Loved & Learned from Kolbie Blume’s Intermediate Landscapes Module 2: Color

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I’m working my way through Kolbie Blume’s Intermediate Landscapes course; last time, I discussed module one, on light. In this post, I’ll share my paintings from the color theory section. The Paintings Complementary Snowy Mountain Loved Learned Split-Complementary River Sunset I consciously chose to differ from Kolbie’s color choices and make mine more like the … Read more

What’s the difference between Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) and Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)?

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Top: Da Vinci – Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7).
Bottom: WN Winsor (Phthalo) Green Yellow Shade (PG36).

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?

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How to Gift Your Art Without Stress

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In various periods of my life when I’ve been big into art in a public way, I’ve had friends and family ask for art as a gift, or received comments at the holidays such as “Gift-giving will be easy for you this year since you can just give your art.” This is always intimidating, because the idea of giving my art as a gift can be stressful!

At the same time, I have happily and successfully given my art as gifts on a number of occasions! In this post, I’ll offer tips on how to come up with a great gift idea and keep your stress level low.

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Alternative Paint Suggestions for Kolbie Blume’s World of Color 10-Day Challenge

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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

Granulating Mixes

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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.

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Color Spotlight: Magnesium Brown (PY119)

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Winsor & Newton – Magnesium Brown (PY119)

This highly granulating, semi-opaque brown makes textured, naturalistic brown blends. I fell in love with this color when searching for interesting new colors to use in the desert. This one wowed me for its capacity to mix complexly textured red sandstone and olive-drab foliage.

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Reflections on Lisa Spangler’s Nature Spot Challenge

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I previously profiled the palette of Lisa Spangler (@sideoats on Instagram), a watercolor artist based in Austin, Texas who pioneered the concept of “nature spots,” swatches of colors in the natural world. Nature spots can be less intimidating to paint than full scenes, especially if you’re on the go, but can be a great way … Read more