Color – Page 2 – Jamie's Sketchbook

Sketchbook: March 2026

A dramatic sketchbook page with a deep red and soft teal ink background made with Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn.

I started recording the weather alongside the daily dates in my sketchbook back in January 2023, Volume 12. Over three years now. It’s become one of those quiet anchors of my sketchbook. Even in the months where I sketched almost nothing else, the dates and weather hold the line. After an inflammation hit, or a hard week, or even death in the family, I come back and I catch up the weather. I fill in the gap from whenever I fell off to when I’m picking the sketchbook back up. There’s something grounding about that return.

It makes the sketchbook practice a living, breathing reflection of life itself and that is worth capturing. Here is the flow of the full sketchbook pages for the month.

I had such great energy and joy at the start of the month! I was feeling the spring bloom, and painting my pages with the Winsor Newton Sap Green. Edges class was starting and I was super excited about that.

A dual page sketchbook spread — dates and weather log for Saturday 28 February through Thursday 5 March 2026 with moon phases and astronomical events on the left, and the March 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows page painted in greens, yellows, and warm browns depicting a witch's kitchen cottage, on the right, with Edges course notes on a bright green wash in the background — February tail end and March — A Witch’s Kitchen, CBOS 2026

A dual page sketchbook spread — Edges Lesson course notes with painted examples including a red onion and a figure in yellow on a bright green wash on the left, and the January 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows page painted in purples, greens, and golds depicting a magical home with a cat, on the right — Edges Lesson notes and January CBOS — A Magical Home

Since I really want to include the Coloring Book of Shadows monthly designs in my sketchbook this year, myy completist brain couldn’t leave January and February’s pages missing from the record. So in they went. They really are so pretty when colored.

A dual page sketchbook spread — the February 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows page painted in purples and greens depicting an altar and hearth cottage on the left, and a handwritten journal entry in Robert Oster Cherry Blossom ink with small decorated collage images on the right — February CBOS — Altar and Hearth, with Cherry Blossom ink journaling

I’ve been making a deliberate effort to do more journaling in the sketchbook this year. Apparently I was doing journal notes back in January 2023 as well, and I just forgot! I like it, as it captures actual life, not just sketches. It is also a great excuse to use the large collection of fountain pen inks I have!

A dual page sketchbook spread — the March 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows elements page painted in greens and pinks with dates and weather log and journaling in Cherry Blossom ink on the left, and a bold watercolour gradient wash from Sap Green to Hansa Yellow Light with Hearts and Honey written vertically in Cherry Blossom ink and small painted collage images on the right — March CBOS — The Elements, and a Hearts & Honey gradient closing page

Hearts and Honey is the book I’m currently writing, and it’s very hard to document a writing project! They aren’t very sketchable unless I start doing storyboards (those are Hard!) but it’s a big part of my life and it deserves to be documented.

A dual page sketchbook spread — three sketches of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire at Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd on the left with handwritten location notes and journaling on a teal colour block wash, and a painted watercolour study of the spire with Edges course notes on the right — Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, three sketches

This is where the spire series lives in the sketchbook. Three attempts, ink through to direct watercolor. You can read more about that in the March Theme: Three post!

Bathtime at the Reflection Pool — Lovebird in 3 Poses, with Gradient Bar

Sketch outing notes on a color block, and the lovebird page that ended up anchoring the Three post. One bird, three poses, with a watercolor gradient bar.

A dual page sketchbook spread — twenty watercolour portrait studies in small numbered grid squares on green and blue washes on the left, and ten loose ink figure studies in sepia on the right, labelled One Week 100 People, 30 including the children — One Week 100 People — 30 done, faces and figures

I did not do as much as I wanted for One Week 100 People, but I’m happy I got one day of sketching in!

double page sketchbook spread. The left page shows a handwritten dates and weather log for March 11–19 2026, with weather icons and temperatures climbing from 84°F to 103°F, an Extreme Heat Watch notation, a watercolor Irish flag sticker with shamrock, and a decorative red and green tile washi tape border along the bottom. The right page has a dramatic background of Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks in deep red and soft teal, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn. — Dates and weather 11–19 March, with a St. Patrick’s Day page in Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Overcast ink.

March broke heat records, by a lot! Over ten degrees above the previous records, some days. The washi border and Irish flag sticker are for St. Patrick’s Day — a little celebration tucked into the data. A dramatic sketchbook page with a deep red and soft teal ink background made with Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn. The stickers and washi tapes are from this month’s Cora Crea box.

A double page sketchbook spread showing a handwritten dates and weather log for March 20–31 2026, with red exclamation marks on record breaking temperatures reaching 105°F, Ostara noted on March 21st, a trailing ivy sticker on the right side, and two decorative washi tape borders in blue-green tile and red tile patterns running along the bottom of both pages. — Dates and weather 20–31 March — breaking records all week. Ostara at 105°F.

I wanted to sketch, but inflammation hit badly, so a string of dates and weather is all I managed. At least the weather is cooling off! Still unseasonably warm, and matching the record high temperatures.

A double page sketchbook spread. The left page shows dense handwritten notes from Edges Livestream 2 covering lessons 3 and 4, written over a warm Gansai Tambi Cosmic Olive green wash, with small ink sketches illustrating concepts like foreground, middle ground, prioritizing tone, and lost and found edges. The right page shows five large granulating watercolour swatches of the Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 Cosmic palette, labelled Cosmic Violet, Cosmic Red, Cosmic Olive, Cosmic Blue, and Cosmic Green. — Edges Livestream 2 notes on a Cosmic Olive wash, alongside the Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 Cosmic palette swatches.

Ending the month with some notes from the second and final Edges livestream, then a little color exploration. I had to swatch out this Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 colors.

Like most of my sketchbook pages for the last several months, I have more notes than sketches, but it does capture life as it’s happening. Honestly, I’m surprised I have as many pages done as I do! That’s not nothing. Here is March, on the page.

March Theme: Three

A sketchbook page showing three lovebird poses in watercolour, with five painted colour swatches across the top labelled Shadow Violet, Cobalt Turquoise, Sap Green, Hansa Yellow Light, and Transparent Pyrrol Orange, a handwritten title reading "It's Bathtime at the Reflection Pool," and a green-to-orange gradient bar along the bottom.

March Theme: Three

Liz Steel’s Patreon community theme for March was Three. Three sketches, three objects, three colors, a triad palette all counted, and it is a very versatile theme. I didn’t sketch as much this month as I wanted (hello inflammation hit!), but when I looked back through my sketchbook, three had been quietly showing up all along.

A gestural ink sketch of a tall spire, drawn with energetic angular lines suggesting faceted stonework, with loose grass sketched at the base. — Thumbnail ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, getting acquainted with the subject.

An ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright spire with complex angular planes and faceted surfaces, showing careful attention to the changing directions of the glass and ironwork. Cactus landscaping sketched at bottom. — Thumbnail ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, getting acquainted with the subject.

The most obvious was the Frank Lloyd Wright spire. I drew it three times. First just ink, getting acquainted with the energy of it. The second ink sketch was working on getting those complex angles and changes in plane. The spire has this wonderful jagged, faceted quality and it took real concentration to follow all those shifting surfaces. Much more challenging subject than I anticipated!

By the third, I went straight to direct watercolor. I always seem to love direct watercolour. It’s so much more forgiving! . There’s a looseness and confidence that comes from having already worked through the subject twice. Another aspect of three, was using just three colors: Winsor Newton Cobalt Turquoise Light, Winsor Newton Sap Green, and Daniel Smith Transparent Pyrrol Orange.

Something lovely happens when you sketch a single subject three times. I should do this more often. It looses you up, and you get more familiar with it.

Three watercolour lovebirds painted in bright greens, orange and yellow, sitting along a grey perch with soft reflected colour below, on white paper — One lovebird, three poses — green, orange, and full of personality

I loved this bird! One lovebird, in three poses, taking a bath. I drew these from photographs I took at the time. One sketch wasn’t enough to capture his fluttering energy during his bath at the reflection pool outside. Fifteen grackles were also present, focused on their own baths. Having those three poses meant I could tell the whole little story of this bath on a single page: the cautious approach, the full splashy middle, the ruffled aftermath.

I worked with a very limited set of colors across both subjects. The spire was a three color palette of Cobalt Turquoise Light, Sap Green, and Transparent Pyrrol Orange. For the birds it was a three color palette of Hansa Yellow Light, Sap Green and Trans Pyrrol Orange. I did add a hint of Cobalt Turquoise for the dark shadows on those wing feathers, and of course, Shadow Violet quietly sneaking in for the water. Technically five colors. Spiritually still three. Ha!

Then I had to add three design elements to this page! So we have the color gradient. (I do love painting a nice color gradient! Been practicing those for years!), the color swatches, and, of course, the main subject of the sketch. My swatches might be over-large for the best page design, but I still like how it tells the story of the colors as well as the love bird. After all, his colors are what makes him so special!

So that’s my exploration of the theme of three for March. One spire, drawn three times. One bird, three poses. A page with three design elements. Lastly, a palette that tried very hard to stay at three colors and almost made it.

Watercolor 2026

This is my 6th run through this course! Sketching Now Watercolor was my very first Sketching Now course, back in 2018. I also did it in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024

Here are all the exercises I did this year for it. I used a handmade paper for some of the assignments that was so very different to work with. Colors are luminous on it, and it is highly absorbent. It takes forever to dry, and so colors really merge and blend. Detail is lost and I was too impatient to go back and try to add more details after it had dried, so my work has a very soft, and blended look. It has taught me a lot about the paper, and how much of impact paper really does have on watercolor. With each new practice I’m getting better and better at it.

My biggest takeaway this time through was the effect of paper on how watercolor performs. I think if I use that handmade paper my sketches will need some lines to bring out the subjects, but for class, I enjoyed experimenting with direct watercolor, no lines.

Next up with be Edges and I’ve never done that course. I think I did the first half of lesson one the last time it was run live, in 2021. I’m really looking forward to shifting my focus from watercolor, to line and practicing my drawing.

Mid-January and Inktense Explorations

January is moving by so fast! I did work on Alex Boon’s Inktense course in his Nature Journaling Circle. He offers a recommended set of 12, and an optional 12 he recommends to make it 24 set.

These swatching exercises were extremely helpful in learning how to work with these, and how they color mix.

For the watercolor course, I did one of my favorite exercises, the wardrobe. My wardrobe is mostly black, but for this winter I did add this festive plaid shirt that was so fun to paint!

Here are the spreads:

Everyday Sketching 2025 Week 14

This week I finished Volume 19 of my sketchbook, and started Volume 20. I wrote a bit on these pages in the past few entries.

A lot of color explorations in these pages this week. I did not have much time to sketch, what with the leaking pipes in the kitchen (now repaired!) I find that color charts are great for soothing a stressed out brain!

Sketching ruins, and foreshortening, and an exploration into creating abstracts, which I’ve already written about, was very fun.

I am going to be traveling with family later in April, so I wanted to test the two desert paint palettes I have to see if I should bring them with me. One is the Schmincke Supergranulating Desert set. The other is Daniel Smith’s Earth Desert to Mountain. Then I decided to test the Schmincke Supergranulating Forest set, as I’ll also be among the pine trees. I haven’t decided what I’ll bring, but I certainly am beginning to feel the vibes here!

Since I had out the Supergranulating box, I noticed I hadn’t filled in the swatch card they provided with it, so naturally I had to begin swatching the rest of the colors! So I did another Haze page, and then Shire.

I had some paint left over from the shire tests, so I filled a page with that. I also wanted to put the Alex Boon recommended set of 24 as a reference in this Delta book. I could also test the different paper, which does seem to be surprisingly different for the pencils over the Alpha/Gamma paper.

I may add text to these pages, or line sketches. Though I may not have the time, in which case, I’ll just opt to move on and leave the pages as is, capturing the busy-ness in slightly unfinished pages.

Initial Thoughts on Inktense

I’ve been in a lot of conversations lately about Inktense, and heard a lot of questions about them, which makes me very curious to learn the answers. I’ve done a couple sketches with them, but my goal has mostly been to compare them with Albrect Durer watercolor pencils. One question I’ve heard is what makes them different from watercolor pencils. This is perhaps the question I seek to answer first.

They lay down like watercolor pencils. The lead is a little softer than Albrect Durer, so sharp tips break off. However, sharpening with a knife or using the sticks could fix that. I find it challenging to find which color I’m looking for in my kit bag, when I’m on location, because the pencils barrels are painted black, and the leads don’t always look like the color they put down. (I’m looking at you Amber and Tan whose leads look green, but they lay down as muted yellows.) The color indicator on the end could help, but I am reluctant to store my pencils tip down, especially with a soft lead. Maybe a roll-up pencil case is the solution?

Because it is a softer lead, it is maybe easier to lay down a thick layer, when I want strong color. Once they are activated, the literature says they are permanent like ink. I haven’t tested that with applications like watercolor over the top. They are vibrant, intense colors with strong pigment, which I like. The pastels I tend to get with watercolor pencils is nice, but I yearn for more color. That might just be my own lack of skill showing, however.

Once the Inktense is activated with water, I find it much easier to put a second layer on top once it is dry, than I do with Albrect Durer. That makes it easier to keep working with them in layers. Especially on location, as I live in the desert, and my pages dry very quickly.

These are my first observations on them. I’ve owned my Inktense pencils for a very long time, and rarely used them, so I’m quite keen to make use of them and learn more.

Alex Boon Art on You Tube has been very helpful for me in selecting colors for a palette to carry. He is a Nature Journalist, and he has a few limited palette recommendations. Here are his 12 and 24 color recommendations.

The 12 pencil set: 2100 Payne’s Grey, 1720 Tan, 1320 Ionian Green, 1903 Burnt Umber, 2100 Charcoal Grey, 0900 Iris Blue, 0700 Fuchsia, 0100 Sherbet Lemon, 0330 Persian Red, 0600 Shiraz, 1530 Felt Green, and 0300 Tangerine.

For 24, also add: 0200 Sun Yellow, 0850 Deep Blue, 0410 Hot Red, 0800 Violet, 0850 Deep Blue, 1310 Iron Green, 1550 Spring Green, 1600 Leaf Green, 1730 Oak, 1800 Baked Earth, 2010 Sepia Ink, 2020 Indian Ink, 2200 Ink Black.

I wanted to see how they work on the Delta paper, so I did another color chart.

I begin to think the Delta paper is working better for the Inktense pencils! The colors seem richer, and they definitely smooth out with water more easily. Interesting.

Abstracts

I’ve been working toward increasingly abstract options for my color chart examples. I have read a couple books, and been inspired by a couple artists. So I dove in to attempting a fully abstract, color exploration abstracts. The first was done because I really liked the colors I used for the Tuzigoot sketches, so I wanted to explore the same color combination in an abstract. I really love this one.

I also tried a plastic stencil with watercolor. The first effort, which is the Van Dyke Brown, worked great. I used a dry brush. The second effort was the white Acryla Gouache, which bled more because my brush wasn’t dry enough. I think I can get these stencils to work pretty well, though. I like how they look.

My second abstract attempt was using the Zorn color palette. Anders Zorn, a Swedish painter born in 1860, is attributed with this very limited color palette because he excelled at it. He worked with oil paints, using Yellow, Red, Black, and White.

I used a set of Sennelier paints: Bright Red (NR), Yellow Ochre (PY43), and Ivory Black (PBk9). The white doodles painted on top are done with Acryla Gouache.

Though I did not attempt any color mixing for these abstracts, from my research the Zorn palette is amazing at skin tones, and I’m definitely curious to try that. I do wonder what red pigment he actually used, however. One source said he used yellow ochre, ivory black, vermilion and lead white. Modern substitutions recommended are Cadmium Red Light, and Titanium White. I may have to explore the Zorn palette more fully.

Here are the full page spreads with these abstracts. I painted three values of the Ivory Black, plus the Yellow Ochre, and Bright Red.

I will definitely be doing more of these abstracts.

Everyday Sketching 2025 Week 12

I read Jean Haines book, Painting Yourself Calm, and I loved it. Eager to try, I did her exercises in yellow. I think I can’t get her results unless I use full cotton paper, but the green streak on yellow really reminded me it was St. Patrick’s day, so I was off painting little shamrocks. Such a nice, festive page.

Sunsets really challenge me in painting them, so this time I went for a looser version just to capture the colors. I tried an exercise from the Paint Yourself Calm, but it seems to have ended up far more abstract that I originally intended. I kinda like it though. Maybe abstracts are a good way to document moods, and moments that don’t otherwise have objects or scenes to sketch? Interesting idea.

Fascinated by this upside tree I was watching in a television show, so I sketched it. I’m working on developing my pen and ink skills, too, and this was a great subject for that.

To celebrate the Spring Equinox, I used watercolor on a plastic stencil just to see what would happen. I did have some bleeding, but I was able to lift much of it, and clean it up. Good thing I used Serpentine Genuine, and not a staining pigment!

Foundations exercises, and a color chart of my kit for April’s Travel Sketching course. I dug out the neocolors I’d bought the last run of the class, in the class palette, but never used. I’m curious about Neocolor II, as they are quite popular.

Of course I had to swatch the colors of Jean Haine’s palette. After doing the mosaic style of color sampling, I had to try another organic one, and I’m finally getting the kind of results I had in mind! There is something very cheerful and uplifting about this rainbow page.

More color charts and tests, and mosaic sampling, this time with a bit more gradients within. These are starting to be fun and I love how they look filling the page to the edge, which is the March challenge in the Liz Steel Patreon group.

Finally two color charts using the new Haze supergranualting paints from Schmincke. I have all the other supergranulating colors, so I couldn’t have an incomplete collection, now could I?

My color charts are evolving, and I rather like what’s happening on these pages.

March Challenges

I’m participating in two challenges this month. One is the annual 100 People One Week challenge hosted by Liz Steel and Marc Taro Holmes. Last year I surprised myself by doing better people sketches than I thought I’d be able to, so I have to do it again!

The second challenge is from Liz Steel’s Patreon Community which is To the Edge. Take your sketches to the edge of the page. I’m intrigued by this one, because I do usually keep a border.

Naturally, I started by swatching paints. I decided to swatch the latest purchase of watercolors I made a couple weeks ago. I took the design element to the pages edges and really like the look of that.

Color blocks to use up left over paint. I was going to sketch a line drawing on the color block, but then I didn’t, and now I’ll just leave as it is. I did paint my cute little penguin. I painted it twice, and I laugh because the wet on wet technique (resulting bleed) to the paint on the head, gives it a more tufted look. Somehow, just that one error, and it looks like I painted an owl! This makes me smile, so I left it.

I color swatched my newest purchase, the Derwent Shades and Tones color palette (it has a combination of inktense paints, tinted charcoal, and more in it.) I wanted to sketch something else with this palette, so what better than the current week’s 100 People One Week challenge? So I set to sketching Murdoch Mysteries, which I was watching. (I also did one self-portrait. I’ll try to do at least one per day.)

Loving these people. This took more time to be so careful, but it was worth it for the first day! I’ll be using speedier techniques and different mediums each day, or each page. We’ll see.

The next day, I put an effort to not only speed up, but test the difference between the two pencils: Derwent Drawing Terracotta, and Faber Castell Pitt Pastel Sanguine. More Murdoch Mysteries portraits (and one self-portrait.) The pastel pencil is chalkier, as expected, but richer in color. To keep these from smudging too badly in the sketchbook when I close it, I use fixative when I’m done drawing.

Travel Sketching Class Palette

I haven’t used watercolor pencils for travel sketching, so I’m going with the class palette in order to learn the techniques. Using the same watercolor palette I used for the Teacups class. I tend to avoid graphite pencils, so it will be interesting to see how these work out for me. I’m rather intrigued by the graphite aquarelle variety. I do have Neocolor II in a similar palette to the watercolor pencils that I may try out (but are not in this image) because I’m very curious about them.