Holly Buhler

Pumpkin Doodles – from guest blogger Artsy Bat Brooke

Leaves turning and cooler temperatures signal the start of pumpkin season. Pumpkin paintings can be intricate like a finished piece or you can doodle pumpkins for stress relief. During classes and meetings, pumpkins were one of my go to doodles to help me focus when I was struggling. I have two simple pumpkin doodles you can use for…

Is Bigger Better? – from guest blogger Heidi Stephens

Hello painters! Today I will be using two of my favorite colorways from The Smiling Hippo to show you a tip that helped me work with the loose nature of watercolor paints better. If you are struggling to blend colors or gradients, or maybe you are getting hard lines in your paint, this tip will…

Glitter Watercolors for Emphasis – from guest blogger Katherine Knapik

Hi everybody! My name is Katherine Knapik. I’m a professional illustrator, painter, and designer, as well as a fan of sparkles! I use The Smiling Hippo Watercolors in all of my traditional illustrations, and I am excited to share with you today one way to use them. There is a principle of design called Emphasis…

En Plein Air – from guest blogger Artsy Bat Brooke

The French word, the concept, and all the professional postings on social media of En Plein Air painting can be intimidating. For me, I was introduced to the term while watching the creation video of a landscape with oil pastels. It looked like a photograph on the canvas. For a while I thought enplain air needed to meet lofty expectations of…