Meet a Watercolor Painting Expert

Series Summary

The art of watercolor painting has been practiced since the time of the ancient Egyptians, when frescoes were created by a process of applying water-based pigments to wet plaster. Watercolor painting also has a rich history in Chinese and Japanese art, and has been used to add color to beautifully illuminated manuscripts in cultures throughout the world. What we think of as modern watercolor painting began to develop in the 1500s with Albrecht Durer's landscape studies. The popularity of this medium spread and spawned many disciplines of watercolor painting, including the 17th century British school and the California style of the 1920s.

So you want to learn how to paint like an artist? In these free art lessons on video, get watercolor painting tips, techniques and instruction to get you started in this venerable medium. Our expert will show you what art supplies and materials you will need, especially the types of paints and brushes, as well as how to use props in your pictures, how to matte and frame them properly, how to turn mistakes into happy accidents, and more beginning watercolor tips. Soon you’ll be on your way to becoming well-versed in the world of watercolor.

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Marcia Matcham and I'm here speaking on behalf of Expert Village and I'm going to talk about my water color methods. I'm a watercolor artist and I'm been painting for about 45 years and first of all I will tell you about the material I use which they are a little unusual maybe. I don't paint, I typically water color style which I think of it more as a wash style my is a more of a opaque style and I paint a lot of subject matter. I guess you could say I paint everything but except portraits/people. My paper this heavy well it comes in different weights and this is the 500 pound weight and it is called bristol board and it is not really true water color paper it is more of all purpose paper. People use it for all kinds of things like pencil drawings and color pencil and ink drawings and things like that. "