Yes, expectations are definitely holding me back. I think i need a 1 on 1 teacher for strict instruction; I don't live close to a city that would even offer that. Sometimes I just feel like giving up. 😢
Just beautiful. You make it look easy but it takes a lot of practice. I’m fairly new to watercolor and 77 years old but I believe that you can “teach an old dog new tricks”. Thank you
I echo Steve’s advice of letting go of expectation. That will help you improve and feel fulfilled at the end of your drawing session. Now if you’d excuse me, I have to go forget this advice, otherwise I can’t get frustrated the next time I paint 😂.
Every time I see one of your spontaneous paintings it makes me want to take a big, deep breath like I am in the woods and I could smell the trees. They are so beautiful and peaceful.
I love spontaneous painting. It reminds me of being a kid, laying on the grass, looking up at the clouds and seeing shapes in the clouds. The wet-on-wet technique creates "clouds" for me to identify shapes.
Hullo Steve, A Wonderful painting I admire your patience and the results justify your techniques! I just stretched a 15x36 inch piece of paper on stretcher bars and i have done a few attempts at clouds just as you have done in this video, Yours is so much better! I am a bit jealous, but I just need more practice and patience too! I often wish we could see an attempt that is not so wonderful? Well I do see it more often than I like in my own work, but It might be nice to not feel so alone! Please keep going and sharing your wonderful works. Have a lovely Day!
You're in the same boat as most artists so don't feel alone. Just keep putting in the brush miles. Things will improve. Be patient and pay careful attention to what the watercolor is doing in every circumstance.
I couldn’t agree more with what you said about spontaneous watercolor painting being your best teacher. I too have learned more from your examples of this than any class I’ve taken. Every painting I do in this technique teaches me something new. Thank you SO much, Steve, for leading us on this amazing journey. It’s bliss!
GREAT to see your beautiful landscape which you made look so effortless!! I don't know what I loved more... yes I do, I love your trees, the rocks, the mist, the colors...Your tutorials never disappoint, just beautiful Steve.....Thank you!!
Thank you, Steve!!! I've never painted like you before, but it sure is beautiful! Still a beginner that hasn't painted in 18 months... it'll be just like starting over! The music fit this... loved it! Thanks for sharing the Bible verse... always wait to see it! With love and gratitude from a California Gramma ❤
Steve, you help center me when I'm spinning: thanks so. And what is the ethereal dulcimer music accompanying your video? I likewise am from the Appalachians and that really spoke to me ✨
"Check your expectations at the door." Actually, this is a great mantra for Life as well as art. Stay in the now and don't miss the magic. Thanks, Steve. You have taught me so much. Blessings.
Thank you for the calming content -in your peaceful nature, but also from the artist’s viewpoint - calm down with those controlling tendencies, relax a little and let the paint/picture have a say. I always appreciate the Bible verse at the end, again low key, but a statement of priorities. Calm down our importance, be humble, remember where all this comes from. On a final note, where is that awesome guitar music from? I’m a fan of classical music and guitars, that was lovely.
OK - first of all, you're an effing watercolour genius . . . and as for my expectations . . . I can't even get through my door anymore. Thank you for posting this. You always amaze! 🤗
I purchased one of these stretchers over a year ago. I havent used it yet. I definately need to give it a go. I teach watercolor and I usually have 2 different types of students - the open learner and the idealist/perfectionist. Even if they've had zero experience with art, the idealist expects the outcome that they set forth in thier mind and have difficulty letting go of it. It usually leads to self judgment in thier abilities and frankly can have a negative atmosphere within the group. Watercolor has a way of teaching those students, whose boss, if you will. Evenually they begin to let go and respect what watercolor wants to be vs what they want to force it to be. Thanks for the inspiration
I went on a family trip to Smoky Mountain Natl Park when I was a kid and it was incredible, the clouds rolling over the trees across the mountains really is a sight to see.
Hi Steve. Thanks as always, for these wonderful lessons. Embracing spontaneous watercolour helps me to find magic and run with it. I am grateful to you for teaching me to SEE the magic when it appears. So many joyful moments thanks to you. Hugs from Canada.
One of the best videos I've watched - all because of your admonition to "Check your expectations at the door!" So often, I do precisely what you've warned against: I try to make the watercolor do what I had in my head. I either need to roll with what's happening with the paint or simply begin again. This is definitely something that I have to work on because I can easily become a master fiddler. Thank you for this video!
I know how you feel! But I must confess that it is difficult to let go of expectation. The urge to produce a painting exactly as I’ve seen it online is just too strong 😅.
Excellent advice! I'm so glad I found you. My "relationship" with watercolor feels more like a forced relationship and the control freak in this relationship is me.
Oh my goodness I am seeing so much at the beginning of this painting and I’m pleasantly surprised that you are creating some of the mountainside with trees & foggy/misty areas rising up throughout. This is definitely a great inspirational piece! I love 💕 how you spontaneous landscapes turn out! Thanks for sharing this fun video!
This painting made me think of the out of the frying pan into the fire when the dwarves ecaped to the pine trees fron the orcs after Bilbo came out of gollums caves. Awesome😊
I love your instruction! I am enjoying playing with spontaneous landscapes. Thanks for your solid guidance, tips, and encouragement for your followers!
I love watching you paint, you make it look so easy. Guess as I have worked with pencil sketches, pen and ink, and oils I have become a control freak. You let loose and yet you control the paint. It’s like watching a couple dancing when you paint. ❤❤❤ 😊
I really enjoyed this Steve. Beautiful ! You inspire me to get my supplies out again. I have become so discouraged with the painful arthritis in my hands so much that I sometimes cannot write let alone draw anymore. I was a portrait artist for mainly infants doing so much detail. I was ready to give away all my art supplies to charity. Its upsetting to just have them and not use them.
I am so appreciative that I found your channel very early in my watercolor journey. As I talk to other artists, I realize that my internalized attitude, "I'll just see what the watercolor does," is an unusual sort of freedom. I want to thank you for your part in developing that.
This approach is liberating! Do you have a general theme or vision for the landscape before you paint or is it pure spontaneity whereby the vision is developed as the flowing paint surprises you? In other words some of the paint application seems to be deliberate as you progress. Thanks!
Absolutely beautiful! I did your spontaneous painting class you did with etchr years ago, I’m still reaching for my goals to create successful paintings this way. I always remind myself at the beginning of each session that it’s ok if it doesn’t work out, it’s just paper and I have plenty more to try again. Each time I learn something and that in itself makes the painting a success, but thank you so much for continuing to share these types of videos. Another beautiful spontaneous landscape Steve!
Often I find myself trying to make "the right thing", and it usually fails pretty bad (or looks just terribly amateur), then I attack it with no regard to detail, only the generic hues and let it become whatever the heck it wants to. Love it!
Windsor Newton Chinese white is great for highlights and also will crackle when dabbed in a wet spot of say Phthalo Blue. Love ur paintings..i try to emulate, but always end up filling the paper :P
My art has come alive since watching your spontaneous pairing videos. The trick is remembering to do it that way and check the expectations. I am so thankful for your guidance in this style of painting. 😄
That painting is stunning, i love that misty mountain effect. I was wondering, do you have any tips about scanning textured watercolour artwork if you wanted to make prints out of them so the texture doesn't show? Any advice on that would be appreciated. In any case thank you for all the work you do in spreading watercolour knowledge.
After watching you paint for about five years now, and trying this technique, I can honestly say that, among your many gifts Steve, is that you can see something in the paint. I just can’t seem to do that. I put the colors down, let things flow around, and literally see nothing there but blobs. Anyway, this is a beautiful painting as usual.
All I can say is WOW! Such a beautiful watercolor. I need to try this method. Love the Smoking Mountains! Spent our honeymoon there when we got married.
As a beginner to watercolor my issue is knowing what to do. If I am doing a flower do I make it a pen and wash or do a loose painting. I struggle with mixes and getting it to not look like….well…trash. 😂
You amaze me! What a wonderful painting. I noticed you took the paper out of the brace and taped it onto a board. What didn't you like about the brace?
I do like it but the paper has been stretched and doesn't need it anymore so I'm just trying to keep the frame clean. The frame serves no other purpose but to hold down the paper while it shrinks and stretches.
Loved watching this! Beautiful. Ive not sat down to paint in some time now. Several months. I think this would help me a great deal... no expectations. Curious about the frame. I've not seen one of these. I've only been using watercolor a couple of years.
Hey, Steve, I’ve noticed there are several new watercolor channels out there on RUclips claiming to teach you how to paint “intuitive landscapes”. Since most of them seem to be beginners themselves, I always post on their videos that they should check out Mind of Watercolor, where the master of the technique teaches. 😉❤️❤️❤️
Awesome work and advice! I have a few photos of Dunn's Rock near Brevard, which came to mind while watching this video. Will you be at Artisphere in Greenville this weekend?
I noticed that you shifted from the stretcher bars to taped on a flat board. Can you comment on why you did that please? I love your work. I still haven’t mastered spontaneous painting.
The bars weren't needed anymore. Stretching occurs when the paper shrinks from being wet. The bars only hold the paper down while that happens. That stretching is permanent. I could have left the paper on there too but wanted to tape the edge and get the bars out of the way.
Another 77-year-old here. My expectation is shaped by my recollection of the watercolor I made (with no significant instruction, if any) in 8th-grade art class. The paper was probably poor also. I am sure we must have had quite a few other projects, but that is the only one I remember-- it was on display at parents' night--- and I was convinced that it was a total disaster, made worse by the shame of having my parents see it. My parents never gave me any positive feedback on my childhood art. I keep telling myself it is learnable, and I did all right in a junior college beginning watercolor class several years ago, but remain intimidated.
Steve, This was a gift from my grandmother its very old. I cant find anything about the artist. I would love some information. Its been damaged over the years unfortunately. Thank you
I think Ill stick to tape though love decent stretched paper. but ticking my brush against that clamp each time would serve as a TRIGGER for my neurotic brain lol
Thank you for your démo. thé result is really magic and so beautifull ❤❤. I have one question : at the begining of the vidéo, the sheet of paper is prisonnier in a four edge stand, during the work on wet in wet...what is the benefit versus fixing it with strong masking tape? is it better to keep it completely plane during the time it become dry? I'd be glad if you could answer to me. Thanks a lot.
Just Waouh...!!!
Yes, expectations are definitely holding me back. I think i need a 1 on 1 teacher for strict instruction; I don't live close to a city that would even offer that. Sometimes I just feel like giving up. 😢
Just beautiful. You make it look easy but it takes a lot of practice. I’m fairly new to watercolor and 77 years old but I believe that you can “teach an old dog new tricks”. Thank you
I echo Steve’s advice of letting go of expectation. That will help you improve and feel fulfilled at the end of your drawing session. Now if you’d excuse me, I have to go forget this advice, otherwise I can’t get frustrated the next time I paint 😂.
Every time I see one of your spontaneous paintings it makes me want to take a big, deep breath like I am in the woods and I could smell the trees. They are so beautiful and peaceful.
Steve, this is so beautiful. Please do more large, spontaneous paintings. Your point is well taken.
I love spontaneous painting. It reminds me of being a kid, laying on the grass, looking up at the clouds and seeing shapes in the clouds. The wet-on-wet technique creates "clouds" for me to identify shapes.
Hullo Steve, A Wonderful painting I admire your patience and the results justify your techniques! I just stretched a 15x36 inch piece of paper on stretcher bars and i have done a few attempts at clouds just as you have done in this video, Yours is so much better! I am a bit jealous, but I just need more practice and patience too! I often wish we could see an attempt that is not so wonderful? Well I do see it more often than I like in my own work, but It might be nice to not feel so alone! Please keep going and sharing your wonderful works. Have a lovely Day!
You're in the same boat as most artists so don't feel alone. Just keep putting in the brush miles. Things will improve. Be patient and pay careful attention to what the watercolor is doing in every circumstance.
I’ll keep that motto in mind; let the paint show you what it can do! Excellent advice.
I couldn’t agree more with what you said about spontaneous watercolor painting being your best teacher. I too have learned more from your examples of this than any class I’ve taken. Every painting I do in this technique teaches me something new. Thank you SO much, Steve, for leading us on this amazing journey. It’s bliss!
Thank you for your words. Really.
Beautiful! And I just love how you close each video with a verse from the Bible :)
Wow, beautiful painting! And some great advice to go along with it!
Hey James! Aren’t these landscapes amazing? One day I will be able to do these types of happy spontaneous trees!
@@ClarkFineArt I’m sure you will! Im hoping to be right behind you! 😉
Thank you for this. I'm a beginner and a rule follower 🤷♀️ I need to take this approach to relax more and ENJOY the process!!
GREAT to see your beautiful landscape which you made look so effortless!! I don't know what I loved more... yes I do, I love your trees, the rocks, the mist, the colors...Your tutorials never disappoint, just beautiful Steve.....Thank you!!
Fabulous
The atmosphere in your paintings is just amazing!
Ok. I almost had a stroke watching this. I work soooo tight. BUT tomorrow is the day I will give this a go!🤞
Thank you, Steve!!! I've never painted like you before, but it sure is beautiful! Still a beginner that hasn't painted in 18 months... it'll be just like starting over! The music fit this... loved it! Thanks for sharing the Bible verse... always wait to see it! With love and gratitude from a California Gramma ❤
Steve, you help center me when I'm spinning: thanks so. And what is the ethereal dulcimer music accompanying your video? I likewise am from the Appalachians and that really spoke to me ✨
Thank you for sharing your gift with us. Magic. ❤
"Check your expectations at the door." Actually, this is a great mantra for Life as well as art. Stay in the now and don't miss the magic. Thanks, Steve. You have taught me so much. Blessings.
Thank you for the calming content -in your peaceful nature, but also from the artist’s viewpoint - calm down with those controlling tendencies, relax a little and let the paint/picture have a say. I always appreciate the Bible verse at the end, again low key, but a statement of priorities. Calm down our importance, be humble, remember where all this comes from. On a final note, where is that awesome guitar music from? I’m a fan of classical music and guitars, that was lovely.
I really enjoy watching you create your spontaneous paintings!
Thank you for the great advice and sharing your wisdom.
Sooo beautiful Steve… just stunning.
OK - first of all, you're an effing watercolour genius . . . and as for my expectations . . . I can't even get through my door anymore. Thank you for posting this. You always amaze! 🤗
Such beautiful work
I purchased one of these stretchers over a year ago. I havent used it yet. I definately need to give it a go.
I teach watercolor and I usually have 2 different types of students - the open learner and the idealist/perfectionist. Even if they've had zero experience with art, the idealist expects the outcome that they set forth in thier mind and have difficulty letting go of it. It usually leads to self judgment in thier abilities and frankly can have a negative atmosphere within the group. Watercolor has a way of teaching those students, whose boss, if you will. Evenually they begin to let go and respect what watercolor wants to be vs what they want to force it to be.
Thanks for the inspiration
I went on a family trip to Smoky Mountain Natl Park when I was a kid and it was incredible, the clouds rolling over the trees across the mountains really is a sight to see.
Hi Steve. Thanks as always, for these wonderful lessons. Embracing spontaneous watercolour helps me to find magic and run with it. I am grateful to you for teaching me to SEE the magic when it appears. So many joyful moments thanks to you. Hugs from Canada.
So many amazing tips in this, such an amazing tutorial ☺☺
One of the best videos I've watched - all because of your admonition to "Check your expectations at the door!" So often, I do precisely what you've warned against: I try to make the watercolor do what I had in my head. I either need to roll with what's happening with the paint or simply begin again. This is definitely something that I have to work on because I can easily become a master fiddler. Thank you for this video!
I know how you feel! But I must confess that it is difficult to let go of expectation. The urge to produce a painting exactly as I’ve seen it online is just too strong 😅.
Love, ❤❤ your spontaneous painting videoed.
Excellent advice! I'm so glad I found you. My "relationship" with watercolor feels more like a forced relationship and the control freak in this relationship is me.
Oh my goodness I am seeing so much at the beginning of this painting and I’m pleasantly surprised that you are creating some of the mountainside with trees & foggy/misty areas rising up throughout. This is definitely a great inspirational piece! I love 💕 how you spontaneous landscapes turn out! Thanks for sharing this fun video!
Thank you for providing kindness and inspiration. I'm a beginner and not very imaginative, but at the very least, I have the gift of appreciation!
This painting made me think of the out of the frying pan into the fire when the dwarves ecaped to the pine trees fron the orcs after Bilbo came out of gollums caves. Awesome😊
Lovely! Reminds me of Chinese paintings.
I love your instruction! I am enjoying playing with spontaneous landscapes. Thanks for your solid guidance, tips, and encouragement for your followers!
I love watching you paint, you make it look so easy. Guess as I have worked with pencil sketches, pen and ink, and oils I have become a control freak. You let loose and yet you control the paint. It’s like watching a couple dancing when you paint. ❤❤❤ 😊
You are the best for spontaneous painting, Karen Rice also very good. Good advise about expectations as well.
Spontanious water colors are beautiful, have you tried this technique with other motifs
I really enjoyed this Steve. Beautiful ! You inspire me to get my supplies out again. I have become so discouraged with the painful arthritis in my hands so much that I sometimes cannot write let alone draw anymore. I was a portrait artist for mainly infants doing so much detail. I was ready to give away all my art supplies to charity. Its upsetting to just have them and not use them.
I am so appreciative that I found your channel very early in my watercolor journey. As I talk to other artists, I realize that my internalized attitude, "I'll just see what the watercolor does," is an unusual sort of freedom. I want to thank you for your part in developing that.
Thanks. I love doing this
Loved the music. It had a medieval vibe to it and beautiful painting. Thank you.
Love it and your message to all! This gets to the heart of watercolor!
This approach is liberating! Do you have a general theme or vision for the landscape before you paint or is it pure spontaneity whereby the vision is developed as the flowing paint surprises you? In other words some of the paint application seems to be deliberate as you progress. Thanks!
I have a few compositional ideas when I start. The further I go into it, the more deliberately I paint as I see shapes forming.
Yay, a new video! Awesome painting!
Absolutely beautiful! I did your spontaneous painting class you did with etchr years ago, I’m still reaching for my goals to create successful paintings this way. I always remind myself at the beginning of each session that it’s ok if it doesn’t work out, it’s just paper and I have plenty more to try again. Each time I learn something and that in itself makes the painting a success, but thank you so much for continuing to share these types of videos. Another beautiful spontaneous landscape Steve!
Great advice, paintings where my expectations don’t match my reality are my disappointments.
So beautiful! As soon as you said you weren't creating a sky, I saw the Smokies. 😍
Wowie! Beautiful 😻
amazing
Absolutely gorgeous 😍 ❤️
Often I find myself trying to make "the right thing", and it usually fails pretty bad (or looks just terribly amateur), then I attack it with no regard to detail, only the generic hues and let it become whatever the heck it wants to. Love it!
Beautiful ❣
This is absolutely beautiful.
Windsor Newton Chinese white is great for highlights and also will crackle when dabbed in a wet spot of say Phthalo Blue. Love ur paintings..i try to emulate, but always end up filling the paper :P
My art has come alive since watching your spontaneous pairing videos. The trick is remembering to do it that way and check the expectations. I am so thankful for your guidance in this style of painting. 😄
That's a nice picture, your tree painting is impressive, they come from nowhere.
Love it!
Always love watching you do this and have tried a couple. Need to do more!
I love watching you paint!
Very true, one we expect less then we are surprised so much more than I could express. Great video Steve 😊
My favourite way to paint, thanks to you! Lately, I have been combining liquid charcoal and watercolour, which can add a whole extra dimension.
I tell everyone they will learn something new every time they touch a brush to paper, no matter how long they've been painting.
This is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing Steve!
That painting is stunning, i love that misty mountain effect.
I was wondering, do you have any tips about scanning textured watercolour artwork if you wanted to make prints out of them so the texture doesn't show? Any advice on that would be appreciated.
In any case thank you for all the work you do in spreading watercolour knowledge.
After watching you paint for about five years now, and trying this technique, I can honestly say that, among your many gifts Steve, is that you can see something in the paint. I just can’t seem to do that. I put the colors down, let things flow around, and literally see nothing there but blobs. Anyway, this is a beautiful painting as usual.
Thank you. What a stunning painting emerged. I really enjoyed seeing you create this one.
Your new studio ! GREAT! Videos always worthwhile!
All I can say is WOW! Such a beautiful watercolor. I need to try this method. Love the Smoking Mountains! Spent our honeymoon there when we got married.
What a great video. Thank you
This is wonderful
Thank you
Beautiful as always. Great advice.
This was very enjoyable! Thank you so much!
I love this so much!!!
As a beginner to watercolor my issue is knowing what to do. If I am doing a flower do I make it a pen and wash or do a loose painting. I struggle with mixes and getting it to not look like….well…trash. 😂
Wonderful!
You amaze me! What a wonderful painting. I noticed you took the paper out of the brace and taped it onto a board. What didn't you like about the brace?
I do like it but the paper has been stretched and doesn't need it anymore so I'm just trying to keep the frame clean. The frame serves no other purpose but to hold down the paper while it shrinks and stretches.
Really love how you paint.Im a new subscriber and already you gave blown my mind on 3 videos I have watched 👍
I would love to take a spontaneous painting class with you.
100%, I’m either guilty or a victim of my own expectations 🤨.
As always, stunning work!
Gorgeous!❤
I really want to try this but feel overwhelmed
You make it look so easy., unfortunately not in my case.
😊🖼💛
Loved watching this! Beautiful. Ive not sat down to paint in some time now. Several months. I think this would help me a great deal... no expectations. Curious about the frame. I've not seen one of these. I've only been using watercolor a couple of years.
See my last video on the Otto Stretcher.
Hey, Steve, I’ve noticed there are several new watercolor channels out there on RUclips claiming to teach you how to paint “intuitive landscapes”. Since most of them seem to be beginners themselves, I always post on their videos that they should check out Mind of Watercolor, where the master of the technique teaches. 😉❤️❤️❤️
@@kimstelly9480 yeah it does seem to be a trend. Thanks for the support!
How do you do that! I have tried it, but had no luck creating anything out of it!
3:32 was the paper still wet when you lifted the paint, or was it that the brush was wet?
Paper was dry, brush was damp. Lifting with light scrubbing and blotting.
@@mindofwatercolor Thanks 😊.
Awesome work and advice! I have a few photos of Dunn's Rock near Brevard, which came to mind while watching this video. Will you be at Artisphere in Greenville this weekend?
I’ll probably have a look but I’m not in it.
I noticed that you shifted from the stretcher bars to taped on a flat board. Can you comment on why you did that please? I love your work. I still haven’t mastered spontaneous painting.
The bars weren't needed anymore. Stretching occurs when the paper shrinks from being wet. The bars only hold the paper down while that happens. That stretching is permanent. I could have left the paper on there too but wanted to tape the edge and get the bars out of the way.
Another 77-year-old here. My expectation is shaped by my recollection of the watercolor I made (with no significant instruction, if any) in 8th-grade art class. The paper was probably poor also. I am sure we must have had quite a few other projects, but that is the only one I remember-- it was on display at parents' night--- and I was convinced that it was a total disaster, made worse by the shame of having my parents see it. My parents never gave me any positive feedback on my childhood art. I keep telling myself it is learnable, and I did all right in a junior college beginning watercolor class several years ago, but remain intimidated.
Steve, This was a gift from my grandmother its very old. I cant find anything about the artist. I would love some information. Its been damaged over the years unfortunately.
Thank you
I think Ill stick to tape though love decent stretched paper. but ticking my brush against that clamp each time would serve as a TRIGGER for my neurotic brain lol
Thank you for your démo. thé result is really magic and so beautifull ❤❤.
I have one question : at the begining of the vidéo, the sheet of paper is prisonnier in a four edge stand, during the work on wet in wet...what is the benefit versus fixing it with strong masking tape? is it better to keep it completely plane during the time it become dry?
I'd be glad if you could answer to me.
Thanks a lot.
See my Otto Stretcher video a couple episodes back.