THE BLOG

Last year (2021) the pet industry reached nearly 109.6 billion dollars in revenue. That's BILLION with a capital B.

People love their pets. Painting pet portraits is a thriving niche in art...

I have been obsessed with these watercolor crayons for the past few weeks. I experimented with some black scrap paper to create this fancy fish painting. I also used some white gouache to brighten...

I thought I would share a quick overview of how I painted my summer seagull. As always the full tutorial is in my online school, Viv's Studio. The tutorial includes 9 step-by-step videos, a supply...

Just giving you a sneak peek into what is going on in Viv's Studio, my membership site.  This month we are working on painting these gorgeous cherries. 

I created a short video giving an...

*NOTE: ADD TRANSPARENT ORANGE TO THE SUPPLY LIST*

In this video, I show you how to paint the leaves, berries, and snow. I'll also be demonstrating this live in my private Facebook group on Friday,...

NOTE: ADD TRANSPARENT YELLOW TO SUPPLY LIST

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

I know, Iknow, you're screaming it's not even Thanksgiving yet Viv!

Simmer down, I'm just trying to...

Last week I talked about mixing your own blacks and darks instead of using pre-mixed tube blacks.

It's only right to try painting with them this week. 

If you want to give it a try I've...

"Eyes are the window to the soul."

You hear this saying a lot. Oh. No? Just Me? 

When I start a painting, I always like to paint the eyes first. If you get the eyes right, everything else will...

Watercolor can be so confusing!

So many colors, so many techniques, so many styles .....can lead to so much frustration. 

To try to sidestep some of that confusion and frustration, I created...