This series fully explains the concepts you need to know in order to get started successfully in watercolor painting. These DVDs are for those with no watercolor experience (beginners), or for those who have not painted for so long that they feel they need a complete review of the basics.

My solid teaching experience and the wealth of information I have learned over 25+ years of painting with watercolor are the factors that make these videos exceptional, and that will start you off right with this exciting medium. Scroll down this page for a more complete description on what's on each video.

5-disc DVD Set $130 including S/H in the US (see note below right for shipping elsewhere) English language / region free / DVD-R Please read the note about DVDs (at right) before ordering.   Each disc has chapter menus for easily locating the topic you want to view, or you can play each DVD disc/volume from start to finish. Comes in a multi-disk case, shrink-wrapped.

BEFORE YOU ORDER DVDs, PLEASE READ: With your order, you will receive a DVD-R TEST DISC, which you should insert in your DVD player BEFORE you open the shrink-wrapped set of watercolor DVDs. If the test disc will not play in your DVD player, you may return the UNOPENED set of watercolor DVDs for a refund. DVD-R duplicated discs will play in most but not all DVD players. Although we use the best DVD-R media, and burn discs region-free, some DVD players simply will not play DVD-R discs. If you wish, you can check your DVD player on these websites to see if it can play DVD-R discs before placing your order for DVDs. videohelp.com DVDMadeEasy.com   If you live outside the United States, and wish to order these DVDs there is an additional charge for priority mail shipping. As the value is more than $50, I am required to attach a customs label, and you may also have to pay a duty tax on your package when it arrives in your country. If you wish to order the DVD set for delivery outside the United States, please email me with your shipping address and phone number. I will reply with a PayPal invoice link that will allow you to pay online with either your credit card or your PayPal account funds. When PayPal provides notification that the invoice has been paid, your DVDs will be shipped.

These videos are a heart-felt sharing of what I've learned about watercolor over the 25+ years I've been painting. They were filmed in my home studio, and released in 2000. I am not an actress/entertainer so don't expect a slick "MTV-type" production. What you can expect are clear explanations and demonstrations of techniques, plus advice on dealing with the frustrations and set-backs all beginners face.

If you have taken watercolor classes, then these videos may provide more inspiration than new information. They are designed primarily for those with minimal or no prior watercolor painting experience. Here are some customer testimonials:

Five, jam-packed 60-minute videos that are detailed and thorough, presenting a large array of beginner watercolor information, techniques and practice exercises! Finally I've found a set of instructional videos to help me seriously begin painting with watercolor without struggling through the learning of techniques from a book or sitting through a watercolor product sales pitch. Throughout each video, there are key points at which you, the student, are challenged to stop the video and "try it yourself," making the otherwise passive experience of video more interactive. I suggest, however, watching the entire set at least one time without pausing, as some information contained in the later videos may be of benefit as one explores the earlier exercises. And although I would have liked to see better overall production quality in these videos (they were shot in the home studio of the artist), I highly recommend the series for anyone just starting out in watercolor. Ellen Fountain has done a good job at simplifying, explaining and teaching something that once felt very daunting and complicated.
--- K. Dailey, Florida

...volume 2, which I have played over and over, is just wonderful. I'm ordering the rest of the series. I wish I had ordered them all from the beginning because I had no idea how to watercolor, I just knew I loved the finished product. Your communication & explanation of things was what I found most helpful in each of the step by step stages of the lessons.
--- P. Rygiel, New York

I wish I had known about Ellen Fountain's series first because I would have saved myself a lot of money and frustration on the many other videos and books for beginners that I have purchased. Ellen is really an excellent teacher; she begins the video with what I believe is a very important lesson - building confidence! I think this is essential when you are just starting out, especially with watercolor, which is very challenging. She explains everything, even the little details - like why you catch the bead of paint on a graded wash. Now I know why, and I remember to catch that bead. If you mess up, she shows you how to work with it - so you can go on - and not give up from frustration. Painting should be a fun and rewarding pastime and Ellen's video has certainly made watercolor more pleasurable and fulfilling for me. I really learned a great deal and I highly recommend it!
--- Y. DeMartino, Pennsylvania

I have received your first video [Volume 1] and am so pleased with it. It answers questions that I have never had answered in the several watercolor classes I have taken. I am so looking forward to the next one. The only time I have received such help—like a one on one—was when I visited my cousin who is an artist. I thought that hot pressed paper was inferior...now I see maybe it might be just the thing for me when I want to be very detailed...and brushstroke oriented.
--- L. DeMars, Georgia

I just looked at the video. [Volume 3] It is great. I have taken lessons for two years and learned more practical information in a half hour or so of your video. Instruction is very clear and understandable.Thanks!
--- S. Rich, Ohio

 

The volumes in this five-part series are:

Volume 1: Tools and Materials
In this video, you'll learn:
• All about paper–weights, sizes, types and surfaces
• Which paper surface works best for certain techniques
• How to select and care for your brushes, and which ones you really need to get started
• What to look for in tube watercolors, and the six colors you can begin with and still make colorful paintings
• Plus–palettes, other tools, travel equipment and more!

Volume 2: Brushwork, Washes & Textures
• How to do flat, wet-in-wet and graduated washes
• Brushwork with the round and flat brushes
• How to create soft, lost and hard edges
• Glazing or layering color
• Textures for watercolor
• What goes wrong and how to fix or take advantage of it when it does

Volume 3: Color Mixing (Hue, Value and Intensity)
• Why the traditional color wheel doesn't work for color mixing and one that does
• Color bias and how to use it
• How to adjust color value and color intensity
• The effect of light on color and the effect of surrounding colors, and how this affects what colors you paint
• The function of white in watercolor, and how to keep it or get it back

Volume 4: Color Mixing (Paint Qualities)
• How to test your colors for transparency, sediment, tinting strength and staining qualities and why knowing these characteristics or qualities can help you make better paintings
• How to select and use palettes of colors based on their particular characteristics to create a particular mood or feeling
• New colors to add to your basic six and how to use them
• How to avoid muddy or overworked color, chalky or shiny darks, and too pale color

Volume 5: Composition for Landscape & Still Life Painting
• Your subject matter and why you want to paint it
• Using your Sketches and Photos as reference material
• Choosing a point of view
• Organizing and orchestrating your pictorial space
• Movement / Entry and Containment
• Focus / Center of Interest

Take a look at my abbreviated credentials below (or click to my shows and awards page)

Ellen Fountain, NWS, received B.F.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she now lives. She was an artist-in-residence for the Arizona Commission on the Arts for 5 years, and also taught at the Tucson Art Institute. She now conducts occasional watercolor workshops around the country, teaches watercolor at The Drawing Studio in Tucson, and consistently gets rave reviews from her students.

In addition to dozens of national, regional and local awards for her paintings, Ms. Fountain has also received a Visual Arts Fellowship award from the Tucson-Pima Arts Council. Her paintings are in the permanent collection of the Tucson Museum of Art, and in private collections in both the USA and Europe. In 2003, she was one of 35 artists chosen to paint a life-size pony for the Ponies del Pueblo fund raiser sponsored by the Tucson-Pima Arts Council. Auctioned off in November 2003, these ponies raised nearly a half-million dollars for non-profit groups in the Tucson area.

Her work incorporates elements from the pattern and decoration movement of the 1970’s, as well as influences from such diverse sources as Japanese stencil textile design, Native American art, and imaginative interpretations of her own daily life and activities.