In Memoriam: Honoring Claudia Nice, Beloved Artist and Instructor

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Claudia Nice (1948-2021) was a beloved artist, instructor, and best-selling author who inspired thousands of artists of all skill levels. Enjoy this tribute to her work, life, and creative gifts.

Known to many as “Grandma Nature,” Claudia Nice developed her realistic art style by sketching from nature. She operated her own teaching studio, Brightwood Studio, in the beautiful Cascade Wilderness near Mt. Hood Oregon, where she lived with her husband. She also conducted art workshops and seminars around the world, judged a number of major art competitions, and wrote more than 25 art instruction books and videos, many of which were bestsellers.

One student raved: “Claudia is unafraid of letting the camera follow her to the palette and watch her apply her paint. She gives tips from start to finish and is one of the few who lets us copy her reference photos and sketches. I am learning more from her four videos than from any other, and I considered them all helpful in one way or another. Claudia is wonderful!”

Claudia became a teacher by accident when teaching some friends how to draw in college, and quickly became passionate about helping artists advance their skills and develop confidence.She believed in focusing on basics like composition, forms, light, and texturing.

“The more you work at it, the better you’re going to become,” she said. “There’s no such thing as a bad drawing. Everybody has to start somewhere. You’ll be glad to have those first drawings as you advance because it’s going to make you feel so good when you see how you’re developing. Start somewhere, anywhere you can, and practice.”

Here are a few of our favorite Artists Network videos from Claudia Nice.

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1. Painting Trees in Watercolor Pen & Ink with Claudia Nice

Capture the Beauty of Nature

Claudia’s love of nature and joy for teaching is on full display in this video, where she shows students how to draw and paint beautiful trees in watercolor, pen, and ink. You’ll learn how to create realistic landscape art with demonstrations of both up-close detail and distant tree characteristics, with an emphasis on composition, color mixing, application, and texture. From pen blending to bruising, you’ll have a slew of new techniques to try after watching this enjoyable video!

“Claudia is the best! She a generous teacher of technique in drawing and watercolor. My reference library includes at least 6 of her books. Watching this video was so valuable to bring those texts to life. Claudia has a beautiful, relaxed voice that is easy to listen to. I felt her joy in sharing the steps for painting the tree composition. The finished painting was so full of life.”

L.G.

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2. Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor with Claudia Nice

Techniques for Beautiful Texture

Enhance your drawings and paintings by inking beautiful texture using pen and ink. In this video workshop, Claudia demonstrates how to create a range of textures using drawing techniques like hatching, cross-hatching, scribbling, pointillism, and more. You’ll learn how to use hatching to add contrast to an onion, apply cross-hatching to draw textured rocks, create atmospheric effects with parallel lines, and much more. Finally, you’ll put all the pen drawing techniques together to draw and paint a dramatic seascape.

“Very valuable instruction that lends itself to many types of painting, not limited to pen and inks. Claudia Nice is worth revisiting over and over. The last portion covering ocean and splashing waves is priceless.”

L.C.

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3. Keys to Drawing Realistic Animals with Claudia Nice

Unlock the Secrets of the Animal World

First, Claudia uses quick exercises to demonstrate how to draw a variety of animals, focusing on the basics of form, shape, and proportion. Then she puts all those techniques and tips together to complete a step-by-step drawing of a cat, concentrating on accurately capturing the pose and characteristics so that the end result is a realistic, elegant—and most likely mischievous—cat. The video finishes with a review of several different animal drawings you can use as inspiration to draw your own favorite animals.

“Excellent presentation, in wondrous detail, which was very useful. Lots of tips about different animals too, not just cats. As far as Ms. Nice’s work, this is terrific. 5 stars.”

M.D.

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We hope Claudia Nice’s work and legacy continue to inspire many generations of artists to come.