December is Here Already

Peaceful Snow
by Artist Rita A. Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 4x6 inches

140 lb. Saunders Waterford Cold Pressed Paper
Maimeri Blu Watercolor Paint
Winsor & Newton Brushes

I cannot believe December is here already!  Where did the year go?  Where did my November blog posts go?  I thought I blogged at least twice?  I plan on painting everyday this month.  This little painting I painted yesterday, December 2nd.  As soon as I completed it, I signed it.  Then I remembered the charity I was going to donate it to wants the paintings signed only on the back.  So, I painted three more 4x6 watercolor paintings today.  Which I have photographed, but I haven't decided which one to donate yet.

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Color Recommendation Tip

MaimeriBlu's Permanent Violet Bluish is an awesome color to have in your palette. It is a color I would not do without.

It is a transparent watercolor that has a HUGE value range. Add a ton of water and it will be very pale, not so much water and it will go very dark.

It mixes well and plays nicely with other colors.

Mix a little Permanent Violet Bluish with almost any yellow, water it down and you have the perfect shade of sand.

Get ready to paint those beach scenes!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

My Favorite Paint

I Love MaimeriBlu Watercolor Paint!

The colors are brilliant. They are extremely colorfast (they don't fade over time on me.) They are excellent for adding to your palette and letting them set up and dry before using. They liquify easily when swiped across the top of the well with a wet brush. The texture and smoothness of the paint is excellent. It is a superior artist quality watercolor paint made in Italy.

Shown in the photo are the colors I suggest using in my painting classes.

A bonus tip for today ... just paint!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Choosing Colors

Choosing colors for your watercolor palette can be fun for some and frustrating for others.  Keep it simple.  A warm and a cool of each of the primary colors, plus 2 neutrals and 2 hard to mix colors green and purple.

For my classes, I suggest starting out with 10 colors: 

Warm Red - Crimson Lake

Cool Red - Primary Red Magenta

Warm Yellow - Indian Yellow

Cool Yellow - Permanent Yellow Lemon

Warm Blue - Ultramarine Blue Deep

Cool Blue - Primary Blue Cyan

Two Neutrals - Burnt Sienna & Payne's Grey

Purple - Permanent Violet Bluish

Green - Permanent Green Deep

The brand of paint I use for my classes is MaimeriBlu, an Italian superior artist quality paint.  Most of the colors are transparent.  Two are semi-transparent and also sedimentary, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue deep.  Different brands may have slightly different names for colors.  Plus colors with the same name may appear and act differently in the various brands.

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Got a Color You Don't Want in Your Palette?

I paint in watercolor.  I like to squeeze tube paint into a palette and let it dry.  I label the side with the name of the color and the lip with a T for Transparent, S for Semi-Transparent and an O for Opaque (but I try not to use opaque colors).  I use a Sharpie marker.  If you make a mistake or replace one color with a new color, simply swab it with a bit of nail polish remover.  Let it dry and then you can relabel it.

But have you ever put a color in your palette that you don't want there anymore?  Or perhaps you have used almost all of it up, and you want to put fresh color in there or a different brand in that spot?  Maimeri Blu used to have a gorgeous Sap Green.  But then they couldn't get quality pigment any longer for the color, so they discontinued it.  I have been trying other brands of Sap Green and so far no luck in finding a replacement.  So, now I have Sap Green in the slot where I do not want it.  What to do? 

1.  Wet the edges with clean water on a brush, scrub around the edges just a little.

2.  Use a palette knife and work it under all around the edge on all sides.

3.  Work the palette knife under the base and grip the wad of paint with your thumb.

4.  Using your fingers, pull the lump of paint out of the palette square.

5.  Voila ... the square is now empty, the paint has been removed.

6.  Swash a wet paint brush around, scrubbing a bit to loosen up any remaining bits.

7.  Wipe out with a damp sea sponge.

8.  Now you have a clean empty square to fill with fresh paint.

9.  I place the paint I have removed in my scrap palette, a simple butcher's tray.

Waste not want not! :)

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

One of the things I would like to add to my blog this year is an occasional post on watercolor tips and techniques.  I would like it to be a weekly thing, but we will see what happens, I am going to shoot for Tips on Tuesdays!  Here we go ... 

Watercolor Paint

One of the most important things when learning to paint with watercolor or improving your watercolors is the use of quality paint.  If you're not using quality artist grade paints, you may not get the range in value in your painting.  You also may not be able to get nice rich dark colors.  Artist grade paints will have more pigment and less filler.  Student grade paints will have more fillers and they may not have as good a quality of pigment in them.  Student grade paint should be left to students of high school age or earlier.  If you really want to learn to paint watercolors, start with artist grade paints.  

My current favorite paint is Maimeri Blu Watercolors.  I teach watercolor painting classes for beginner and advanced adult students.  The colors I recommend for my classes are pictured in #1 of the photo shown, there are 10 colors total.  I prefer to squeeze the tubes of color into a Tom Lynch palette and I allow them to dry before I use them.  This method saves on paint and is more economical than using the paint fresh from the tube.  Photo #2 shows my class palette, plus 3 extra colors.  Photo #3 are my Zoltan Szabo palettes, I had taken a bunch of his workshops, which I absolutely loved.  The two palettes on the right in that photo show the colors he recommended in his workshop and the one palette on the left is my test palette for new colors.  These are great palettes for traveling.  Photo #4 is my small travel Hommee palette, great for taking along on an adventure or a hike.  Photo #5 is my very first palette and it is filled with Winsor Newton paints and more earth tone colors.  When I first started to paint with John Alderdice, he recommended the colors shown and the Winsor Newton Artist paints.  He always said to use the best quality available.  Which would remind me of my college days and the saying "garbage in, garbage out".  Photo #6 shows my scrap palette.  I have taken a butcher's tray and placed the colors I have removed from my other palettes around the edge of this tray.  I remove colors from time to time from my regular palettes if they get too low or if I decide I would like to switch a color for a new one.  No need to waste the paint!  Sometimes I will squeeze just a little bit of a new test color onto this palette.

I highly recommend Maimeri Blu watercolor paints, they are Italian.  They set up well in a palette and they refresh easily with the swipe of a wet brush.  They have excellent lightfastness, so far I haven't had a single MaimeriBlu watercolor painting fadeand I have been using the paint since 1998.  The second brand I would recommend are the Winsor Newton Artist Grade watercolor paints from England.  You can't go wrong with such a well known brand.  However, the Winsor Newton paints set up harder in the palette, I find it best to add a few drops of clean water to the tops of the colors in the palette before painting to get them to soften up a bit.  I am testing another brand of paint, I purchased only one tube so far of M. Graham watercolors which are made in the United States and so far, so good ... I really like it.  The M. Graham prices are similar to the Maimeri Blu paints and on some of the colors, the price is better.

Artist grade paint gives you rich deep gorgeous colors.  If you think it is too expensive, start out with fewer colors.  A limited palette of colors is a great way to really learn your palette.  Buy the best you can afford, you're worth it!