How to Improve Your Painting - 5 Techniques 

You know, I've never understood why art teachers say that such-n-such is caused by laziness. I've encountered this bias in other art teachers and it's so curious.

I really like your videos; they're very informative and helpful for a beginner watercolorist like me. But I do not appreciate your reasoning that some students make mistakes because they're lazy. Some students, sure. But I think it's the difference in each student's learning process and that they don't know or haven't tried various techniques or experimented with different colors, paints, and brushes. I also think it's the teacher's job to realize their students' unique needs and tailor their teaching style to suit those different needs. As a private tutor, being flexible with my teaching style is important, especially when tutoring multiple students at the same time.

Your thoughts about your students' reliance on local colors caught my attention. I don't think your students were lazy. (Well, maybe a couple of them were. ;) ) I just think they probably hadn't trained their eyes and/or hands long enough. I taught German for a few years, and one thing that seemed to puzzle a lot of my fellow foreign language teachers is how some students have so much trouble producing certain sounds in their target language. For example, I had so many students who had an incredibly hard time correctly pronouncing the word "ich." Some of them pronounced it like "ik" and others pronounced it like "ish." And while it would be easy to say those people were just lazy and not practicing at home, I honestly think it had more to do with them either (1) not hearing the subtle difference of the German "ch" vs. the American "k" or "sh", or (2) not knowing how or being able to move their tongue and mouth in the way they need to move in order to pronounce that uniquely German sound that we don't have in our language. Another example, when I was learning Russian, the guy who was teaching me couldn't understand why I kept pronouncing the letters "ш" and "щ" the same. The thing was, as hard he tried to show me the difference, they honestly sounded the same to me! How can I reproduce something with the same subtleties if I can't hear those differences myself? I think that certainly goes for painting as much as it does for learning a language. When you have a talent for something, it can be easy to forget that some things might not come as naturally to others. You might be able to quickly pick out the hints of purple and gray in the brown of the tree trunk because you have an eye for color and years of practice under your belt, but to me it's just a shade of brown that I don't know how to accurately reproduce. I'm not lazy; I just can't see the purple or gray. I might be able to say "acht Eichhörnchen" because I have an ear for German and have been speaking it for nearly half my life, but to you I might just be saying "oct Ike horn chin." You're not lazy; you just can't hear German phonemes the same way I do. That said, I like the way you emphasize the need to take one's time, really study the colors, and add other colors to the local colors to make something more realistic. That's helpful advice. I just take issue with the use of the word "lazy" to describe a student. Instead, I would maybe emphasize that it takes a lot of time and practice, and encourage beginners to keep trying various color mixes and combinations until they get the hang of distinguishing those subtle varieties of colors.

Mistake number two is something I thought for the longest time would be an obstacle to my style and I tried to ignore it, but as an adult I've realized that the pure saturation using local color can bring is actually a huge boon to my own personal style. A lot of these mistakes are relative, and a mistake is only really a mistake is it doesn't work for you in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, a lot of these mistakes really have no good side - but local colors and that rich, unreal look can have a very positive effect on some paintings. Never forget to explore and make mistakes in your search for your own style, kids.

Yes my soul is indeed the darkest thing I've ever seen in my life

Students can be lazy a little, but it's more of inability to see colors. That's more prominent in people who starts drawing at older age. It's because in our daily lives we look at things as a whole and to draw something you need details and it's kinda difficult to change how your mind works. It's the same with pencil holding. When we draw we hold pencil differently when writing. I still strugle with colors (like a lot!!), but I hold pencil the right way without thinking.

Hahaha. I love it. I love how much righteousness is in the comment section here because she said some students might be lazy. OF COURSE some students are lazy. People in general can be lazy. This is obvious. And it's not always the teacher's fault if some students aren't motivated. I've been in plenty of (art) classes, and the student body can vary greatly, just like the quality of the instructor. I know all of you remember teachers talking about their favorite classes and their bad classes. I've seen plenty of students complain and drag their asses in classes that I thought were a blast. And there are lots of reasons for a student to neglect his work: partying all night, low self-esteem, bad time management, an unreasonable expectation for immediate results, etc. There can be valid reasons for being lazy and putting off work, but that doesn't change anything. It's interesting to me how differently people will treat an idea based on its framing. If people were asked, "Are there lazy art students?", 99% of respondents would answer, "Of course". But framed in this way, everybody and their mother is shocked by such a concept. Gasp! Art students? Lazy? It must be your fault! You must be a bad teacher! You are very condescending! &etc.

About the "can I be done now?" attitude, yes some of my friends were like that in painting class, but me personally, it was because the class time was too short. I take a long time to paint, so.... I never got anything done, unless I went light with the colours.

I kind of wonder if it wasn't the teacher being a bit lazy?

wow. you must have been a fun teacher

um, hello? Calling your students "lazy" that are in a class to LEARN.... and you are confused that they don't KNOW things you are a teacher are supposed to teach them? I find students (I teach sculpture), are scared. Not "Lazy". And they just don't know... which is why you TEACH. If they KNEW would they need you?

I found that I make few of those mistakes, but they are never caused by laziness. It's rather a lack of understanding of how paints work. Many important details are not intuitive. When you're a beginner you won't see that purple highlight in the tree trunk, for you it just seems brown. That is why we need teachers :) once you see yellow being mixed into the green of a leaf you're like "right! how could I not think of it?". You're a good teacher. I love the question about shading with black - "is it really the darkest thing you've ever seen?". Well phrased questions like this one really help to understand painting. Very helpful videos :) (just please stop thinking of your students as lazy, unless they were forced to attend your classes by their moms) cheers!

And you're pleasant to listen to and don't "blah, blah, blah" - you say what you need to and are to the point. Thank you!

Great tips! I was just jaw-dropped on the samples of your complete works on the beginning, beyond anything i've ever seen with water colors. WOW!

Your artwork is so wonderful that I feel so blessed that you spend some of your time sharing your process. I can't thank you enough

Kitty wanted to paint too lol

Kelly, your videos are a blessing. You're the best teacher and you know what the student needs to know. Thank you so much. It's wonderful to have an efficient video on RU-vid among all the bad ones.

"Sure, it's DARK-ish; but, is it really the DARKEST thing you've ever seen in your life?" LOOOOOL. Love your commentary so much! I'm subbing xD

6:21 Special guest cameo!

You are such an amazing artist. I've watched a few of your videos and they've already taught so much. Please continue making videos. You are so gifted with a brush and paint.

helpful video... but, why is a student, someone in the process of learning these techniques, "lazy" for not knowing them? if youre the teacher in this situation then isnt it your fault for not emphasizing the techniques / teaching them well enough? just a thought

Thanks for the series. I love how your delivery is in teaching mode. These were very helpful.

I love this little serie of misstakes and I wanna paint marbles to practise shading and highlights AND masking fluid, many thanks

please continue doing videos like this u have taught me so much I am 15 and I am recently learning to expirence wider with my art abilities I used to just sketch but I got a charcoal set and I been expirementing with it and it make shading and stuff so much easier it makes my details more noticable and makes my art look so much more realistic and for my birthday I am wanting a watercolor painting set with the best brushes but before I start I want to learn a few things so I don't start out totally clueless u taught me so much so far thank you u sound like a wonderful teacher

I'm going to start painting again within a week or 2 and this really helped me a lot with observing color and other stuff. thanks Kelly

Thank you so much! I am taking my first proper watercolor class and your videos are giving me hope.

As an art student/someone who LOVES watercolor but has never been brave enough to try until recently...your videos are incredibly helpful. (And your work is gorgeous!) Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge!

Thank you for this series I dabble In watercolour and hope to do more I found your series very helpful thank you.

If you taught art at my school I would take the course without a second thought! Thank you so much for posting these and giving me a lot of tips on what to do with my art!

Oh.. I was really excited to see the completed gumballs painting! Such vivid and unique colour combinations!

Barely getting into water coloring which led me to buying my first set of water colors and brushes today. I usually paint with acrylics. This video was great advice for a beginner like me, thank you so much!

I bought masking fluid, not knowing what to use it for. But since it was in the watercolor section, I thought I might as well. Now I know what I would need it for! Thank you so much. I love watching your videos. So helpful! And very professional.

I'm loving your videos at the moment. I'm self-taught and have done a lot of these wrong things. But it's interesting just to play with things, and see what works.

I just started using watercolors a couple weeks ago and your videos have been so helpful!

As a newbie this series is precisely what I needed. Thank you for sharing your gift.

a positive attitude improves everything

I'm a beginer in watercolor painting and I can't thank you enough!

You are a wonderful teacher and I love your videos. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowleadge but specially for the time you spend with us.

Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge Kelly. I find your videos very helpful. :)

So informative and useful. I am a beginner and I can;t seem to suck in enough knowledge or information. Thank you for taking the time to help us learn...your work is beautiful!

wonderfully helpful with a delightful narrative.

Geez...you are so talented! Thank you so much for putting together these videos. I'm in awe.

Oh wooow!! I wish you were my watercolor teacher! This tips are great! Thanks a lot! :D

Excellent tips. Thanks for sharing.

great explanations, simplified everything

I'm so glad I found this your amazing ! I usually hate watching these type if vids cause there long and boring but you keep my interest your amazing !

I just discovered your channel today and have seen many of your videos . Thank you very much for all your advice .. I've already learned so much. I hope to be as good as you one day.

I really really wish i can go to one of your class one day. You really know what you're talking about. Awesome talent!!

Thank you for all these tips! I'm getting more into watercolor, and I'm still a beginner but your tips really helped! Thank you

Enjoyed the series Thank you Kelly

So glad you made these videos. Thank you for sharing! I just finished watching all three and now I'm going to dust off that watercolor kit I bought a few years back, but shelved because I couldn't get into it before. (something to do while my oils dry, lol)

I LOVE what you do!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Wow this seriously explained a lot. Thank you so much!

Thanks for the tips. Please come up with more.

Quite the awesome teacher you are! Thanks for your videos

thank you for talking about shading with black, it's a massive pet peeve of mine! most paintings look so much better without it

I really found this series helpful. Thank you :)

Useful. It took me a while before I could perceive colors. I think we tend to get into the grade school mindset of expecting red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, so we don't see how amazingly mixed the colors really are.

Hey Kelly, I'm a new subscriber and I really enjoyed this video since I am a beginner painter, I struggle with these situations. These videos help me out a lot. Thanks!

thank you for very useful videos! they help a lot

You saved my life! Thank you soo much for this video!

oh this made me cry. I'm so sorry about your Bunny, I had a Buddy (dog) from the time I was 11-22 and lost him 4 years ago this summer. It was the hardest thing. I love the way you talk about her, I'm sure she felt so loved and happy. Also, your videos are soooo helpful! I mostly sculpt but I really want to improv my drawing and painting. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of a W&N watercolor set and these are all so helpful and make me so excited to start!

Your an amazing artist,I love your tutorials,I just discovered watercolors and Im really excited,Thank you so much for the tips,I dont have any clue what I'm doing so ever bit of info is appreciated,your an amazing teacher,Im going to keep on practicing although Im not very good at drawing I noticed that with watercolors I can paint really beautiful pictures,its amazing,I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try something new,,THANKS FOR SHARING....

cat : "let me try, I can do it. I know what not to do pleeeaaassseee"

U spoke convincingly and your actions were, so so confident 👍🏻

So helpful! Thank you!

Thank you for making these videos!

you are so amazing!!! Your paintings are unbelievable! keep up the great work!!!!

I love these videos! Thank you so much for sharing your insight and your art! :)

I've found when I used to make some of these mistakes, it wasn't because I was lazy. I was unaware of the potential. I thought, well it's not looking that bad now, I think it's finished? I didn't know all of the techniques I could use to make it even better. My mind was closed to the colours and details, because I never needed to really notice those subtle variations in nature. It was also because I was scared to ruin what I was pleased with so far. Remember that our brains and visual memory works on abstractions. We have mental symbols of what things are, and sometimes it's hard to get past that "emoji icon" version that feels so right in your head. This is one of the most helpful things to learn as an artist. Pay attention to what you see, and don't be afraid to put it in your painting, it takes a while to build that type of confidence. Especially when you're not even sure how to mix the colours you see yet.

6:21 CAAAT!!! Great tutorial, as a beginner this is very useful to me because I have done many of these things that make me feel unsatisfied with my work since I have no idea how to fix them, but now I do, thanks :)

You explain very well, you'd be a great teacher.

It fascinates me to see all the planning and the precision that there's behind this wonderful art. =)

You are an amazing artist!!

Usually when I want white I wait for the paint to dry and add a little white gouache for the bright highlights. I guess since I've done oil and acrylic, adding white highlights is in my mindset. This usually works pretty well but I can see that you can get a completely different effect from it since I can't put watercolor over gouache, it's also always nice to know a new strategy for things, I'll keep the masking fluid in mind.

Thanks Kelly for sharing ✍️👌

What an artist! Your watercolors make me hungry!

I do not have any problems for the "too light" mistake. I like it.It feels calming.

Thank you for the information. 😁👍🎨

Great video, thank's for the tips, they will be helpful when I practice water colours :D

You're an amazing artist! I love how fascinated you are when you paint and the made me actually start painting with watercolor too :) thanks for the inspiration :))

Great tips!

It is really useful, thanks!

great tips -thanks.

You are an amazing painter!!!!

*_Painting with small brushes drive me crazy...Big large loose washes with minimum detail is what appeals to me most and my favorite watercolor artists are Alvaro Castagnet, Joseph Zbukvic and Hermon Pekel...I love the way those guys paint and the atmosphere they create in their paintings._*

Thank's for good important tips

Hi, when I got my first artist quality W C box I got advised to take out and throw the black and white pans. I took some of my work with me to get best advice possible, as art supplies are extremely expensive here. They were impressed and said, if I got good enough to put my art in a contest, here in the uk ( at that time ) it would not be allowed to enter if B+W were used. I never have used black but have been guilty of a tiny high light in a birds eye with white before. A good lesson is to paint something lit by daylight that is black, draped material? making your own 'black' from mixes. A lesson on it would be very interesting. Sorry if you have covered this subject but I only just found your channel, new sub! Have a great day. Joanne.

I was thinking about what you said about black and wanted to add that it's a very useful colour on it's own, and realized I only ever use black on it's own (as in not mixed with a blue or purple, mostly, sometimes other colours) if I paint a galaxy where I need some really deep dark spots. And I made that mistake so much when I was younger... now I don't discourage using it when my students want to, but I do insist they don't mix it in if they want to darken colour.

Wonderfull teacher. Thank you so much. Annette from Ireland.

So helpful video thank you so much :) :D

Thanks for the tips! .... I liked the kitty's guest appearance, too ;-)

Wow, I'm a beginner and...bless you!

whoa. Those are some seriously nice paintings. wow

great advice

GREAT VIDEOS THANKS!!!!!

Very perceptive, very wise.

wow, you are so talented!!! TFS xx

Another great video....the too light really seems to be my problem - per the photo I sent you...hmmm, guess I'm a little timid about ruining the picture - maybe I'll rework that and add more color

thank you so much