Learn · The Studio Notebook

How the work is made

A look inside the process — the ink, the salt, the patience — along with the tutorials and the materials behind every piece. Whether you collect Laurie's work or paint your own, this is where the how lives.

Notes from the Studio

Four things the process teaches

01 Insights
i

Start before you're ready

Every painting begins with a loose, almost impulsive ink drawing — bold marks made before I can overthink them. That first gesture sets the structure everything else grows around. Hesitation shows on the page; commitment doesn't.

ii

Let the salt collaborate

Scatter mineral salt into a wet wash, then step back. As the water evaporates, the salt pulls pigment outward into soft, frost-like blooms you could never paint by hand. The whole trick is timing — too wet and it vanishes, too dry and nothing happens.

iii

Dry time is part of the painting

Watercolor and acrylic go down in transparent layers, and each one has to breathe before the next. Patience is a material here. The depth in a finished piece is really just many quiet hours of waiting between marks.

iv

Let mistakes become the work

Ink and water never do exactly what you expect — and that's the point. A bloom that runs the "wrong" way is often the most alive part of the painting. I work where intention meets chance. Controlled chaos.

Video Tutorials

Watch & follow along

Full process films — from the first ink mark to the final glowing layer. Pour a coffee and paint along.

Silver Spruce — ink and watercolor pinecones by Laurie Werth

Silver Spruce in Ink & Gold

Watch on YouTube

Black-Eyed Susans in snow — process film by Laurie Werth

Black-Eyed Susans in Snow

Watch on YouTube

Autumnal Shimmer — ink, watercolor and acrylic by Laurie Werth

Autumnal Shimmer

Watch on YouTube

Studio Supplies

The materials

The ink, pigment, salt, and paper behind the work — and a starting kit if you'd like to try the technique yourself.

Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Laurie earns from qualifying purchases — at no additional cost to you.

Sumi & India Ink

Where every piece begins — rich black ink for the first impulsive marks that anchor the whole painting.

Shop the ink

Professional Watercolors

Artist-grade pigments that bloom, lift, and granulate — the luminous color those delicate ink lines dissolve into.

Shop watercolors

Fine Mineral Salt

The secret texture-maker. Scattered into a wet wash, it pulls pigment into soft, frost-like patterns as it dries.

Shop salt

Cold-Press Watercolor Paper

Heavyweight, archival, and toothy enough to hold layer after layer of water without buckling.

Shop paper

Round Watercolor Brushes

A few good rounds that hold plenty of water yet keep a fine point — for loose washes and fine detail alike.

Shop brushes

Acrylic Paints

Used sparingly in the final layers for the opaque highlights that make the salt blooms quietly glow.

Shop acrylics
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