The Ellis Mendenhall Sanders House in Nauvoo Illinois. Original watercolor painting by Roland Lee.

My paintings always begin with sketches and value studies. If I get them right at the outset, I am about 80% sure the painting will be successful. By keeping my first sketches this small I avoid [...]

Here I use tracing paper to sketch up my ideas actual size. The tracing paper allows me to try out different ideas and move things around. I am hoping to get in distant views of the Mississippi [...]

Finally, I do a pencil outline sketch right on the watercolor paper which will act as my guide as I try to control the applications of watercolor glazes.

I begin applying paint first to the sky area using wet into wet techniques, then move down into the house area. Here I try to establish the lights and darks and the areas of light and shadow. [...]

I use that same technique as I continue to work on the rest of the painting. You can identify the areas that I had to paint around, using the negative painting technique. Notice how the eye is [...]