Process
Most watercolor painters work primarily with a brush. I work with bowls and pipettes of saturated pigment, granulation fluid, water, gravity, and occasionally acrylic ink. Paint is poured onto professional watercolor paper, then the surface is tilted and rotated so the pigment can flow, merge, and find unexpected paths.
As the painting develops, I respond to what the materials create—spraying away passages, lifting color, preserving edges and textures, or adding definition with a pipette tip, small brush, glass pen, or even the edge of a paint bowl. The process moves continually between intention and discovery: allowing the paint freedom, then deciding what to strengthen, soften, reveal, or leave untouched.
No two paintings develop in quite the same way, and the result always surprises me a little. That surprise is part of what I’m after.
Once a painting is complete and fully dry, I finish it with a hand-rubbed archival wax sealant that protects the surface while preserving the texture and color of the watercolor.
Above: Details of flow, granulation, sprayed passages, and marks created with pipette, brush, and paint bowl edges.
Watch the process:
Echinacea Fireworks petal by petal progression