EP #20: Kathleen Giles | Seeing What Matters, Values & Storytelling Watercolor | Wet On Wet Podcast

In this thoughtful and deeply grounded episode of the Wet On Wet Podcast, host Sunil Kalbandi sits down with Kathleen Giles, a highly acclaimed American watercolorist and educator celebrated for her luminous realism, vivid storytelling, and dramatic use of light and value. Kathleen’s journey is anything but conventional. An art school dropout who married young and raised three sons while navigating financial hardship, she built her career through persistence, rejection, experimentation, and relentless practice. Over time, she evolved from painting local canal scenes in Western New York to earning national recognition, judging major exhibitions, and becoming a sought-after instructor across the United States. In this episode, Kathleen speaks candidly about growth, originality, discipline, and the mindset required to sustain a long creative life. She explains why she doesn’t begin a painting until she can clearly visualize it, why strong value structure matters more than color alone, and why artists must eventually stop copying others and start painting their own lives. This conversation moves beyond surface technique and into artistic maturity — exploring storytelling, composition clarity, material choices, teaching philosophy, and the courage required to develop your own voice. Guest — Kathleen Giles Website: https://www.kgilesstudio.com Instagram:   / kathleen_giles   Profession: Watercolor Artist, Educator Style: Luminous realism, narrative figurative work Host — Sunil Kalbandi Website: https://kalbandi.com Instagram:   / sunilkalbandi   Podcast: Wet On Wet Podcast Key Insights from Kathleen Giles Don’t be intimidated by anyone. Do your own thing. You have to paint your own life. I don’t start painting until I know what I want it to look like. Strong paintings require light, medium, and dark. Put the dark in — then build your middle values to stand up to it. You can’t be afraid to ruin a painting. Just paint. Paint a lot. Teaching forces you to understand what you’re doing. Techniques & Artistic Principles Discussed Seeing Before Painting Developing visualization skills and planning compositions with intention. Value Over Color Understanding light, middle tones, and darks as the structural backbone of a painting. Light-to-Dark Workflow Working transparently while anchoring compositions with confident dark placements. Originality & Personal Narrative Moving from imitation to storytelling rooted in lived experience. Mixing Blacks & Neutrals Creating richer shadows by mixing chromatic blacks instead of relying on tube grays. Material Awareness Understanding staining vs non-staining pigments, transparency, layering, and granulation. Learning Through Rejection Entering competitions, building credibility, and developing resilience. Teaching as Growth Why explaining fundamentals strengthens your own mastery. Materials & Studio Approach Mentioned • Arches Cold Press 300 lb paper • Professional-grade paints (Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, QoR) • Custom mixed blacks using triad-based color combinations • Staining pigments for layered glazing • Filbert brushes for soft transitions in skin tones • Large wash brushes for blocking in • Digital projector for layout accuracy • Photoshop Elements for composition planning • Allowing paints to set before use for higher pigment concentration how to paint with strong values, watercolor light to dark technique, middle values in watercolor, mixing blacks in watercolor, watercolor glazing technique, watercolor realism tutorial, how to plan a watercolor painting, visualization in painting, watercolor portrait techniques, watercolor teaching tips, art podcast interview, watercolor materials discussion, arches watercolor paper, daniel smith watercolor, watercolor brush techniques --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get Your Free Watercolor Toolkit Comment “Toolkit”, “Toolkits”, or “Supplies” on this video (or DM me) and I’ll send it your way! Supplies List: https://sunilkalbandi.myflodesk.com/s...