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Did you know that almost every piece of art I make and sell has a secret, hidden piece on the back? It's one reason why I buy 100% cotton watercolor--it's sturdy enough I can use both sides if I'm not happy with the first one. It's also why the art I sell at shows either has to be framed or matted with a backing board--it looks much more professional and cleaner if you can't see a messy failed painting on the back! So the next time you buy a piece of my art, don't be surprised if you see another...

I may have to eat my words: I have loudly protested that sketchbooks simply weren't for me, but over the course of a little over a year, I completed 5 sketchbooks!  It seems sketchbooks are a thing for me, as long as they have a theme; I completed 3 of these because they were used for a very specific purpose. Two of them were used solely for my 100 Days Project to keep it all together. The third was used to paint skies and sunsets.  Having multiple books available also seems to help. My palette knife painting process is very...

My board mounted paintings are some of my favorites because they're ready to hang as soon as you get them home. It's also a nice, modern way to display my watercolor art. They take quite a few extra steps to get them ready to display and sell though!  Watercolor reactivates if it gets wet, so the very first step is to spray the painting with varnish to seal and set it. Then I use acrylic medium to "glue" the painting to the cradled board. Next, I put heavy weight (usually a giant stack of books!) on top of it overnight to ensure a clean adhesion....

I talk a lot here on my blog and Instagram about how I prefer to paint without a brush. In particular, I do a lot of painting with a palette knife. But I realised recently that I probably assume people know what the heck I'm talking about but they actually don't! Just because I do this multiple times a week doesn't mean you know what it is--and I'm bad about documenting my process after all!So I took a short video of me painting a very basic watercolor palette knife landscape and thought it might help to see the process in...

When you think of how to display art, your first thought is probably immediately: in a frame, behind glass. If you have a work on canvas or cradled board, maybe you can hang it directly on a nail. But if you have a collection of small original art, prints, postcards, or family photos, you could use a display like this to show off a lot in a little space:   View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jen Roberts - Artist (@late_blooming_art) Think outside the frame when you display art!