Technique – Page 2 – Billy Idyll

Easy Watercolor Painting Techniques for Specific Northeastern Evergreen Trees

December 30, 2023August 3, 2023 by Billy Idyll

I used to think of all evergreen trees vaguely as “pine trees,” but since getting more into plants, and since starting to observe and paint them, I’ve come to realize how different they are! You don’t need to have specific species in mind when you paint trees, but I think specificity is helpful even when … Read more

What does “story” mean in landscape painting?

December 30, 2023July 27, 2023 by Billy Idyll

What does it mean for a still image to tell a story? This has always seemed to me to be an intimidating element of visual art. After all, stories are complicated! Don’t they need plot, characters, worldbuilding, themes, etc.? How do you pack all of that into an image?

Palette Profile: Barry Herniman

July 13, 2023 by Billy Idyll

Barry Herniman’s book Sketching Outdoors: Discover the Joy of Painting Outside (Search Press, 2023) is a wonderful inspiring manual to getting outside to make quick and lively plein air sketches in watercolor. I love his style which is both fast and evocative.

Lessons from Ruth Wilshaw’s Classes

June 13, 2023 by Billy Idyll

I recently took a pair of classes by Ruth Wilshaw on Domestika: Atmospheric Landscapes in Gouache and Fantasy Landscapes in Watercolor & Gouache. Without spoiling everything in the classes, I wanted to keep my notes on what was personally meaningful to me.

“Local Color” is a Natural Progression of Nature Spots!

May 18, 2023 by Billy Idyll

A book I enjoyed recently is Local Color: Seeing Place Through Watercolor by Mimi Robinson. Wherever Mimi travels, she makes “palettes” of local color. I don’t mean palette-building the way I normally do it, where I choose paints to add to my travel palette for a particular season or trip; this is more of a … Read more

How (Not) to Learn Watercolor

January 1, 2024April 1, 2023 by Billy Idyll

Are you tired of enjoying watercolor? With these quick tips, you’ll be slogging your way through an unpleasant learning experience in no time. Focus on the destination, not the journey. Remember, the goal is to become perfect, which is both normal and attainable. You’ll know when you’ve arrived! Hold off on everything good until that … Read more

Mixing Pinks in Watercolor

January 1, 2024March 21, 2023 by Billy Idyll

Painting a cherry tree and mixing pinks in front of an ipad showing a workshop with Barbara Luel.

Last spring, I enjoyed a lovely pink floral workshop with the delightful Barbara Luel. I forgot to post about it at the time, but since the pink season is coming up again soon, I thought I’d post on it now!

What’s the difference between watercolor and gouache?

April 13, 2023March 16, 2023 by Billy Idyll

I recently started experimenting with gouache in addition to watercolor. As with my watercolor practice, I way overprepared with too many supplies to begin with, unsure what to expect from this different type of paint. I’m here to report back in case you, dear reader, are in the same position: into watercolor, gouache-curious.

I learned to paint realistic skies with Maria Smirnova

January 18, 2024February 23, 2023 by Billy Idyll

Studies from Maria Smirnova’s Realistic Skies class on Skillshare. February 7, 2023.

I just love skies, as you know! After enjoying last summer’s Cloudscapes class with Maria Coryell-Martin, I recently took two more sky classes, this time through Skillshare, both from Maria Smirnova (@magrish).

Loved & Learned from Kolbie Blume’s Intermediate Landscapes Module 2: Color

August 15, 2024February 21, 2023 by Billy Idyll

I’m working my way through Kolbie Blume’s Intermediate Landscapes course; last time, I discussed module one, on light. In this post, I’ll share my paintings from the color theory section. The Paintings Complementary Snowy Mountain Loved Learned Split-Complementary River Sunset I consciously chose to differ from Kolbie’s color choices and make mine more like the … Read more