Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Payne's Gray or Payne's Grey

Not only does the color of this particular watercolor pigment vary from brand to brand but so does the spelling of the name. Some would even say it's not even a gray at all. MaimeriBlu's Payne's Grey leans more to the blue side, it's a very deep dark blue. Winsor & Newton's Payne's Gray also leans to the blue side but with a slight almost teal undertone in the right light making it a bit warmer. M. Graham's Payne's Gray is the most neutral gray of the three.

Although the hue changes, the spelling changes, Payne's Grey is definitely a color with a huge value range. It can go very dark to very light with a wide range in between.

With watercolor, it is easy to swap brands, your palette does not need to be entirely one brand. If you prefer the shade of Payne's Grey in one brand it will mix well with other brands. Just always make sure you're painting with artist quality paints.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Monotone Challenge

Last week, I suggested testing out three color combinations from your palette. This week I am going to limit the color choice down to one color.

Beautiful paintings can be created with one color of watercolor paint. The key is to choose a color that will go dark, very dark and has a wide value range. Test your colors to see how dark they will go, less water more paint will help the paint go dark. Add more and more water, a little at a time to create a value scale. To lighten up the color, just keep adding more water.

For this little painting I used Maimeri Blu Payne's Grey. Payne's Grey is an excellent choice for this project. Payne's Grey is also one of those color that will vary from brand to brand. Maimeri's Payne's Grey is more on the blue side, while Winsor Newton's Payne's Grey is a touch more to the grey side.

Other colors from my Maimeri Blu palette that will work well are Sepia, Permanent Blue Violet, Burnt Umber.

What colors do you like to use to create a monotone painting?