Painting subject you should pick - 3 tips to choose better subject

Today I want to share with you how to pick the right subject for your painting!
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0:00 - Intro
0:47 - 1 Don't look for the obvious
02:09 - 2 look for a strong shape
02:51 - 3 Envision
03:30 - Example
04:53 - Painting demo start
06:56 - First Wash
09:08 - Second Wash
12:30 - Reflection
13:10 - Third Wash
15:29 - Figures and details
19:47 - Conclusion
Download the reference photo:
www.dropbox.com/s/068bdhih20k...
My Instagram:
/ cafewatercolor
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Materials I use for this painting: (affiliation links)
Paper - Saunders Waterford 12x16 rough
amzn.to/2KrJ9Cz
Big wash brushes - Escoda Aquario, Joseph Zbukvic set
amzn.to/2JHzczZ
Smaller paint brushes - Escoda Perla #8 and #10
(it's cheaper to buy them separately rather than the set with a travel brush that I rarely use)
Escoda Perla #8
amzn.to/2JGiaBY
Escoda Perla #10
amzn.to/2ral6A6
My brush for trees and foliage - Escoda Reserva #10
amzn.to/2HI3vtS
My painting light - PHIVE LED desk lamp
amzn.to/2Iu5HDC
Background Music by Big Rice Piano
/ bigricerecords
#watercolorlesson #cafewatercolor

[@Cafewatercolor]

Look around your area, maybe you can find a typical scenery that's great for painting! =)

[@presidentlouis-napoleonbon8889]

Can you show one of your 'terrible' paintings? It can make me what to be careful and it can also be a warning video.

[@mfrenc01]

I love watching your videos, but it is your commentary that is priceless. Thanks for doing these.

[@tedkeasey8625]

This is an exceptionally good episode. I've only been painting for 5 years since my retirement. I really learned a lot from this one.

[@marionbik2022]

This painting captures the feeling of it being a happy place for you. It is also the perfect painting for the lesson you are sharing. Beautifully painted and presented. So many things to think about and decide before you even start a painting. Thank you again for your insight. 🎨✨

[@mikparker4518]

I've always looked at the obvious when I'm out and could never understand why I came up with nothing. Now I know that I was looking for the obvious, thnx Eric for this and I'm looking forward to my nxt trip out. 👌👌👌👏👏👏👏

[@lindathaxton1994]

Your time, expertise & clear teaching is sooooo appreciated by this beginner! I look forward to every lesson. Thank you

[@m.mccready9976]

Very good development of this subject. I totally agree that "spectacular" scenes seldom can successfully translate into paint (at least for me). There is so much that we overlook every day that can be brought out in a painting to evoke an idea or feeling. Thank you for this example.

[@stephaniedescoteaux4759]

Wow even the value study was gorgeous.

[@dandfawesome3611]

Fantastic lesson, thank you. I am always struggling with ‘seeing’ and this is extremely helpful and useful

[@kashivishwanath7603]

Excellent painting with very valuable instruction. Love your deep voice. What a great video on selecting the subject of your painting, very logical. You rock Eric...👍👍👍

[@sabareeshmangalath8969]

Hi I'm new to this channel. I learned a whole bunch of stuff from this single video. So impressive.

[@pavelozdani439]

Eric great job - amazing atmosphere around the lake

[@barbaragemin5117]

You've done it again Eric -read my mind. I've been wondering lately if I just choose the wrong subjects when I'm dissatisfied with the results. Also, I'm guilty of choosing the wow factor or scenes that are obviously 'paintable'. Thank you for the important points you've made. Key word? ENVISION. I wish I could do it.

[@lindathaxton1994]

Love the method you use & teach - it is helping me a lot - you make it look so easy 😃. I am improving slowly. Thank you

[@predragdjokic3761]

This looks amazing Eric thank you for sharing.

[@Angayasse]

This was very helpful, thank you!

[@chesapeake4797]

You are so right! I just took photos of my beautiful June garden and wish it would make a good painting, but I know enough from experience that it would not come out as I want it to. And then here comes your timely advice on subject selection. Thanks!

[@pjs3514]

Great info and great painting. Thanks

[@rebeccawillems3826]

Very good and crystal-clear analysis.

[@roubend1]

Eric, you’re a very good teacher!

[@mbtvalli]

So helpful!

[@jackiebyers1272]

Such GREAT advice! I love the way you paint!

[@ankanbiswas4253]

Looking forward to see these type of subjects involved in your future videos

[@monazurroville6652]

A very useful master class as always

[@decaturdon]

Love your channel. Very useful info. You do an amazing job on your paintings!

[@tammylanglois2602]

This was lovely and well done!

[@SC4RArt]

Amazing art! Soo much info! thanks... So inspirational for my art! 👍👍

[@mreinstein48]

You are both a great painter and a great teacher!

[@markh7523]

Always clear and articulate, learnt a lot here- thanks

[@stanisawamichalak3682]

Jestem zachwycona filmem opowiadanie podczas malowania jest cudowne... takie filmy dają povera do pracy. Dziękuję serdecznie za piękny i ciekawy film.

[@fastturttle]

new fans here. thankyou for always giving useful tips!

[@solar979]

Great advice and beautiful painting.

[@dorothyburke4486]

Love your lessons Eric.. you explain everything so well along with your paintings.

[@SuperLaura516]

Beautiful painting. Your art is very interesting to look at. Love your work!

[@peterfels5779]

The figures are wonderfull. I like this. Thanks for sharing.

[@bonniecullom1007]

All great advice, thank you Eric 👍😎🎨

[@elizabethbarnes3969]

Love this painting. And found the comments very helpful. Thank you very much.

[@deyongutube]

It's beautiful Eric!

[@brucenunn3268]

Very Helpful... Glad I Found this Channel..!!

[@marylabrec2728]

Such good teaching. It's a gold mine. Thanks!

[@maliequizhu6614]

Eric really love this painting! 💕💕💕 Great jobs dude! 👍👍👍

[@roselynbaruch3697]

Your teaching makes so good sense, always so valuable, many thanks

[@Drumaier]

Hi Eric! this is my favorite painting of yours so far! Cool to see you working with more premixed paint that allow you to make broader brushstrokes at once which also allows you to move forward faster without having to edit them or having drying issues. This ends up in a VERY loose NICE LOOKING painting. You are definitely getting there and if you continue with this pace in one or two years you will become a Master! Cheers! edit: this painting already has a very high level quality.

[@harrietruffy3515]

Love your approach to painting! Really insightful information that comes with experience:-)

[@judyonody7748]

Excellent advise on selecting the subject and beautiful outcome! Thank you Eric!

[@pdiinhungary]

Again, a fantastic demo on 'how' to paint , I loved it - thank you.

[@iqbalpreetpadam7521]

It's awesome thanks sir for lesson & tips

[@ArtsofPamatayHomesickV20]

i learn a lot watching your watercolor tutorials...thank you for the inspiration! wonderful 3 tips!...

[@johnkamerling6156]

Always learning, thankyou Eric.. Also congrats on the Watercolor Magazine article..

[@hannahheruke6679]

Thank you so much! I am a beginner of watercolor painting and your channel helps me a lot. You are a great teacher!

[@normamiller2316]

Thank you! Beautiful technique and clearly explained

[@DeviSathyaHariMadhusudanRao]

Very very useful tips and tricks. Beautiful painting...

[@RadishTheFool]

Thank you very much for this amazing video! It's so helpful and inspiring and motivating.

[@edzejandehaan9265]

You raise some very interesting points. Food for thought, thanks.

[@scarz1951]

Good lesson. Full of important points and info.

[@stephaniedescoteaux4759]

Nobody came to see the public restroom! ha ha

[@sallysims5090]

Thank you for offering this video lesson. I like the value-focused vision lens that pulls it all together and the advice to not get pulled into (and lost in!) the reference photo. Great example.

[@cmk1626]

Your videos have helped me understand watercolor painting and painting in general much more than any other channel I've found. I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you do. Thank you.

[@peterbathum2775]

Thank you. I've cleared and set up my work area. Thanks to your words of instruction motivating and reminding me of lessons I had learned bu had then forgotten ... I especially appreciate your discussion here of choice of subject as this has been challenging for me. Great idea to use a presentation of your overall approach to discuss the topic, as a reminder to the first timers and the rusty. Thanks again.

[@rebeccawillems3826]

Very good, crystal-clear analysis, sharp as a samurai-sword. Bravo ...In fact, I was searching YTube for something about this ... subject (😊) ... almost in vain ... and then I stumbled on this ... Very good. I especially like: 'Don't go 4 the obvious/ordinary, look 4 the everyday/extraordinary.' That's pure gold.

[@janie7242]

Haha....interesting! Open-mind viewpoint, never thought about painting RM. But the end result was a quite nice and enjoyable painting.😉💕

[@ann-marielofberg1159]

This was a fantastic video that made me understand why things go wrong. I need to pic my objects with another focus point. Saved this to a map with favourites of Watercolor videos where I learned a lot from or got inspired by. There are a couple of more (...) of Your videos. Actually all the videos I’ve seen so far.

[@ArtsyFoodie]

This was very helpful to me as I would often paint a subject that I was in awe of.....but wanted to capture in a loose style....but despite a few tries it just felt blah ....then other paintings I'm like oh there it is. I never understood why I thought it was my impression wasn't right. But watching this makes a clear sense to me. Often in my photos I take many photos of same scene....now I just have to look into the crevices of beauty within the larger scene. Thank you for passing on this knowledge.

[@kazthibodeau]

Thank you for this video and all your videos, Most people don't understand just how much work goes into creating a quality video. You stated that you really enjoyed painting the above scene and to me, that happy feeling shines through this painting. As always, I enjoy your work, both paintings and video.

[@Cafewatercolor]

Thank you so much ☺️ really appreciate your comment!

[@kialmiart5928]

Why i know these just now. A lot of thanks from you. Now I'm gonna paint for my youtube video.

[@robmcshane6907]

What a video! Brilliant advice which will so improve my subject selection method and then you back it up with such an excellent painting process. I have learnt so much from you, Eric, which makes painting so much more fun and produces better results. Nobody can believe I’ve been painting for such a short period (myself included 😃). So appreciate your thoughts, skills and experience. Thank you so much for sharing with us the way you do 👏👏

[@Cafewatercolor]

Wow! That’s amazing to hear ☺️

[@SuperMorula]

Superb

[@michaelthornton5113]

Thanks Eric. You have reenforced a notion of mine. I have refused to try painting from photos of some grand and beautiful scenes. Related question: when painting a well known place (or person) how much do you change the subject for a "better" composition, mountain moving, wart removal?

[@ameilee77]

Nice 👍🏼👍🏼

[@WC100]

오늘도 역쉬 멋진 수채화 잘보고 갑니다 항상 화이팅입니다

[@nextspring9916]

Very useful tips, thank you! Could you share tips how to modify from real scenes or pictures, to make a better composed painting?

[@munirah9020]

So honest

[@joegriffin5851]

Excellent tutorial and completely covered one of my major problems, what subject to choose. One question, what paper do you use for your value study, something cheaper than the paper you would use for the final painting?

[@DavidMiltonJones]

Great painting, Eric. You took away a lot from Andy's workshop

[@marjorieolah2106]

😀

[@TYANTOWERS]

Hi Eric! I love the painting and thanks for the tips for choosing a subject. In my opinion, the lake could have been a little less saturated. What do you think?

[@Cafewatercolor]

I don't know I like it the way it is :) never know what you get with watercolor

[@TYANTOWERS]

@@Cafewatercolor Of course! That is why I love watercolour. Thanks for replying to me 😀

[@roxypodlogar5661]

What type of drawing pencil do you recommend?

[@juanluis9803]

Subtítulos en español por favor👍

[@z.z.1205]

I love the blue of the sky. Is this cerulean blue or something else?

[@Cafewatercolor]

Cerulean blue and cobalt blue

[@kikowhitney]

I am a beginner in painting and so often I tell myself, "This is not a good painting". But you also say that at times something is "terrible"in your painting. So is it possible that even very advanced painters--like you--can have "terrible"paintings? I sometimes think that as an artist advances in art there will no more be "terrible"paintings and all works are perfect and superb. A beginner like me is so self-critical that every piece of work done is "not nice". So the tendency of the beginner is to ask when will the day come when every work is perfect and superb and technically flawless etc. There is always this struggle in the mind for me, a beginner.

[@s.zander6211]

What happened to your lifestream? Greatings from germany.