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Fitting More Pans in a Square Metal Palette from Schmincke
As the Minnesota State Fair approaches of course I’ve been testing pigments and making choices on what gear I’ll be taking to the Fair for sketching. Today I’m posting about adapting my favorite metal palette box to contain more pans of paint—because sometimes you need more pans. I’ve been a fan of the Schmincke metal […]
Great Low-Cost Paint Palettes for Watercolor and Gouache
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Pans vs. Tubes? Part Two
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Pans vs. Tubes? Part One
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Being Happy with the Little Bits—or Keep on Pushing to See Where It Goes: Part Three
Above: Third sketch in the series, this is painted directly with a no. 8 round and cadmium yellow light and ultramarine blue Lukas gouache. The notes were added at the end of the painting session after the fourth (not shown) sketch was completed and relate to that fourth sketch. The tab at the gutter—I remove a certain number of pages from each new journal when I begin it; to make room for collage material. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
This is part three of a 4-part series which started Monday, June 15.
Having used the Faber Castell Pitt Artist Brush pen for the previous two quick sketches I decided to work directly with a no. 8 watercolor round. It was a synthetic without much of a tip left, but I didn’t want to get up and find a better brush, I just wanted to keep working.
More on Schmincke Pan Watercolors
Above: Another "chart" I made when testing Schmincke pan watercolors in December 2007. I'm mixing new selections with colors already on my palette. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I thought it might be helpful for people to see the other types of tests I put watercolors through when making a selection for my palette, so I have included in this post two additional "charts." I put charts in quotation marks because I am not trying to make a formal, tidy, structured chart for the most part when I do these tests, I'm just interested in blending colors together and seeing what happens. A lot of artists I know take a much more orderly approach to these types of tests and put them into columns and boxes and apply a lot of order. While I love order probably more than the next person I'm happy to just get in there and mix. I think each artist has to do what is most useful to him. (My colored pencil charts are extremely orderly!)
Project 640 Tubes: Selecting a Gouache Palette
Above: Chicken (sketch is Ziller Glossy Black Ink with dip pen on background painted with Indian Yellow FW Acrylic Ink; gouache)
This post is part two in the series: Project 640 Tubes
Readers will recall that I promised to suggest colors for a gouache palette when I started Project 640 Tubes.
(Note that for purposes of this discussion by "color" I mean the pigment in the paint, which I might refer interchangeably to by pigment number or by tube name because it's clear I'm discussing a particular brand. If you elect to buy a different brand of gouache than what I recommend you need to make sure you're getting the right pigment. The name on the tube can be the same across brands, but what the companies put in the tube in terms of pigments can be very different indeed. I recommend you only buy Schmincke and M. Graham Gouache, read the first Project 640 Tubes post for why.)
Insomnia: It Can Be Productive
Sometimes you just can't sleep. Maybe you did something you regret, maybe you were a bully as a child, or an avenging angel—you still get bad karma, that's what makes this a wonderful and complex world. Or maybe it's as simple as eating 4 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies right at bedtime. There are a million reasons you might not be sleeping, but that doesn't mean you can't do something fun and exhilarating, hey, you aren't sleeping anyway.
Travel Palettes for Watercolor and Gouache
I like to paint out in the field and around town. To do this I like to carry my paints with me at all times. I also like to travel light. The above photo shows a selection of travel palettes with which I work.
The two smallest palettes in the center of the image are kid's palettes (note the U.S. Quarter positioned next to the palettes for size comparison). The one on the left contains watercolors, the one on the right contains gouache. I take out the pellets of kid paint and use my own favorite brands of paint. I had a shoulder problem several years ago and even my other travel palettes were too much for me to hold at the same time I paint (I typically stand and hold journal and paints in one hand and work with the other). These small palettes are filled with 11 colors each. Because they are so small they are in my fanny pack at all times. I can paint with watercolor or gouache depending on my mood.