Painting Art: How Lee PaintsPainting Art for me comes naturally after years of doing it. Studio visitors frequently ask me “How do you start a painting? How do you decide what to paint?” I thought my virtual studio visitors might also be curious to know how I paint. I’m a self-taught artist. I paint in a realistic style, although not what is called Photorealism. My painting includes a lot of realistic details but I don’t feel I need to include everything I see into the painting.
I paint art primarily in watercolors and belong to a few art societies where I have the opportunity to show my art and find friends and colleagues with similar interests. My studies as an artist have included reading a lot of technical books: how to paint, how to draw, how to see perspective and include all of this into the painting. I also read a lot of books about other artists and I learned a lot by seeing how another artist painted. I wanted to know why they created a painting and the way they did it. Understanding their style and technique showed me new ways of painting art and helped me find my own unique style. I found two artists most helpful to me personally when I studied the way they painted as well as what they painted. One was Andrew Wyeth with his minimal use of color, his strong composition and a real command of highlights and shadows. The other was Geoff Hunt, a maritime artist who painted accurate yet beautiful art of the sea and ships under sail. These two artists as well as others helped me find my style and techniques I use today. Painting art for me is personal. What works for me and how I paint may not work for someone else. I start a painting with some drawings and some research into the subject and if possible, I like going on location. I can see the colors and the light and I feel the mood. I may photograph the area so I’ll remember small details, note characteristics of a building, or the colors of the fields and gardens. I work the drawing onto my paper. I like using 300 lb. bright white Arches paper using a #2 H pencil. A #2 is easy to erase without seeing lines. In my drawing I include as much detail as I need, including highlights, shadows, and shading. I can’t stress this point enough. The better the drawing is the better the painting will be and you’ll find you’ll have less trouble painting. Working out the details in the drawing gives you the opportunity to experiment and change your mind. Once I’m happy with the drawing, I think about the colors I’ll use. I have what I want in my head so I use scrap paper and rough sketches to test the composition and colors together in the way I plan to use them. Sometimes the colors work, sometimes they don’t and I have to change my mind. I use the best paint I can to insure the colors are archival and will remain lightfast for many years to come. I like the way some paint feels as I use it. Paint has to flow off the brush the way I want it to. I want the paint to stay where I put it and not run off into another color or in a place I don’t want it to be. I start with some background washes for basic colors and to set the tone of the painting I work from the background forward using more detail as I go. Then I put in shadows and further enhance textures and detail. I do this using stronger color and thinner brushes like #. 000 round brushes, and use spattering, dry brush and wet paper techniques. Visitors to my studio often ask why I use certain supplies. Each of us has favorites, whether it’s a brand of coffee, make of car, or vacation spot. Follow the links below to discover the favorites I use for painting art in my studio, and why a particular item is my personal choice. I've included links for some of my favorite art supplies and you'll find many of my other choices at Let’s get started! Choose an art supply category:
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Learning how to paint is a personal choice. Some artists want or need the structure of a school, while others prefer to learn on their own. Ether way is OK with me. An artist needs talent and an endless passion for painting art. With these attributes, a person can usually find their own artistic niche. 
