Lately, I have been streamlining my approach to watercolor painting. The process I’m about to describe is the culmination of three years of sketching and painting on almost a daily basis.

As you know, I’ve taken a few watercolor workshops and I’ve noticed a common denominator: “Watercolor painting is best painted light to dark with increasing tonal values”. I still believe the best way to improve your approach to watercolor painting is to 1) read a lot of books, 2) take professional instruction and workshops from accomplished artists and 3) practice daily.

This may seem like a simple statement, but it can be confusing when you start to paint.  Often, we want to paint in the darks very quickly. If you start with dark tones too early, the painting can loose its freshness and many times the tonal shift is too abrupt.

When I first began painting in 2017, I…