Sandra Strait

Just looking at the cover of Rediscovering Gouache by Aljoscha Blau tells you this isn’t your usual How To book. There be Dragons here! Well, not really, but there are monsters. And mice. And monkeys! And lots of solid tool, technique and creative information. The secondary title is ‘A New Approach to a Versatile Technique for Contemporary Artists and Illustrators’. That […]

The Paul Rubens Artist’s Watercolour 24 Colour Set, Fourth Generation is a professional quality set, just recently released. There is a set with 24 colors and one with 36 colors. I’m reviewing the 24 color set today. What’s Different?

The new Sketching Stuff™ Watercolor Color Pan Set was curated by Charlie O’Shields and is available from Da Vinci Paint Co. Wait! Charlie O’Shields? Sketching Stuff? Isn’t Charlie the founder of World Watercolor Month, which happens every July? And the World Watercolor Group on Facebook, and isn’t he the author of seven Sketching Stuff™ books? Doesn’t he put out a […]

Today I’m here to show you how to do a painting is of a young boy and his dog wandering through trees on a snowy night. These instructions could be used for any night-time winter scene. We’ll be using a dark-to-light, poster-style technique. All the colors will be added as broad shapes without fussing. Detail and adjustments will be done […]

Did you know DANIEL SMITH now makes gouache? I was thrilled to receive the DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Gouache Primary Mixing Set, which includes Hansa Yellow Medium, Pyrrol Red, Ultramarine Blue, and a bonus tube of Titanium White. Do you have a desert island palette? You know, those colors that you’d definitely need if you were ever stranded on a […]

The Art Nomad Professional Watercolor Paint Set from ZenArt isn’t the smallest travel set or the lightest, but it is one of the handiest and most complete. With 6 brushes, 24 colors, 1 pencil, 4 large mixing wells, and a sponge, it has almost everything you’ll need except paper and water. The colors are non-toxic and professional quality.

At first look, you might think these are paint chip samples, but Nicholson’s Peerless Transparent Watercolors are “DryColor Sheets”. Also called DrySheets, they are made of a proprietary fabric-based card stock coated with dry, concentrated dye-based color. These paints and DryColor Sheets are were invented 135 years ago and are still made using the same methods. The paints are all-natural […]

Are you into Harry Potter or the Fantastic Beasts Wizarding World? Would you like to learn a little bit about watercolor? Whether you fit into one or both of these categories, the Harry Potter Watercolor Magic: Flora and Fauna by Tugce Audoire (Doodlewash featured artist and World Watercolor Month Artist Ambassador!) may be just the book for you.

Today, I’m here to tell you about a cool little book that features the D. A. Night Avenger. D.A. stands for “Dark Ass”, and that’s because the Night Avenger is a donkey that flies around helping other donkeys in distress. “I invite you to join me on an adventure to space, nearby farms and imagination itself.” E. Wilson Jane Wilson, […]

Bockingford watercolor paper is mould made paper from St. Cuthberts Mill. It’s a high-quality paper, available in cold press, hot press, and rough, in a wide range of sizes and formats. It’s also available in five different tints. Today, I’m reviewing the cold press and hot press surfaces in a 7 x 5 inch spiral pad format. Bockingford Watercolor Paper […]

Da Vinci Paint Company now carries the Joyce Hicks Signature Da Vinci Watercolor Palette, based on the artist’s favorite colors. It includes 18 colors with a mix of six full-size pans and twelve half-size pans. The colors are all transparent and semi-transparent. I won’t spend a lot of time on the tray, because I’ve been informed it will be changing […]

I’m here today to show you how I paint colorful whites by focusing on shapes, values and edges. I want to thank Daler-Rowney for sending me Aquafine watercolors to use for this tutorial. The intense color was perfect for it. Before We Start For inspiration, I’m using the reference photo above by Annette Meyers at Pixabay (the link is below). […]