people and that, to me, is what my painting is all about. That is why I paint. My paintings are a tribute to the people or places that reach out and make their mark on my emotion and enduring thoughts and memories.

Feel free to contact me via my contact form if you have any queries.

~~~~~

Learn about my Watercolor Painting Technique in my Watercolor DVDs.

Learn about how to paint in my Free Art Lessons.

Here is my newest video clip created for you. It shows you how to mix the perfect green for your watercolor paintings.
The video clip is posted here on my blog but please wait until it is fully loaded. It may need a moment.
Enjoy!

My Youtube videos will hopefully inspire as well as give visual information and insight into my inspiration, my methods and my materials. If you enjoy the videos - do subscribe (it's free) and I think that will mean you will get to know when more new videos will be released.

If you find them helpful and enjoyable - do click the 'like' button because this will lift them in the ratings which then means other artists will find them more easily and will be able to enjoy them too.

Here is the Youtube link that will take you to all the video clips. The new clips are the ones where I am wearing a red top. You can see that easily in the thumbnail images. But do enjoy the other videos too. Full of information!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=susan+harrison-tustain&aq=3&oq=susan+harr

Have fun everyone - these are created for you!

Great news! I have several new Youtube video clips that have only just been released.

The Video clips are posted here on my blog, but just wait a moment until they are fully loaded!

These cover:

- My journey to become a professional artist

- My magical palette - my limited palette of just 12 colors

- My brushes and paper

- My easy to make Isolating tool

- and others

Keep watching for future videos where I will show you how to create fantastic black and dark colors as well as the perfect green mixes.

There will be many others as time allows.

Click here to view some of these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNMEllAoY-w&feature=related

Don't forget to subscribe and click "like" if you enjoy them. Youtube loves to have that feedback

Have fun!

Learn more about how to create a glow in your watercolor paintings

Create form with monotone using warm and cool colors

Untitled Watercolor painting : Parrot Tulip
© Susan Harrison-Tustain

Richard and I were wandering around Victoria on Vancouver Island  Canada - such a beautiful place. Alongside a grand hotel I spotted a flower bed of stunning Parrot Tulips. I loved their frilled edges and form, especially they way they cupped the stamen as if protecting it from harm. Maybe it was to encapture a bee so it didn't fly away before completing pollination! I am awed by the beauty of such things.

Can you see the way the red glows in this painting? My underlayer of yellow creates this glow and even though there are layers of red over the top of the yellow - can you see how it still permeates through and lifts the red into a warm glow - despite being in shadow? Notice the highlights and the variety of red hues I have mixed to create the form of this glorious Parrot Tulip.

I will write a lesson in my next newsletter where I will discuss how to create convincing and beautiful form using warm and cool colors but limited to an almost monotone hue as in this painting.

Do ensure you are on my mailing list so you will receive my complimentary newsletters which are full of news and also inspiration such as this.

The response to my 15 page feature article "Is it Oil or is it Watercolor?" in the April/May issue of International Artist Magazine has been overwhelming and humbling! Thank you to you all for your comments. This article seems to have really hit a chord with so many of you - I wanted to write and share my thoughts and observations, bringing attention to important issues that haven't been highlighted before.

Passionate about painting and helping artists and lovers of fine art - I love to share all I know about painting through articles such as this - as well as via my art instruction Watercolor DVDs and workshops. I feel my teaching - using insights into my thought processes, reasoning and deliberation - are the best way to pass on the important breakthroughs that I have found to have made the biggest differences to my work. I believe teaching in this way is an enduring way to introduce new thoughts and open new concepts and depths of understanding for artists. I often liken it to opening a window and showing all the possibilities and potential that are there in the methods and techniques I use. It's so exciting to see you all fly.

Mount Maunganui, Pacific Ocean and Tauranga Harbour from our country garden

The excitement is mounting with my major exhibition only five months away:

I have heard from many of you who are planning to travel to New Zealand for my exhibition at the end of October this year. If you are planning to come to NZ for my exhibition, do let me know in advance so I can ensure you have tickets to my Friday evening invitation-only formal opening function. The exhibition is open for everyone to visit and view on Saturday and Sunday 29th and 30th but the Friday night function has a limit of just 320 places. These are taken very quickly  once they are announced in early October - so if you are travelling great distances and would like to attend this special function - please do contact us to avoid disappointment.

New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup and the final is played the weekend before my exhibition. Our Tauranga Festival of Arts will also be running for the two weeks running up to my exhibition - finishing on the Sunday 30th - which is also the final day my painting collection will be on view to the public. It will be a busy time and is a great time to visit New Zealand and expecially our beautiful Bay of Plenty region. We are close enough to Auckland to make it a lovely drive - but far enough away that the busy-ness of the World Cup will not dramatcially affect our lovely peaceful and stunningly beautiful sanctuary.

You can visit the page below to view some of my latest collection of work. These watercolor, oil and mixed media paintings will be hung and can be viewed at my 'Recollection' exhibition in October this year. Below these paintings you will find information on my exhibition:

I will announce more exciting news as the exhibition gets closer, but in the meantime here are some links that may be of interest to those who have asked about our region:

Tauranga and Mount Maunganui

Click on the link below to see some images that will show you what is on our doorstep: (converted to a tiny URL for your convenience):

http://tinyurl.com/3qy5tce

Here are some sites that will give you more information:

http://www.tourism.net.nz/region/region/bay-of-plenty/attractions-and-activities/

http://www.bayofplentynz.com/presentation/tbopPres.aspx?ID=7939

Newsletter

I will be working on my newsletter this week. Feel free to register on my mailing list to receive my-far-too infrequent newsletters. I wish I had time to write more! In these you will read any breaking news on my art, articles and magazine features, books, new DVDs, workshops and I also often include painting breakthroughs that I have just discovered.

Click here to join up for this complimentary newsletter

In the mean time I wish you all the very best. I will get back to my studio and get my brushes flying as the exhibition is very close now! I like to make it a beautiful event that stays in the memories of all those who visit. We usually see approx 3000 visitors in the two days of the exhibition so you can imagine how I love to make it something very special for everyone.

Susan

"A Rich Picking"
watercolor painting
© Susan Harrison-Tustain

There are many watercolor painting techniques which will help you to create amazing effects. But I find I generally use just five:

1. My Priming Method
2. Wet in Wet
3. Wet on Dry
4. Drybrush
5. Blushing

You can learn about My Priming Method, Wet in Wet, Wet on Dry and Dry brush methods in my  DVDs as they are discussed and demonstrated throughout my watercolor DVDs. You can also read more information on these watercolor techniques here on my website, in the SusanArt Forum and in the free watercolor lessons here on my website.

With these watercolor techniques and methods you can paint anything and everything!

Take the time to learn about them and their many applications. You will be amazed at the skilful work you can achieve with just five fantastic methods!

Take a look at some of my early watercolor paintings that you may not have seen previously - I am about to post a series of early paintings in the next few posts. You will see what is possible: Remember these are early paintings - but because they are early it is easier for you to see the effects I have achieved.

Detail of "A Rich Picking"
© Susan Harrison-Tustain

Take a look at "Rich Pickings". I love this painting. Notice the methods I have used to create these realistic leaves? They have texture don't they? That is because I have used my priming method and then I used Wet in Wet and allowed the water to move the color for me. More about that in the next post.

Have fun exploring all the free lessons on my website. You will also find a watercolor techniques section in the menu on my website. Take a few minutes to look there too!

Susan

Susan Harrison-Tustain exhibition of new oil and watercolor paintings in 2011

‘Recollection’

28^th 29^th & 30^th October 2011

More information on my Events Page on the Fine Art Site

I know many of you like to plan your overseas holidays in advance and are waiting to hear the dates of my next major exhibition of oil and watercolor paintings in 2011.

"Faraway"
Medium: Oil on Belgian Linen
Size: 22"x16" inch
(560 mm x 410 mm)

I am really pleased to make this announcement as I create my new pieces for my collection of paintings. The works are challenging and exciting! I like to think they will engage viewers to interpret and apply their own history to them. I love to see my patrons become absorbed in the world inside the frame. For me the real truth and meaning of art is measured in the long silences it creates.

I will share one of my new oil paintings here with you now.

You are the first  to see this new painting from my ‘Recollection’ exhibition.