The watercolor world lost one of its most generous and gifted teachers earlier this month, and I’ve been sitting with that loss in a way that feels both professional and deeply personal.
Nita Leland was, for many years, one of my most reliable go-to resources as a young editor at Watercolor Magic — the magazine that would eventually become Watercolor Artist. Whenever I needed an authoritative voice on color, creativity, or the mechanics of making watercolor work, Nita was someone I could call on. She never made me feel like I was asking a foolish question. She had spent years figuring things out the hard way, and she was genuinely happy to share what she’d learned. That generosity of spirit was at the heart of everything she did.
What I find most moving about Nita’s story is where it began. She didn’t grow up knowing she was an artist. She was a stay-at-home mother of four when her husband gave her a set of watercolor paints for her birthday in 1970. By her own admission, she didn’t even know what a wash was. So she signed the kids up for swimming lessons at the local YMCA — where an adult watercolor class happened to be running at the same time. “From the first brushstroke,” she later wrote, “I knew this was something I had to do.”
That’s the origin story of one of the most prolific and beloved art instructors in the recent history of American watercolor. From a suburban YMCA to bestselling author, national workshop teacher, and the creator of her own color wheel — Nita built a remarkable career out of sheer curiosity and a willingness to keep learning, then turn around and teach everything she knew.
Her books were required reading. Exploring Color, first published in 1985 and revised multiple times over the decades, became a foundational text for watercolorists serious about understanding color. The Creative Artist, Confident Color, Creative Collage Techniques — all of them North Light bestsellers, all of them written with the same clear-eyed practicality and warmth that defined her teaching. She once recalled that an early instructor told her, “If the values are right, the color doesn’t matter.” Color, it turned out, was exactly what mattered most to Nita — and she spent the rest of her career proving it.
I’m grateful for every conversation, every article, every lesson generously shared. The watercolor community is smaller without her — but richer for everything she left behind.
If you’d like to explore Nita Leland’s legacy — and the wealth of knowledge she so freely shared — her website remains a treasure trove of articles on color, creativity, and the watercolor life she loved.
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