Designing wedding invitations has never been more fun! This class is kicking off a 3-month series on designing a wedding invitation suite. We are starting with learning to design a watercolor crest, and in this class we will be making artwork to use throughout the entire suite. Over the next three months, look forward to learning about the different parts of the wedding invitation suite, how to design them, and what to do to get them from your pen or brush to the printer.

Design a Watercolor Crest is chock-full of new techniques for you to learn, from design and painting techniques to working in Photoshop. You will be inspired to dream and amazed at your new abilities. This class will provide you with grins, whoa’s and “Aha!” moments. The watercolor crest you will create can be used not just for wedding invitations, but for personal stationery, wall-hangings in baby nurseries, and no shortage of creative custom artwork. Take a look at the topics that will be...

The wedge or triangle brush is a specialty paintbrush where the ferrule and hairs of the brush form a triangle. The tip of the brush comes to a fine point and the body of the brush is full. This unique shape helps the brush hold a lot of water in the body which helps distribute pigment evenly throughout the strokes. Petals and leaves and many other shapes can be created with one stroke. In this course, you will learn to create petals and leaves using a press and release technique as well as press and sweep, press and wiggle, press and pull. You will put these techniques together to create florals, including my signature wedge brush rose.  

 Topics Covered:

• Wedge Brush petals (press down and move back & forward and to one side)
• Jane's "Signature" rose (press down and pull to one side and lift)
• Wedge Brush petals and leaves (press down and sweep to one side and repeat to the other side)
• Using a non-wedge brush to create these petals and leaves

Want to join us for...

Welcome to Part II of the Ink and Wash Technique series. Ink and Wash (aka line and wash) is a fun way to quickly sketch a landscape scene or a street scene, or in this case, food. It can be as detailed or as loose as you want it to be. It can be just a few quick squiggles or lines to give the suggestion of a person, place, or thing. The idea is get something down on paper quickly and have it look effortless, opposed to labored. The wash part of the technique requires more water in the paint mix and then a series of drying and then laying down more wash to create a layered look to go from light to dark. 

Topics Covered

• What can you do to make sure something looks like what it should look like
• Sketching and painting tomatoes

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and available starting October 4, 2021 to enrolled students.

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 Materials Needed

• Waterproof or water-resistant ink and pointed pen or fountain pen (be sure to use ink that is made for...

Ink and Wash (aka line and wash) is a fun way to quickly sketch a landscape scene or a street scene, or in this case, food. It can be as detailed or as loose as you want it to be. It can be just a few quick squiggles or lines to give the suggestion of a person, place, or thing. The idea is get something down on paper quickly and have it look effortless, opposed to labored. The wash part of the technique requires more water in the paint mix and then a series of drying and then laying down more wash to create a layered look to go from light to dark. 

Topics Covered

• How and where to get started when using a large plate of food as your painting inspiration
• Painting the carrots first and then inking them up
• Sketching the carrots first and then adding color

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and available starting August 30, 2021 to enrolled students.

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 Materials Needed

• Waterproof or water-resistant ink and pointed pen...

Make a splash of brightly colored leaves and florals to bring a little happy to your work space or send to someone else. We will start with a step-by-step process of creating each of these different designs with watercolors. You’ll learn some special techniques for painting florals, how to give them an extra sparkle with gold paint, and how to get a layered pop-up effect for a 3-D card that will wow the recipient.

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and now available in the class archive.  Enjoy this video and printable worksheets today!

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Materials Needed

Pop up dots

EK Success Cutter Bee Precision Scissors

Watercolor Paint Palette

Silver Brush Black Velvet Round Brush Size 6

Princeton Aqua Elite 4850 Synthetic Kolinsky Round Brush Size 6

Strathmore Watercolor Cards and Envelopes, Pack of 10, or

Strathmore Watercolor Cards and Envelopes, Pack of 50

Daniel Smith Watercolors

Daniel Smith...

Charging and glazing are two watercolor techniques used for mixing, blending (unifying), diffusing, lightening, adding value, and even making subtle color changes (balancing, adjusting, fixing, etc.)

Have you tried these techniques but ended up with something muddy or dull or opaque? I have a few simple exercises to share that will help you understand the ins and outs of these two techniques and how to apply them to your paintings.

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and now available in the class archive. Enjoy this video and printable worksheets today!

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Supplies:

Round paintbrush (anything that is not thirsty - avoid Neptunes)

Flat / One stroke brush (1/2" - 1")

Transparent watercolors (Any paint that does not cover a black sharpie line will work. If the black line shows more or less, then it is semi-transparent. If the black line is not covered at all, then the paint is transparent. I will have a tutorial on...

Watercolor painting is beautiful in and of itself, but let's explore a way we can enhance it with another lovely technique, cross-hatching. Cross-hatch illustration also stands on its own in its beauty when done right, but I like to use it as a way to make my paintings pop off the page. Incorporate these two styles and mediums into one for a work that is detailed, colorful and immensely satisfying. 

Topics Covered

• Cross-hatching technique
• Watercolor pencil usage
• Learning to see and recreate light & shadow
• Combining crosshatch and watercolor to form a unique composition

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and now available in the class archive. Enjoy this video and printable worksheets today!

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Materials Needed

• Watercolor paper or thick mixed media paper
• 3-4 purple, green, blue, Watercolor pencils or traditional pan/ tubes
• Pencil & Eraser
• Thick & Thin Fine liner (Must be waterproof. I...

Today, we will create lovely carnations that will never wilt. You can use any color of your choice. You can use a wedge paintbrush or a paintbrush with an angled edge. A wedge paintbrush is a must-have in your collection of paintbrushes. I have some suggestions under "Watercolor" (Community) for where to get these brushes. They are often on sale so shop around!

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and now available in the class archive. Enjoy this video and printable worksheets today!

Members Only: Access the Class

Enroll in Tier 2 Now

Supplies:

 Paintbrush:

 - Wedge brush or Triangle brush (ex: Beste or Silver Ruby) 

 - Round brush (size 6 or smaller)

 Paint:

 - Any color that you would like your carnations to be will work (pinks and greens)

 - Paint used in the video: Quinacridone Rose, Hansa Yellow, Serpentine Genuine and if you want to get a nice yellowish green, you can mix Sap Green with Hansa Yellow)

- Watercolor...

In this jam packed class, you'll learn to use watercolors to paint pomegranate, fig, wheat, barley, dates, grapes and olive plants, all known as part of 'Seven Species' (Deuteronomy 8:8). We will run through watercolor basics, both in terms of recommended materials and techniques, and you will also learn my approach to sketching from a reference as well as finally painting a detailed piece. 

Topics Covered

• 'Seven species' background, context, and deeper meaning
• Wet on wet technique 
• Wet on Dry
• Sketching skills
• Detailed yet loose watercolor painting 

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and now available in the class archive. Enjoy this video and printable worksheets today!

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Enroll in Tier 2 Now

Materials Needed

• Watercolor paper - I'm using Canson Aquarelle 300g
• 1 small round brush, 1 detail brush - I use Size 1 Princeton Select Round size and 0000 
• Paints - pans or tubes. Must have Yellow, blue,...

In this class, you will learn to create your very own homemade paints from simple products you have at home - coffee & tea! You'll also use basic watercolor techniques and learn to apply them to an actual painting.

Topics Covered

• Paint creation
• Watercolor washes
• Wet on wet technique 
• Wet on Dry
• Painting a loose rose
• Envelope design

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and now available in the class archive. Enjoy this video and printable worksheets today!

Members Only: Access the Class

Enroll in Tier 2 Now

Materials Needed

• Watercolor papers (size A3 recommended)
• Two fruit-based tea bags
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• Glass of hot/ boiling water
• Clean cool water
• Any round paintbrush
• Paper towel 
• Q tips (optional)
• An Envelope
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Book recommendation: Make Ink 

Homework Challenge
Want to see our students' homework? Search the hashtag #kcatea on Instagram to see samples from this week's homework. Our...