Watercolor Dirtbag
These two deep yellows are very similar in hue, so what’s the difference? I find Hansa Yellow Deep (this Daniel Smith one, at least) to be slightly more yellow, where as the Holbein Isoindolinone Yellow Deep that I tested is slightly more orangey. If I’m squinting, HYD looks more dull in masstone but brighter in … Read more
The two Phthalo Greens, Blue Shade and Yellow Shade, are made from different pigments (PG7 and PG36, respectively), but they share many properties. They are both very strong and staining, transparent, bold greens. They are similar enough that you probably don’t need both on the same palette, so which should you choose?
Kolbie Blume’s new 10-Day Challenge, World of Color, starts today! I thought it would be a fun public service for anyone else who is participating to present my mapping table of color alternatives to the colors Kolbie indicated using in their Supplies video. Slot Kolbie Uses Alternatives Yellow WN Lemon Yellow Deep (PY159) – unusual … Read more
I recently took Nilam Roy’s Watercolor Granulation Techniques class on Skillshare (I’m on my free month trying to decide whether to keep it). The main part of the class was this snowy tree painting, which I don’t think is my best work ever, but I really enjoyed the middle part which just involved swatching mixes from the granulating paints in your collection. It occurs to me that this a homebrew version of making supergranulating paints. Here are mine.
A few months ago, I presented the Neon Palette, a set of 14 colors that I grouped into an Art Toolkit Pocket Palette that were the brightest ones I owned. I wasn’t totally happy with that palette, feeling that it could be more balanced; it contained some redundancy, a lack of useful dark values, and at the same time a few not-so-bright brights that dragged the average down. Can I do better?
Here in the northern hemisphere, it’s January, the bleak midwinter. After doing a summer palette and an autumn palette, it’s time to for me to do a Winter Palette!
I was initially tempted to include lots of dark, muted colors, but in gathering inspo photos, and in paying attention to my favorite real-life sights of winter, I have noticed so more bright colors than I would have expected! Sure, the trees are bare and the grass is dry, but there is color if you know where to look. Winter sunsets are explosively bold with fiery corals, pop oranges, and deep lilacs. On sunny days, winter golden hour is more intensely gold than at any other time of year. Snowy landscapes are bright with fresh, clear blues and gentle violets.
Let’s break down the colors I chose, and why I chose each one.
I discovered the artist Lisa Spangler (@sideoats) through Art Toolkit, where she sometimes teaches classes. Lisa recently posted a “What’s on my palette?” post, which as you know, is my cue to explore a palette!
I’ve been doing a regular feature, Artist Palette Profiles, for months now. In this feature, I look up the palette colors used by an artist I admire, and I compare my own colors to see how I could imitate them better. To be honest, I think it’s probably one of the most boring features I do for everyone who isn’t me. So why do I do it?
Kim Crick has an amazing database of pigments and reviews of tons of colors, including brand comparisons. It’s an amazing resource. Today, I’m looking at her list of recommended lightfast colors.
I’ve learned so much about paint from Oto Kano’s Youtube channel, including comparing similar colors to each other, and finding my favorite version of such-and-such a color with their Colossal Color Showdown series. Recently, I became a patron, so I’m receiving a steady stream of multi-brand dot cards to feed my color curiosity!
Oto lays out their palette in a really unusual way: it’s a circular palette laid out in a color wheel. Colors are chosen in complementary pairs so that the colors opposite each other on the wheel are always complementary. It’s an incredibly systematic way to keep track of color theory information!
