Category: Minilessons

Here is a quick watercolor study that I did to prepare for my recent Afternoon in Fiji Pastel Livestream. You can find the live stream here: https://youtu.be/iwVOYydbsiE https://youtu.be/J0lYdUsS1Bo

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all have the perfect studio with soft North Light streaming in? But lighting for your art studio is one of the more confusing aspects of setting up a workspace.I use my studio for

Shipping small pastels is easy! With just a little planning and some inexpensive supplies, you can safely ship unframed pastels to your friends and buyers. The post office has free supplies that you can have delivered to your door and

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time contemplating, studying and drawing peacocks of all things. They are such unusual and fascinating creatures. Here are just a few fun facts about them: They are actually Peafowl…Peacock and Peahen. The males

In this video, I’ll demonstrate using a set of 48 Blick Pastels that are a less expensive alternative for a beginner interested in exploring pastels. I use the pastels on both Canson paper and Pastelmat. My conclusion was that the

PAINTING LESSONS WITH MARLA FAQ Special Thanks to our Facebook Moderator, Donna Berkley, for putting this FAQ together!   FREE RESOURCES   Q.  Do you have any free resources for pastel artists? Absolutely!  Check out the free mini-lessons on my

I’m a firm believer in planning out your paintings and creating thumbnails before diving into a larger, finished piece. They are one of the keys to successful painting and being consistent. But, one of the more frustrating things about painting

The thing about acrylics is that they are so easy and hassle free to use and at the same time offer up so many possibilities! This seems paradoxical of course. How could it be that something so simple is also

You can do little pencil or ink drawings as reference and practice sketches but if you really want to prepare yourself for handling various subjects and conditions in watercolor, get out your paints! Don’t try to capture too much detail

The visual world offers up infinite variety and challenges to the representational artist. Our imaginations pale next to natures’ variety! We have to choose, edit and compare. Before you can even put pen to paper, brush to canvas you have