As an avid reader constantly seeking inspiration or learning something new, I’ve read many books over the years. In this blog post, I wanted to highlight the 5 best books for watercolor painting artists and a few other resources to help inspire your next art project.

Watercolor pencils are great when you’re on the go, which makes them easy to take anywhere for practice. Here are some of my favorites and ones I’ve seen good reviews on.

Planning your art process is a critical part of growing as an artist. Before using this planner, I would create an initial sketch and just start. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no correct way to plan or create when it comes to your artistic process, but I realized I needed a more organized way to capture all of my ideas. Enter: The Artist Project Planner!

After releasing my newest book, Watercolor Made Simple, I asked for honest reviews in exchange for an invite to my (then) live painting session to paint the swallow project from the book!

I’m happy to be able to share that I am a guest instructor for Wanderlust 2024 and to celebrate, you’re invited to join me for a LIVE painting session where we’ll be painting mini abstracts in our sketchbooks! Sign up and download a fun freebie here!

Wanting to start a new skill is daunting. It's overwhelming with all of the free and even costly online tutorials, courses, and blog posts.

Mother’s Day is around the corner. I like to make my Mother’s Day gifts personal and add a mix of valuable and personalized items. Here are a few of my favorites:

If you’ve been around for a while, you know I’ve created my Trace and Paint books to help you practice your watercolor technique without the stress of drawing or sketching before you paint. I get asked how to use these books or why they’re helpful in your art practice.

Enjoy a tutorial taken from a live session hosted for Watercolors Made Simple Students. Learn how to add easily depth to your watercolor paintings.

This Northern Lights watercolor tutorial is going to be so much fun! On January 17 at 1 PM CT, I’ll be going live with Winsor & Newton to offer this 100% free watercolor class. Join me in this Paint-With-Me style watercolor tutorial session hosted by Winsor & Newton and Michaels Craft stroes, where we’ll explore bright and dark colors for this exciting piece.

Hey Watercolors Made Simple students! I’m going LIVE on January 12th in the Student’s Facebook group! Last month, I asked our students a few questions in a survey I sent out, as I wanted to learn more about how I can best support you in your art journey!

10 years ago, life i design was brought to life and it has been a whirlwind ever since. I started this creative space when I turned 40, and was so nervous to even call myself an artist at first!

It’s also when I am most inspired to paint as many leaves and use as much color as possible. I use what I gather as reference and loosely paint what I see as I interpret colors, shapes and lines. If you haven’t played around with watercolor yet, it’s a very simple practice to help you learn how watercolor behaves and how you can easily, in a few minutes, add some interest to your sketchbook or journal pages!

I recorded this quick time lapse video for you to see how to sketch out a rough shape, loosely interpret what you see and play with color and water flow.

With many hectic days of keeping up with business, two busy teens, university tours, hubby traveling etc., minutes are precious and face-time even more so. My goal for 2019 is to consciously slow down the pace. I was going to end that sentence with “when possible” but that’s not intention enough. My goal for 2019 is to consciously slow down the pace. Period.

I know. You’re thinking to yourself, “Nicki. You’re crazy. You can’t slow the passing of time.”. But I have. I did and I’m figuring out ways to do it more as I go.

There is a difference between hand lettering and calligraphy. Some would argue that there’s a big difference. I personally feel that any form of lettering, is simply letters that are “drawn” vs. “written”. In both cases, we draw strokes that are very purposeful and consistent. The difference between hand lettering and calligraphy is that the elements of those strokes vary. I recorded this video to help with explaining the difference between hand lettering and calligraphy in the hopes of helping to show how the elements of each art form vary.

Click play to watch the video.

Learning calligraphy is like learning any new skill, the more you practice, the better you become. You can take classes, read blog posts, watch videos and hear about all the important tools to use or paper to practice on, but the only thing that will help you improve, grow confidence and want to continue to fine tune your calligraphy style is by practice! This free calligraphy worksheet to practice more give you an option to use a dip pen and ink or a small brush pen to help you trace words and grow your calligraphy skills.

Looking for self care ideas or routine?! I outline 5 easy ways to incorporate more self care into your every day. Read more about how to create self care routines on www.lifeidesign.com

Working from home has meant the world to me and my family, but I spend A LOT of time at home, and my creativity feeds off of new surroundings and inspiration.  So when the opportunity to spend 30 hours in NYC came up last minute last week, I packed an overnight bag and my nexus pass, filled the fridge with pizza and easy to make foods for the kids and off we went. 

Free printable weekly planner template to help keep you organized and inspired.  Use these beautifully designed weekly planning sheets for your business and personal events, goals and to-do lists!  Stay organized in style!