Color week 20 bring us to Potter’s Pink. It is an unloved watercolor based on reactions from some of my instructors. I was 1st introduced to Potter’s Pink as a recommended colour for a class and the instructor never used it, then in another class an instructor saw Potter’s Pink on my palatte and said ‘get rid of that’ and recently an instructor said it was too dull.

So I have decided to research the history and find a watercolor artist who uses Potter’s Pink.

Potter’s pink was invented by an unknown Staffordshire potter in about 1780. Winsor and Newton introduced it as a watercolour in the 19th century

Natural pigments.com

For years I’ve called Potter’s Pink my secret weapon

Liz Steel obsessive sketcher

Potter’s pink is naughty in mixes

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I started my own investigation with Potter’s Pink [PP] this week and although I have used it some in the past I have never really experimented with the colour. PP is granulating, VERY granulating. PP is a neutral it is not warm it is not cool in tone. PP has a vintage (dull!) quality. When mixed with other colors PP creates a granular wash that might work nicely when capturing the color variations in sand, soil and rocks. Using PP as the initial wash and adding pigments works nicely. I especially like it for clouds and earth tones. The swatches and lilac sketch demonstrate the qualities of PP. It will STAY in my palette

Color Week 19 brings us the color wheel. The typical color wheel is a circular display of 12 hues of color arranged according to their relationship to one another. The artists color wheel is comprised using the

-Primary colors of Yellow, Red, and Blue

– Secondary colors of Orange, Violet and Geen

Anyone who works in a hobby that includes color has given some thought to color combinations. Do you know who is credited with the first color wheel? That and more color wheel history is here in a color lovers blogpost.

A watercolor color wheel is an important 1st step towards understanding mixing. I would encourage everyone to make their own version not only for the sheer pleasure of it but also because they are very useful guides to color mixing. (… and by using the colors on your palette it will make color mixing intuitive as you paint.)

Here is a handy blog with watercolor color wheel instructions and a template

• PRIMARY
• Red Ranuculus
• Yellow Ranuculus
• Blue Mussel
• SECONDARY
• Orange Wallflower
• Green Thyme
• Violet Bearded Iris

The practice of identifying warm color vs cool color will be another week … when i figure out how to explain it!

Color Week 18 and it’s another green week— on the palette for sketching this week are ‘tube greens’ to capture dogwood, mint and an espalied pear tree!

• Greens include:
• Hookers
• Sap
• Perylene
• Cascade
• Serpentine

And I tried an ‘all the green things salad’ this week… adding these beautiful greens from my garden.

https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/all-the-green-things-salad

In color psychology, Turquoise controls and heals the emotions creating emotional balance and stability.

psychology of color

It’s color week 17 and maybe we can all use a dose of Turquoise.

Turquoise is one of the world’s most ancient gems. Archaeological excavations revealed that the rulers of ancient Egypt adorned themselves with turquoise jewelry, and Chinese artisans were carving it more than 3,000 years ago. Turquoise is the national gem of Tibet, and has long been considered a stone that guarantees health, good fortune, and protection from evil.

The gem’s name comes from the French expression pierre tourques, or “Turkish stone.” The name, which originated in the thirteenth century, reflects the fact that the material probably first arrived in Europe from Turkish sources.

Turquoise was a ceremonial gem and a medium of exchange for Native American tribes in the southwestern US. They also used it in their jewelry and amulets. The Apaches believed that turquoise attached to a bow or firearm increased a hunter’s or warrior’s accuracy. Source

Read about Native American use of Turquoise stone.