sketchingnowwatercolour – Page 2

Mixing Colors L2 E1

It was great to mix just two colors in a variety of ways on one large page (8×10 Stillman & Birn Alpha). There are some new to me colors in my palette that I haven’t mixed much previously, so I focused on those pigments, primarily. My first mix is with Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine (All my paints for this exercise are Daniel Smith) as I wanted to try to get that nice grey this pair can mix. My next mix is Quin Gold and Pthalo Blue (GS) to see what kind of greens I can get. I mixed Cerulean Blue Chromium with Pyrrol Crimson, as I haven’t worked much that red before. I was pretty pleased with the purples I cold get from it, as well as the crazy way the Cerulean exploded into the Pyrrol Scarlet. My favorite magic happening there! Last I mixed Pyrrol Scarlet with Pthalo Green and was surprised at what a lovely grey that made, as well as an excellent earth orange red that will be perfect for tile roofs!

Watercolor 2021

I began this year’s watercolor course, but did not get very far. However, I like to show my progress, especially as I can compare this to what I did in Watercolor 2018. For this year I worked with Jane Blundell’s Ultimate Mixing palette.

I did the intro lessons, and lesson one.

Watercolor Course 2020

When I started Liz Steel’s Watercolor class in August 2018 I chose the Stillman & Birn Beta, size 5.5 x 8.5 inches (14.0 x 21.6 cm) Softcover. I bought her palette colors, and loved the idea of painting the palette to start the sketchbook.

Why is this Sketchbook 1B, instead of 2? Well, when I was trying to round up my sketchbooks by the time I had several of them going, I numbered this one 1, but ended up finding the earlier sketchbook, so it became 1A, and this one became 1B.

The very first palette I set up myself! I was so proud of my filled half-pans, and of my color labels right here on page one! Great way to start a sketchbook!

The first lessons of the course were to experiment with the marks ones brush can make, and how to test the properties of the paint, and the paper. What a revelation this was to me! Not all paper is the same? Not all pigments behave the same? Not all brushes brush the same?! Mind blown!

I loved every lesson I did, and learned so much.

Watercolor 2018

My coursework for Sketching Now Watercolor in 2018. I used two different palettes. I had this palette designed by Marc Taro Holmes, and I also used the class palette recommended by Liz Steel. I learned a lot in this class.