Emma Vande Voort from the USA demonstrates her favorite watercolor palette and painting techniques.

Here’s a brief Q&A with her:

Why do you make art?
I’ve been making art since I was really young, and it’s always been a way that I can relax, stretch my creativity, and it’s honestly therapeutic for me. Long before it was a form of income, it was a way that I spent time by myself, learned about nature and the subjects that I painted, and just had a lot of fun creating!! It still is something that brings me a lot of peace and patience, and I see it as a way to use my God-given gifts and hard work to bring some joy and beauty to the lives of others around me!

How long have you been painting?
I’ve been using watercolor for almost 4 years now, and before that I had been drawing and dabbling in every art medium I could find since I was less than 3 years old (and I’m 20 now). I’ve spent the most time in my art career with pencils, sketchbooks, and charcoal pencils, and painting is a more recent development, although it has become my favorite and the one I have found the most success in as a business as well.

Did you have formal art training?
I have not attended art school and do not plan to. When I was in elementary school, I did art lessons with a local art teacher who gave lessons in her home to mostly homeschooled kids. It was there that I was exposed to many different drawing exercises and many new mediums that I wouldn’t have bought or afforded on my own. I would say that most of my drawing skills were self-taught by looking at some “how to draw” books at a very young age, then drawing what I saw all around me. I have never had any formal training in watercolor and learned most of it by trial and error.

Are you a working artist or a hobbyist?
I am a bit of both! I have an Etsy shop (Lewis the Dog Studio) and I do lots of commissions through word-of-mouth or Instagram. I definitely started as a hobbyist, but when demand for commissions rose (first locally, then all over the country and world thanks to social media), I saw the opportunity to expand the business, so I did. I started selling prints, primarily of my national parks paintings, and those have been a consistent bestseller of mine for the past two plus years.

What inspires you?
I look to nature more than anything else. I have always loved the outdoors, plants and animals – those are the subjects that I spend the most time painting. I’ve also gotten a lot of encouragement and inspiration from artists that I’ve met on Instagram.

What kind of music do you listen to while painting?
I listen to a lot of everything. Lately I’ve been listening to acoustic country and folk music, which I find relaxing and fun. I’m always exploring for new music!

Have you had a mentor?
I have not, but when I was younger, Jodi Sparber (the local art teacher mentioned above) taught me a lot about the process of using different materials and creating art, and she encouraged me so much over the years.

Do you paint every day?
I wish! During COVID when school was online and I was stuck at home, I definitely painted every day and loved it. But now as a full-time college student, I probably paint once a week, or sometimes every other week during the busy parts of the semester, but I do paint almost every day that I am on break or vacation. I’m planning on a lot of painting this summer.

Do you paint one piece at a time or work on several at the same time? Do you create a concept piece first?
I usually have a couple commissions going at the same time, plus another “fun” piece. I will often practice with color palettes or small details before doing the final painting. If the work includes a lot of piecing together of reference photos, ideas or subjects, then I’ll create several thumbnail sketches just in pencil first. If it’s a commission, I use the sketch to check with the customer before starting the final work.

Do you prefer painting in studio or plein air?
I love to do both, but I spend most of my time painting in the studio, where I have a better chair and table setup. Eventually I would love to have a more effective plein-air setup, but for now if I want to paint outdoors, I sit out at our picnic table.

How many core colors do you use?
My entire collection of DANIEL SMITH watercolors (the only brand I own) has a little over 30 colors, and I probably use about 20 of them consistently. I always want more colors, and whenever I get some, I immediately work them into my new art. With landscape paintings, there are many ways that I can use just about any color, which makes it a lot of fun.

Tubes, pans or sticks?
All of my paint is in tubes – I’ve never used pans or sticks… yet.

Do you use masking fluid?
I do, occasionally. I sometimes use it to outline a complicated foreground before I do the sky. I’ve also used it for some details in portraits, people’s clothing, lace or flowers in bouquets.

When do you know that your piece is finished?
I know a piece is finished when I can step back 5 or 10 feet and still be satisfied with the picture that I see. It’s easy to get caught in the details, but if I’m not satisfied with what it looks like when I step back, I know it’s not finished!

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Join us online each week for an up close and personal conversation with Daniel Smith Owner and CEO, John Cogley along with guest artists from around the world. On Thursdays (2:00pm Pacific), John highlights various features of our products and answers your questions. On Fridays (10:30am Pacific), a guest artist follows up to share how they incorporate those features into their art. Click here for the upcoming week’s Zoom links.

Check our Facebook page for news about upcoming guest artists or to watch past replays. Each Zoom meeting is also recorded and shared on our YouTube channel. La traducción al español está disponible – selecciona el canal en español en Zoom.