YouTube

More experimentation

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

I’ve watched a couple more online watercolor tutorials with the baby-voice lady: Allison Lyon.

I’m learning there are entire sub-genres of watercolor painting. Some can be very vibrant, precise or realistic (i.e. “botanicals”), and others can be soft, blurry, dreamlike (involving a lot of wet-on-wet and water-related techniques).

I tried a bunch of wet techniques in this one including lifting paint, dripping, and splattering. My husband’s computer got slightly spattered in the process. Oops! (It’s supposed to be dreamy, floating lotus blossoms, but not sure it reads as that.)
And here’s my attempt at a vibrant, crazy butterfly. My paint set has numerous shades of yellow, orange and red, so I was also trying to see what the pure shade of each of those colors looks like.

Watercolor Class Week 3: Portraits

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

Our teacher likes to paint portraits, so we painted portraits today.

She first gave a lesson on creating skin tones. The basic recipe is this: a lot of cad yellow, a little cad red, a spot of cobalt (or ultramarine) and varying amounts of water.

Sometimes a bit of crimson for very pale/pinkish people or a bit of purple for darker people.

She strongly urged us not to try to paint anyone we know and love on our first attempt, so I pulled this Spanish chef out of magazine.

My husband thinks he looks a bit like Dominic West.

Some of the ladies flat out refused to try painting a portrait. They like landscapes. So that’s what they will paint, because retired ladies do what they want! I fully support this.

The teacher also introduced us to a truly amazing watercolor portrait artist named Ali Cavanaugh. Holy shit, this woman is talented.

The YouTube Teachers

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

Because my in-person watercolors teacher is self-taught and rather informal, I feel like I need a bit more formal explanation about how to use these famously tricky paints.

In typical 2025 style, I asked ChatGPT for the “best watercolor tutorials on YouTube” which sent me down a rabbit hole. So many teachers! I ended up liking Allison Lyon—a very talented young woman with a gentle, soothing baby voice. I’ve already watched 5 or 6 of her videos and learned some stuff (i.e. wet on wet vs. wet on dry).

Practice 3x5s from Alison’s tutorials

I’m not usually a fan of women who speak in baby voices, but given our stressful times, I may amend this view. Just listening to her talk will de-stress you.

She’s on Instagram as well: @allisonlyonart