Brooke Morales of Life Noticed does an annual project called 365 Skies where she observes and paints the sky every single day. She paints from life, from the window, so she also calls these “windowscapes.” The sky is a great daily subject because it’s always there and it’s always different! I considered joining this year … Read more
Typically, an advent calendar is 24 days long, but I’ll be traveling in the coming days so I’ve decided to end it here, on day 20! I will conclude by showing you my experiments with my last two pulls, both watercolor paints: Cobalt Violet and Venetian Red. Day 19: Cobalt Violet This is the most … Read more
Today was a swatching day! For today’s Advent Calendar, I drew Quin Violet (PV19). I previously did a three-way comparison of Quin Fuchsia (PR202), Bordeaux (PV32), and Quin Violet (PV19 beta). I no longer have Bordeaux, but I want to do some more comparing of PR202 and PV19b. Color Mixes In the assortment below, I’ve … Read more
Today’s pull was a Zebra Zensations brush pen – the navy blue one, which I think is medium width. I use this brush pen a lot for lettering on my Color Spotlights. I actually find it fairly firm for drawing with, kind of like a regular felt tip pen more so than a brush pen.
Wouldn’t you know it! The day after I pulled DS Quinacridone Magenta (PR202), I pulled Holbein Quinacridone Magenta (PR122). It’s so pink I couldn’t think of anything but Dunkin Donuts. Welcome back to Massachusetts to me! I used Holbein colors Quinacridone Magenta (PR122), Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (PY110), and Indigo, plus a little DV Cobalt Blue. … Read more
There are multiple colors named Quinacridone Magenta, but the one I’m using today is PR202 from Daniel Smith. It’s duller than PR122 or PV19 magentas, so I haven’t used it as much, but I’ve realized recently that it can achieve quite dark mixes. I used it as part of my autumn leaf mixes this fall, … Read more
I didn’t have time to post yesterday, but I did paint! My Advent Calendar item was Maimeri Blu’s Mars Brown (PR101), an opaque reddish-brown made from the Indian Red pigment. I painted a Song Sparrow using the triad of Mars Brown, MANS, and Cobalt Blue. (Well, plus Payne’s Gray which I used only for the … Read more
Today I drew a size 6 Princeton Velvetouch flat shader, which is just under 1/4″ in width. To me this brush feels too small for shading in large areas, but it’s good for things like little windows and bricks and stuff. I just did a swatching page. I also used it to swatch out a … Read more
I’ve loved Daniel Smith’s Phthalo Turquoise since my first palette; unmixed, it’s just about my favorite color of teal. I don’t use it too much these days, though, for a few reasons: However, the advent calendar is all about not worrying about that and finding an excuse to paint with it anyway! I painted hydrangeas! … Read more
Today my advent calendar bestowed on me: washi dots! This is like washi tape, but precut into circle stickers. I got this because I often find myself cutting circles out of masking tape for moons and suns, and they’re never circular enough. The downside of precut circles is you can’t make them any size you … Read more