Highlight: Hematite Magenta

Gorgeous colors painted from Ruby Mountain Paint Co.; I only picked up the violet hematite in pan form, the other two were given samples :-)

I liked the rich, granular and easilly wettable colors of both the Violet hematite and Mayan blue very much, and may pick up the Mayan blue in the future. 

DIY Travel Sketchbook

Pencil, ink, graphite watercolor, regular watercolor 

I picked up some tickets to the Republic of Georgia in late December(trip in April) and, being rather excited, decided to make a sketchbook for the occasion. I single sheet bound 140lb paper between 300lb paper covers, using this video to learn how.

Now the tough part will be filling it with quality haha

Highlight: Green Apatite Genuine

Since it's introduction to my palette, Daniel Smith's green apatite has been a favorite. I look for excuses to use it, and rarely do I have to look far for even a touch of it in a landscape :-)

It granulates beautifully, blows away pthalo greens for usefulness out of the tube, and is a variety of color in a tube between masstone and wash :-)

A few mixing examples 

Technique: Subtle Pointillism and Granulation

I enjoy granulation in watercolors thoroughly, and as I continue to move forward with them, I see a pattern developing that might be useful to others.

I've begun using a touch of pointillism here and there ranging from clearly patterned points to a near mimic of granulation(useful for transparent nongranulating pigments). I try to only do it in small doses, and usually with gradation of value in mind.

This technique seems to come up in pieces with granulating watercolor because focus is removed a bit from the points as the characteristics of the paint are highlighted.

If you try it, let me know what you think :-)

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An oversimplification of a side note regarding the difference between stippling and pointillism; stippling is the use a single color (usually in pencil or ink, but other mediums can take it up) to create an image while pointillism uses a variety of color.

Rosemary & Co R9 Travel Brush Review

I'm pretty sure I picked up the R9 squirrel hair mop travel brush from Rosemary & Co because of some minor positive comment on it in Jane Blundell's blog, and have become increasingly pleased with the choice ever since. It was my second brush after getting an Escoda Reserva Kolinsky Sable #8 Travel Brush, and at the first didn't seem to be as useful and pleasing as my Escoda, being a bit snapless and floppy, and without the needle sharpness of the kolinsky.

However, as I continue on with it I find I reach for it more often, feeling more comfortable to scrub with it and treat it a touch less gently then my kolinsky. I did underestimate the usefulness of it's point, but have become used to its difference. Further, the rate at which it puts pigment to paper and the ease of adjusting the pigment dilution by touching brush to water is exceedingly nice and can be done without too much thought, as opposed to my kolinsky brush :-)

Not so purdy, but still usefull :-)

My only issue with this brush is that even being careful when I cap it, I still occasionally catch stray hairs on the side of the brush, as the fit is extremely tight, bending them backwards and making it a little less pleasing to look at, even if it doesn't actually affect the practical usage of it excessively. Even after 6 months of usage, it still sheds a hair now and then, but I continue to appreciate this brush, and will likely pick up another should the necessity arise :-)

My Palette Choices

My current selection

My palette this year has been fairly varied between the beginning of the year until now :-)

At the start, I chose my colors based on company paint discriptions from Handprint, a few glowing reviews in blogs, and gleaned info from the Wetcanvas forums; all with the intention that they should be as transparent as possible, single pigment, and light-fast.

The original well-worn crew: Pyrrol Red PR254, Azo Yellow PY151, Phthalo Green (YS) PG36, and Phthalo Blue (RS) PB15:0, Burnt Umber PBr7

Later I realized that it was a bit difficult to mix the delicate colors of Wisteria, so I went to the store to pick up a Quin magenta PV19 (and less interestingly a titanium white gouache) and accidentally wound up picking up a Cobalt Violet PV14 instead! Thus I was introduced to the wonderful world of granulation, even though I didn't know what to do with it at the time :-)

After a bit, I had a sort of falling-out with transparent watercolors because of their difficulty, so I switched to body color gouache, another limited palette again, based around a psuedo-zorn Palette.

A pic of the gouache colors when I got them

A few months with that, and I was once again convinced that I thoroughly appreciated the transparent watercolor glow, and that gouache wouldn't do for being so flat.

By this time I had decided I wasn't the biggest fan of M. Graham colors simply because of the excessive honey content, and that I'd like to look for something else. I also had a better idea of what characteristics I wanted in watercolors. I chose a core palette based on a thread here* in Wetcanvas. Later adding; Holbien's antique turquoise for a non-granulating convenience match with manganese blue, and phthalo green for an easy near black mixed with Quin violet(as a side note I find pthalo green good for very little else :-P).

Transparent side of the new palette: transparent pyrrol orange PO71, hansa yellow medium PY97, pthalo blue (RS) PB15:6, antique turquoise PB17, quinacridone violet PV19, phthalo green (YS) PG36

Further expanding my palate, I decided on a granulating group, as I come to thoroughly appreciate the textures attainable with these colors :-)

Rhodonite genuine, transparent red oxide PR101, goethite PY43, green apatite genuine, cobalt violet PV14, buff titanium PW6:1, burnt umber PBr7, manganese blue PB33

As my palette continues to expand, I can tell I'm probably finished generally with expanding the transparent non-granulating side of my palette, however I continue to look to aquire new granulating colors :-) You'll see in the pic at the top of my page I still keep a titanium white gouache(lovely for highlights), as well as an ivory black. I'm looking to replace the ivory black at some point. I rather wonder what the palette will look like in a year's time :-)

Making My Own Manganese Blue

Still some left!

As manganese blue is such an uncommon pigment for characteristics and rarity, and as I've had such good experience with it thus far,  I searched out and obtained this lovely pigment in dry form to turn into my very own watercolor! I love a good project, and was optimistic about this one :-)

The ingredients

I chose to add clove oil to prevent mold, as I was interested to keeping this paint wet.

I wore a respirator for safety sake, as this pigment is rather poisonous and easily airborne :-)

In the mix

The final product :-)

You know, I'm happy with the final product, it was easy to make and now I have more of the paint I like so much :-)