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.