Painting: Such a Windy Day

"Such a Windy Day"

One of the freshest watercolours I have painted.

Absent

Sorry for the lack of updates here... I maintain a few websites, and this one fell by the wayside for a bit.  Hopefully I'll get into a regular posting rhythm soon.

Pantone = Brilliant

I am a bit of a PANTONE^® fangirl. I have a few nice PANTONE Universe products already, but ones I want to add to my collection this year are:

• PANTONE Universe Mug Collection
  
• PANTONE Key Ring - Green Olive

Pen & Ink: Rural Scene

A little scene I worked on last night and today, which I plan to mail to a good friend in Europe. I added some hatching with a fountain pen after I was done with the dip pen and wash... the fountain pen work turned out a little too bright for my liking, a darker ink would have helped.

Paint Boxes

I love paint boxes... ever since I was old enough to have my first Crayola paint set (and then a Crayola "Caddy" once a year for several years, thereafter), I have never ceased to take delight in opening a paint box and seeing those little jewels of colour laid out within.

Earlier this year, when I took up watercolour painting again, I dug out my various paint boxes and set about preparing a field / sketch / plein air kit. Most of the artist's quality paint manufacturers make a vast array of travel and field paint boxes or paint sets, suitable for every occasion. I own several, of which Winsor & Newton are likely the best-known brand.

I like metal paint boxes, and so I have recently been looking at buying an empty box with the idea of filling it with full or half-pans myself, but nothing had caught my eye - until I found some wonderful metal paint boxes on the Natural Pigments website!

Natural Pigments formulate artist's watercolour and oil paint using rare, traditional pigments, which make for a more subdued, classical palette (you won't find Quinacridone Magenta here). The Natural Pigments paint brand is Rublev, and I was excited to see Rublev Watercolors pre-packaged in heavy duty enamel paint boxes - here was a perfect opportunity to get the metal paint boxes I wanted, and also experiment with a different type of watercolour paint in a classical palette.

I went a little overboard and ordered three paint boxes, two are shown below:

• J.R. Cozens Travel Palette
  A muted and warm palette comprised of 8 half-pans (box can accommodate 12 half-pans), in a black enamel Bijou-style paint box with an built-in water bottle (35ml), integrated water dish and two mixing wells inside the lid. (I was ecstatic to find this paint box, as I have admired the W&N version for some time.)
  
• 18th Century Palette
  A beautiful and natural palette comprised of 12 full-pans, this large paint box has a flip-out mixing area as well as four mixing wells in the lid.
  
• Introductory Palette
  An expanded natural palette comprised of 16-half pans, this paint box also has a flip-out mixing area, and three mixing wells in the lid. (Not pictured.)

All of the Rublev boxes have a thumb-loop and v-clips to secure the pans - they are very well-made and sturdy. As I already have my W&N Bijou Box for an 8 half-pan palette, I decided to modify the Cozens palette slightly:

I replaced an earth red, plus the blue ochre and black for paints with broader mixing capabilities, as well as adding a couple of essentials.

(PS: That travel paint box really *is* as adorable as it looks!)

Drawing: Keem Bay, Ireland

A half-finished drawing from class this week. We focused on creating a tonally-correct value drawing from which we will paint from next week.

M. Graham & Co.

After months of research, I have picked M. Graham & Co. as my primary watercolour painting brand. I bought fifteen paints initially, then ordered the entire watercolour range. The honey-based formulation is ideal for the way I work. :)

To buy in Australia, visit The Art Shop website. This great store in Victoria carries the entire range of M. Graham professional artist products.

M. Graham & Co.: http://www.mgraham.com/

Artistic Pursuits

I like to think that I'm quite an artistic person, but since abandoning wheel-pottery a couple of years ago, all I've been left with is photography as my creative outlet. This wasn't enough for me, so for the last few months I have been attending drawing classes each Tuesday evening. I can draw... but not well enough, so the classes have been an excellent way to build my confidence and improve my weakest area - portraying light and texture accurately.

I've been working almost exclusively in graphite, creating realistic renderings of local buildings and architecture. I have used Derwent Graphitint Pencils to add small touches of subtle colour, and have been very pleased with the results. But only recently have I begun to work with more colour, and it's been quite an interesting experience! I thought I would have all I needed with my set of Derwent 72 Artists Pencils... how wrong I was. I was lacking key colours, and somehow, my pencils didn't seem as rich as they once were. These thoughts led me to Prismacolor, and I splurged on a set of 132 Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, and 36 Prismacolor Verithin Colored Pencils. I also couldn't resist adding a set of 24 Derwent Inktense Pencils as well. Who knew there was so much to coloured pencils?

By nature I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, and this is reflected in my drawing - I can take hours to draw simple things, not resting until they look perfect. This is very tiresome, and ultimately boring. While I am hoping to refine my skills, I also want to learn how to express more creativity and spontaneity in my work. I want to develop a meaningful style, and not just produce rigid technical renderings forever.