Lesson 12 / Controlling your brush in Watercolor / Stan Miller

[@thewanderess]

This was so energetic! I was on the edge of my seat!!🤣🤣🤣

[@teresamitchell-banks2286]

I found you because of Liron also. Would love to see more of your video tutorials. Thank you for teaching.

[@dougg1075]

I’ve learned more in the last few days of watching these lessons. They are a gift Mr Miller.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

thanks so much Doug, glad the lessons are helpful.

[@donwalls8192]

This is the aha technique I've been looking for. No other teacher has demonstrated this. It's magic and changes the look of over glazed, over brushed muddy painting! Thanks Stan!

[@blackcat138]

Those are ones of the best watercolour videos on KZbin. And I've watched many videos and read many books.

[@artetinta2470]

Amazing! Loved it! I have subscribed! Found you because of Liron Yankoski, another great guy here in KZbin!!!! Thanks for this video!!

[@OceanaFlorida]

Haha! Same here!!!

[@goilo888]

I'm making my way through most of your videos. They may not be the most polished of videos but they are extremely informative. It's very obvious you know what you are talking about and even more so when looking at your paintings.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

+Third Dimension Jewellery Yes, very unpolished indeed. I'm glad my lessons are helpful.

[@kevinbrydentransformativec3857]

I'm happy to forgo the polish ;o) Awesome, thank you so much Stan

[@mhrobe]

Your videos on watercolor are excellent. I have viewed all 20 multiple times as they cover subjects that are not available elsewhere. I just wish you'd do more, eheh. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Thank you mhrobe. Just posted a new lesson today...

[@mhrobe]

Yes, thanks, I got the news from my subscribtion feed, that's why I was re-visiting your channel. Good stuff as usual,

[@boccaraetco]

Very useful, after two years of making a mess maybe I will improve now. Thank you for talking such good sense.

[@cafecito25]

Thank you for the last two lessons ( 11 & 12 on water control). As a beginner, have really been struggling with how much water to use. I am finally getting how it works. Just need more practice.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Glad to hear the lessons are helpful, thank you.

[@Bloodybeast]

You are pure gold man! Love your lessons! Very inspiring! Keep on doing those.

[@themovingdance2744]

Transitions are everything thanks for this ❤

[@Lucy-j2n7o]

The way you explain it is soo clear! Really helps a lot! Thanks!

[@gabrielmasdeu3548]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for being so generous and such a good teacher!

[@darbydupree4056]

So pretty!!! That alone is a piece of art!

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Thank you, glad the lessons are helpful.

[@luckyhiker3434]

Yes, I agree, others say your technique is “magic!”

[@inchingforward]

Thanks for doing these, Stan…these are great.

[@lilitincher4973]

"All that expensive paint"...you got that right! lol

[@randallinfuso8120]

Yes! Too funny!

[@jeremybraxton4644]

i know I'm quite off topic but do anybody know of a good place to stream new movies online?

[@jaxonjerry8581]

@Jeremy Braxton I would suggest flixzone. Just google for it =)

[@TyeNee]

I've been looking for tutorials that explain when to wash the brush. Thanks.

[@MsPbUTUBE]

I love your lessons. I'm wondering if you have any exercises for some of your lessons, ie., practicing with the limited palette of red, blue and yellow.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

You should attempt to do everything I'm showing you, in every lesson, numerous times. Using red, yellow and blue, is only one lesson. If one practices numerous times, everything I'm teaching you in all of my lessons, you will have about 1000 hours of homework, good luck!

[@hildavandergriff1730]

Great demo video, please keep making more.

[@2annawen]

Your the best! So much help..Thanks

[@artofgarduno]

"We've got 10 seconds to clean all that expensive paint out of the brush." Lol

[@ranafrog007]

Thanks for share your amazing experience! I will recommend your videos!

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Thanks Rene...glad the lessons are helpful.

[@Thestripper1]

This is tremendously helpful. Thank you Mr. Miller! I get good and even result when mixing some colors, Pyrrol Scarlett and Hansa Yellow medium is usually a success. But some others are almost impossible to transition smoothly. Quinacridone Rose to Ultramarine is one example of a difficult transition in my experience. Pbr7 pigment earth tones, like Burnt/Raw Sienna and Burnt/Raw Umber are also very difficult to blend smoothly to other colors. How come some paints mix to smooth transitions with ease while others are so difficult?

[@Stanleylestermiller]

The less expensive your wc paint, the greater the chances of struggling to mix them. Cheap paint often has chalk, or fillers added to them creating problems. Staining colors are trickier to transition considering how quickly they stain the paper. Working on hot press is more difficult to do transistions then on cold press.

[@Thestripper1]

@@Stanleylestermiller Thank you for that. I'm using almost exclusively Daniel Smith paints and a good quality cold pressed paper from a well known German brand. Some paints mix perfect and even transitions but others are much harder to get even. Like they don't like each other.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

@@Thestripper1 Daniel Smith is a quality wc paint, but I don't care for it. I use Grahams, which has a touch of honey added to it, keeping it somewhat soft. When Daniel Smith dries, it's quite hard. I have also noticed that the Daniel Smith colors, compared to Grahams seem more diverse and unpredictable in paint behavior, granulated to staining, etc. then some other brands. Grahams seems more consistent, to me. But to be fair, I haven't used Daniel Smith enough to give it a fair review.

[@Thestripper1]

@@Stanleylestermiller M. Graham would be my first choice (based only on reading) but it is very hard to find in Europe. So as a beginner I had to settle for DS. There's so many great artists and paintings done with DS paints so I'm guessing this has to do with my skill level. Thank you for replies and the great teaching.

[@imedhamdi862]

can you make others videos of portrait like the dark skin and thanks you are awesome dude :D you helped me a lot

[@deependrasingh3550]

Can you please recommend the size, type and brand of must have brushes you use on daily basis? Thanks!

[@Stanleylestermiller]

It doesn't matter what brush you use, I do recommend watercolor brushes. If you haven't watched my lesson 25 on youtube, you might want to watch this, to understand how important, and unimportant the brush is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJ-XmXZpa6yAeKc

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Thanks Don, good to hear the video helped..

[@tingkwok3030]

Hi Stan, Thanks so much for these really informative videos. I've been looking to improve my techniques but maybe I've been trying to save my paints a little too preciously.. Do you ever use paints that come in pans? I use a set of schmincke pans (which I have noticed are softer than other hardened pigment pans), but I noticed what you said about not being able to get a true dark colour from dried paint in your palette. I find that it's really hard to move a lot of pigment from the pan to the pallette without over-wetting. Do you have any advice (besides from trying tubes!)? Many thanks!!

[@neilgallagher2659]

Thank you for all your great videos. I am enrolled to take your workshop in Maine and the videos are just whetting my appetite. One question about this one: how should we deal with dry pigment, which even the best of us can have?

[@Stanleylestermiller]

+Neil Gallagher Hi Neil, we won't be using dry pigment in Maine. Why did you want to use dry pigment?

[@neilgallagher2659]

+Stan Miller I never WANT to use it--but it does happen [just like Forrest Gump would say]. When it does, how do you cope with it?

[@Stanleylestermiller]

+Neil Gallagher I never use dry pigment when painting in watercolor, I don't know anyone who does or why they would? Dry pigment is used when making your own paint, watercolor, oil, acrylic. One buys dry pigment at the art store, also buys the appropriate binder and then makes their own paint. I do use dry pigment when painting in egg tempera, but egg tempera technique is more like oil technique, not like watercolor. Does that help?

[@neilgallagher2659]

+Stan Miller Thanks again. I don't mean pigment that comes dry, I mean tube pigment that has dried out on the palette. You pointed out some on your own palette and then went on to use only the freshly squeezed blobs. If it goes dry on the palette do you just discard it, or do you have a way to bring it back to life?

[@Stanleylestermiller]

+Neil Gallagher Oh! Pigment that has dried out in the palette. Yes, a common problem. I just drop some water on top of the dry pigment and then, in about 30 minutes, the pigment is pretty soft, ready to be used.

[@jonathancriner2934]

"You have about fifteen seconds to wipe that really expensive paint from your brush..." yes, you do. That gave me a complex in art school, so I never learned to paint... So, I'm finding that, In order to get the paint rich enough for it to be that dark, it is also pretty wet, so as I try to use a drier brush to pull the color, the brush begins to suck up too much paint and it works backwards. If I keep the brush wetter, it becomes more a wash technique. I'm using W&N cakes instead of tube. How much does that affect the technique?

[@Stanleylestermiller]

much more difficult to get a strong dark color using cakes. I tell my students, we need freshly squeezed out of the tube, soft paint if we desire strong color and good darks. Very difficult with hard cakes, even when softened, to get a strong color and a strong dark. Also, too much water in the brush will keep us from getting strong darks and strong colors.

[@missingfaktor]

Maybe you address this in your future lessons, and forgive me if so, but what's your view on mixed media work? In your water colour paintings, do you use other media along side water colours? I like plastic crayons a lot, but I had an art teacher at school who frowned on this sort of style.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

My paintings are just watercolor. If you like mixed mediums, that's fine.

[@fjkpropertysolutions4737]

M

[@makhines431]

therefore 5 amount of water is ideal for mixing colors? when do you use 6 and above?

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Using a "5" amount of watercolor of course means using an "average" amount of water, not too wet or too dry. There will be times in any painting where you will want a very wet brush, a 10, and times when one wants a very dry brush, a 1 or 2. It is up to you how much water you desire, it depends on your style of painting. For my style of painting a 5 or 6 is the wetness of the brush that I most often use.

[@makhines431]

Stan Miller thanks so much for your generosity sir.

[@Lisapizza789]

Thank you.

[@nicazack7148]

Thanks!!

[@cpnoboat7659]

Thanks for such great explanation, a lot in less than 8'

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rahulm6847]

Wat paper is this

[@Stanleylestermiller]

I usually use Arches 140 pound, cold press.

[@maedehm715]

Thanks alot♡

[@liquidcyberpunk]

true master

[@petrusgandamana]

Thank you Master

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Glad the lesson was helpful.

[@luftgewhrschutz7099]

I thought touching the hair/ bristles of a brush was a no, no, because of the oil on your hands. apparently its not! will do now.thanks for the tip, your utubes are fabulous. love the value different color portraits. gonna try it. yikes.

[@strawbrryfld1]

😊

[@vanroid8339]

can you try to draw something and make the tutorial i really like drawing but its just a hobby im not that good so... i need more tutorial

[@nerueru5756]

10 seconds to get rid of allll that expensive paint...🤣

[@apexnoobgeneral6877]

thanks sir

[@themovingdance2744]

I had tons of art lessons…no - one taught us this. They just wander around and say nothing. And we all make a mess. The teacher says …you ll get it eventually. Nope. How lazy of them. Masters in Arts zero in teaching skills.

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Thanks for your comment. When I took wc the first time in college...I felt the same way..."just keep trying...you'll figure it out". When I started teaching I wanted to attempt to let my students know as much as possible...glad you enjoyed my lesson.

[@aesthete_xo]

we got 10 seconds to clean all that expensive paint. lmao

[@henriettasnodgrass3499]

seems like a waste of a lot of paint!

[@themovingdance2744]

Transitions are everything thanks for this ❤

[@Stanleylestermiller]

Thank you.