Own Your Encore

With four lessons on the components of a watercolor seascape now on my palette approaching the water will be a bit more organized. I look forward to hitting the beach with my new skills! Clouds. Waves. Sand. Horizon. All of the sketches in this class are from photographs. No use of masking fluid when making […]

When it comes to green many artists like to mix their own, but there is always room for Sap Green. Sap green is a lake pigment and was originally made from the juice of unripe berries from the buckthorn, (Rhamnus) plant. In medieval times the extracted colour was reduced to a heavy syrup and sold in […]

Cadmium Scarlet is a warm red, meaning it leans toward orange. Cadmium colors are opaque and that makes this color excellent for demonstrating how to create a strong ‘shadow in bright sun’ . First fire hydrant is painted with a wash of cadmium scarlet. Next, to show the shadow on the hydrant Permanent Alzarian Crimson […]

Color week six I am thinking about iridescent color since my watercolor birds class is practicing Hummingbirds. We have watercolor tricks to create the look of iridescence and there are luminescent watercolors by Daniel Smith. Why do those tiny Hummingbirds shimmer? Here is some recent research. Here is info from Daniel Smith site … Luminescent […]

Grey is a neutral on the palette. Up until the 19th century artists would mix tones to achieve the desired effect, and many artists still like to mix a preferred grey. For me, I like the convenience of the mixed greys available in the tube. The first grey on my palette was Paynes Grey. This […]