Paint & Palettes

 

Pink, Orange & Brown.  Watercolor.
Approximately 4x2 inches.

I got a package from Cheap Joe's yesterday, which included seven new tubes of paint from Daniel Smith.  Three were replacements for tubes I've exhausted (manganese blue hue, burnt umber, and hansa yellow medium), and four were new colors (all quinacridones--burnt scarlet, deep gold, pink, and red).    If you're an artist, you may find yourself collecting something........come on, now, confess--what's kicking around in your art supply closet? 

Daniel Smith is far and away my favorite paint brand.  Everyone has their own preferences--people recommend Holbein or Winsor & Newton.  It's a matter of experimentation to find your preference and then crossing your fingers that the paint company doesn't change their formulations or reorganize.  Daniel Smith is reorganizing. Over the last few months their paints became available through other companies (like Cheap Joes), and they are clearing out all their non-core stock.  My fingers are crossed that there paint will stay consistent..  

When I was testing my new colors, I did a bunch of little paintings--I was just mucking about.  Here's one I kind of like--it's very small, and I like the intensity of the colors.  

And, if you're wondering--I'm not sure where I'll fit the new colors onto my palette--I need to rethink how I have my paints organized.  I do have a sample of all my colors, but of these, I only have about 1/2 out on my palette, and of the paints I have out to use, I maybe regularly paint with an even smaller selection of those.

This is all confounded by the fact that I don't want to waste paint, and would rather use up the paint on my palette before I reorganize....Never mind that I'm using two John Pike palettes, and neither one has all the well's filled.  If I was a wee bit selective, I ought to be able to get down to one!

I'll get it sorted.

On the phone.

While Talking To My Mom.  5 x 4.75 inches.
Watercolor & Crayon.

A couple of posts ago, I put up some abstract landscapes that were part of a set.  I had painted four, and one just wasn't coming together.  A puzzle.

I tried overlaying with three colors of Caran D'Ache crayon that nearly matched the paints.  A lot of the patterning was already there, I just added emphasis where it had been lost in the watercolor.  And voila.

You'll never guess what I doing while finishing the crayon part of this....  Good guess--I was talking to my mom on the phone.

Starting to Plan for 2015

SOLD:  Pear I, Watercolor and Crayon.
A 5x7 inch greeting card.

I have just over 2 years worth of posts on this blog, and this will be my 82 post. If you're a reader, you've probably noticed that I primarily write about what I've been working on (and why).  I'd really like to start mixing it up a little bit more by devoting a post or two a month to other things.

Some of the things I'd like to talk about? First--other artists! There are people doing some incredible, inspiring work all around the world; I get bored talking about myself (honestly, I don't like to talk about myself, period.); and, it can be fun to learn about other artists' processes and work.

Secondly--stuff around the web--useful tools, things that I'm doing, and things that I've learned. Why? Well, partly because this blog serves as a record for me (admittedly, it's kind of public). But also because I think readers may be interested. Maybe not... Your eyes may be glazing.

I'm going to start with a change I just made to my blog. I added a blog list. I owe a huge thank-you to Laura, over at Laura's Watercolors--she listed me as part of her blog list, which has led to a lot of visitors for me.  Go look--her animal paintings are especially lovely.  You'll also see Jane Blundell, who does some very interesting color studies, and Carol Marine, who is a daily painter. I'll add more over the next few months..

Anyhow, stay tuned.  I'll see what I can get organized.  In the mean time, here's a little work by me that's gone off to a new home.

Abstract Landscapes

On December 6th, I'll be participating in Wyoming's Holiday One Stop Shop at the Wyoming Civic Center.  I'm starting to put together a bunch of small works and hand-painted cards, like the three inter related abstract landscapes. The grays are from the paint that was in the mixing well of my palette.  I started with Burnt Umber, Prussian Blue, and Quinacridone Violet--it looked too cold, so I ended up going back in with a little bit of Quinacridone Burnt Orange.  

My husband is a fan of the burnt orange--he's been studying iron oxides (aka rust!) his whole adult life, and the color lays down just like some of the minerals he studies.

They're all on Kilamanjaro 300 lb cold press watercolor paper from Cheap Joes and all about 5 inches square.  The One Stop Shop Runs From 10-3 on 12/6--hope to see you there.