This is the third exercise in the Watercolor Workshop book (by Shasha Prood). Here we are swatching our blue and purple paints. I had several blues in my box, but only one purple, which I’m not thrilled with. I am thinking that I will, eventually, purchase another couple of tubes of purple paint. But I’m happy with the variety of blue. I am doing this with my friend Sandra Mitchell.
On the second day of working on the Watercolor Workshop, (by Shasha Prood), we’re making swatches of oranges and reds. I have one true orange, Cadmium Orange, but I think these other two colors, Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Red Pale, fall into this category, also. For reds, I have a primary color, Cadmium Red Deep, and another that is a cool red, Alizarin Crimson. Indian Red is a very earthy red and (again) Cadmium Red Pale is a very orangy red.
This is my first day of working on the “Watercolor Workshop” (by Shasha Prood) with my Facebook friend, Sandra Mitchell. For the first exercise, we are painting swatches of green and yellow. We are just making a color reference and understanding what happens when each color is applied to the rectangle on the paper. I started out with a “waterbrush”. You know the kind, it is sometimes referred to as a travel brush because you can fill the handle with water and take it with you.
A Facebook friend of mine posted a photo of a book she had that she was thinking about learning from. It turned out, I have that same book, and I’ve never gone through it! Both of us are needing some extra motivation to get things done around the house. So we have decided to use this book as motivation. Here’s how it works. We set some chore that we dread, but really need to get done.
Brushos
On Wednesday, I went with a group of friends to the Art Resource Center . This is the first time I’ve been there, although I have donated to them in the past. They accept donations of cash or new, or partially used art materials. But it doesn’t end there! They have tons of interesting things from craft magazines and instructions to pieces of wood and metal, all kinds of containers, fabric, trims and buttons, books, stickers and binders… and more!
Last week, I did the Daisy Yellow Tiny Museum Workshop . It was a lot of fun and allowed me to try a variety of techniques while using watercolors. I am switching to another project which will take up several months. For part of it, I’ve started a new art journal. I am using a Bee Super Deluxe Mixed Media book. I’ve used these books for years as my daily sketch book.
I have several large watercolor palettes. The key word here is: large! They actually work fine in the big studio when I am working on a large painting, but they are really impractical for my tiny corner desk where I generally work every day. I also have several tubes of watercolor paint. The brands vary, but most are either Daniel Smith or Winsor & Newton. What I really want is something portable, easy to use, cheap, and that works on my desk when I’m doing micro art.
Instead of showing you art, today, I want to show you something that I use to make it. I’ve been using watercolor a lot lately. I decided, since I’m making tiny pictures, to get a set of Daniel Smith Dots from Amazon. This is a set of small “dots” of every color of Daniel Smith watercolor paints. I wanted to be able to take them with me when I travel or want to work at the local coffee shop for a change of pace.