Over the years, we've amassed a vast collection of reader-submitted tricks of the trade, many of which we've published in our popular Swipe File column or on our website. We thought now would be the perfect time to re-introduce this department and invite readers to share their best timesaving, budget-friendly tips and techniques. Here's one of our favorites from Bonnie Rodgers, who saved herself a nice chunk of change with a bit of grit and ingenuity:

Recently, while preparing for a plein air journey, I searched for a journal of the right size for my art travel bag. I wanted one that had 140-lb., cold-pressed paper. Local stores only allowed me a 90-lb. version. So, I looked on the internet and found a journal maker, but she was having trouble finding the right glue to adhere to the heavier paper. I tried to make my own from leather, watercolor paper and binding thread, but due to my limited time and knowledge, I gave up on that idea.

Then I came up with the solution: different-sized photo albumns that I could populate with watercolor paper, cut to the size of the albumns' sleeves or smaller. I found I could also extend the book size by adding larger spine pins to accommodate more sleeves. It worked wonderfully! I could paint on any size (as long as it was smaller than the paper I had brought with me). I could also collect tickets and memorabilia for future use and memory ticklers in the photo sleeves. On days when I needed to reduce the weight I was carrying, I could undo the spine screw pins and take pages out.
 
The best thing of all was that I saved myself about $125. Journals with enough pages, the proper paper weight, and the right-sized paper for sketching and journaling, with a sturdy binding that would hold up to rigorous use cost about $150 to $200, when available. Photo albums cost $7.50 to $15 and one sheet of 140-lb. watercolor paper costs $7.99. Each sheet of watercolor paper allowed me to cut several pages of 3x5-inch, 4x6-inch, and 6x8-inch journal pages for three different-sized journals. This idea will serve me well for all my plein air journeys.


Thanks Bonnie!

Send a description of your method and a photo or JPEG (with a resolution of 300 dpi) illustrating a tip or technique to wcamag@fwmedia.com for your chance to see your bright ideas in print, on our site or in our e-newsletter. Who knows? Your idea might be just the thing that a fellow artist needs to find his or her way back to the easel.

As promised, Watercolor Artist has launched its own newsletter! If you receive the Artists Network newsletters, you’ll still see items from the magazine there, but now you can also sign up to receive biweekly watermedia news and updates from Watercolor Artist in your in-box.

Signing up is easy: Go to our website and type your e-mail address into the box at the top left corner and click GO.

There's no doubting the charm of art store's solutions to your painting problems (who wouldn't love a sleek, new flat filing system?), but sometimes the best ideas come straight out of the kitchen--or the junk drawer, to be specific. Check out our online archives of reader-submitted tips and tricks of the trade to find out how you can save time and money with simple, homespun solutions.

Here are just a few highlights:
A new use for coffee filters
A cool idea for saving paints
Cheap on-the-go palettes
A handy way to display your wares
Two handy brush organizers

To search our full, watercolor archives, click here.

One of the seven videos currently offered on ArtistsNetwork.tv—a new site from F+W Media that offers instructional (streaming) videos from today’s leading artists—features beloved artist Stephen Quiller on color theory for watercolorists. Click below to see a preview of the video.




You can also click here for previews of the other six 40-plus minute videos to help you decide if you’d like to subscribe to an individual workshop for a six-month period, or subscribe to all of them for a six-month period. You don’t have to download anything, and you can watch any time of the day as long as you have a high-speed Internet connection.

Take note that more artists’ workshops are on the production lineup, including ones from watermedia artists Mark Willenbrink and Jean Grastorf, so visit often, and sign up to receive the e-mail newsletter for advance notice on new workshops.

The number of instructional watercolor videos on YouTube is not small. Sifting through the pile for little gems has (of late) become a habit of mine. I like finding ordinary artists who are compelled by their simple desire to share what they know with other artists like themselves. If you're a beginner in the medium, looking for answers to basic questions like, "How do I stretch my watercolor paper?" check back in the with blog from time to time. I'll be posting helpful videos posted by artists just like you. This time, check out this watercolor tutorial posted by Bob Davies, "Stretching Watercolour Paper." He offers two approaches from start to finish in less than 10 minutes. And he seems so nice!

Yesterday our team had the pleasure of attending a demonstration by none other than Stephen Quiller, who was here in Cincinnati filming an upcoming e-workshop (more details to come soon). Artist M. Katherine Hurley, also on the e-workshop lineup, was kind enough to lend our film crew her studios in the Pendleton Art Center for the shooting location.

Kelly, along with The Pastel Journal Editor Anne Hevener, sat in on the morning taping session for Quiller’s watercolor demo, and Sarah and I popped in late afternoon to catch him working on an acrylic landscape. How remarkable it was to be there watching his “juicy strokes” come to life, not to mention observing an artist who truly relishes the painting process, doing exactly what pleases him the most.

As his inspiration for the acrylic painting (above) was the burst of color in an autumnal snowstorm—or, as he more eloquently put it, “the autumn color dancing into the painting”—he put emphasis on letting color become an important part of the work, and, above all, painting for one’s own joy. “Just have fun and enjoy the process,” he said.

We certainly enjoyed being there.

It happens all the time: You’re having trouble with a passage in your painting inspired by New England architecture, and you remember reading a particularly helpful Watercolor Magic article on painting details in buildings. Exactly when that was published, you haven’t a clue, and your stack of archives is as tall as your desk.

Help is on the way. For reasons such as this, we’ve just put all of our 2006 issues on one CD—so now you can save both time and space, instantly accessing the entire year’s worth of articles and advice. Just pop the CD into your computer, click on the issue you want to open, and go directly to a specific article by clicking on the respective bookmark.

Other pluses: The articles are printable for your own reference or sharing with friends; websites are hot-linked, thus allowing you to click on them and go directly online; and a comprehensive subject index makes the content fully searchable.

They’re available now at our online back issue store for $19.96. Click here for details.

By the way, that column, “More Than Bricks and Mortar,” by Mark Willenbrink, ran in the April 2006 issue.

In the October issue of the magazine, we ran a feature on Myrna Wacknov, a watercolor portrait artist with an inventive take on color. In the feature, she explains how she uses Photoshop to help her arrive at the paintings she will eventually paint in a step-by-step guide. Now we've taken the feature a step further: We're offering the artist's guide to using Photoshop Elements in the studio on our website as a free download.

Treat yourself to an inspired painting lesson this weekend and download the guide by clicking here. Who knows? You may just find your next painting in the process.

(Note: the paintings featured above also appear on Wacknov's website in her online gallery.)