testing turquoise watercolor

With all the extra busyness of this time of year (with the added task of interviewing new realtors), my testing of turquoise watercolor paints got sidetracked. Until recently, the only turquoise I had was Winsor & Newton cobalt turquoise light (Daniel Smith calls this pigment cobalt teal blue). Though this color is the perfect match for the swimming pool, as in the sketch below, it’s just too pale for me. I’ve had this small sample of the color for years and found very little use for it.

But this year I have been very drawn to the color turquoise. In fact, that’s an accent color I want for our new barndominium, whenever we actually get it built. With all that lovely wood interior, turquoise just seems to fit. (Our couch and my favorite Morris chair are upholstered in brown fake leather; perhaps I’ll add a small southwestern pattern rug with turquoise in it? And maybe a touch of turquoise in the kitchen backsplash?) Hence my quest for the “right” turquoise watercolor paint to add to my new palette configuration as one of my 4 “just for fun” colors.

Daniel Smith’s phthalo turquoise is a gorgeous deep teal and when I found it, I thought it was The One. But then I tried cobalt turquoise — such wonderful granulation! And it is one of the two pigments used in the phthalo turquoise; by adding a touch of phthalo blue, I can still get that deep teal. So I think cobalt turquoise wins!

at the Mango Tree

From a couple of weeks ago . . .

We had a quick lunch with our daughter Kristen at her favorite neighborhood Thai / Asian restaurant, The Mango Tree.

I loved the delicate Depression glass tea cup they served my tea in, as well as the chosen flavor (Numi Organics Aged Earl Grey). And the peanut sauce on the salad was amazing!

Christmas Eve bits

We drove to Beasley on Christmas Eve for dinner with our oldest son Jason and his family. I began sketching bits here and there as I chatted with grandkids — until pulled away for a couple hands of Uno. We went to our daughter Kristen’s house in Houston on Christmas Day (where we learned a new Mexican Train Domino game) so I didn’t get back to finishing these sketches until this morning. Allowing me to use my new Japanese Kissho Gansai watercolors instead of my purse pocket palette. They are wonderful to mix and paint with!

that forgotten sketch . . . finally

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting by the side of the pool, sketching this scene looking to the east. (That red barn in the distance to the right will someday be our new home.) Though the water was too cold to swim, the sun shone brightly and there wasn’t any wind — it was a lovely afternoon here in Hockley, Texas! But we needed to go somewhere so I put my journal away, planning to return to finish the sketch the following day.

Okay, the next day didn’t happen, nor did the day after that. It finally turned cold and we have had more than the normal amount of errands to be run, with our log cabin going temporarily off-market while we interview new realtors. I moved forward in my journal but left this sketch unfinished. Yesterday I finished it inside, out of the bitter cold wind! The pool is still lovely to look at (at least it is after scooping the leaves out!) but it is just too cold to sit out there this week.

which turquoise?

 

Although turquoise has never been in my regular palette of colors, except for one tube of Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine (a Daniel Smith Primatek paint) that I tried years ago — it dried up hard in the tube before it was used much. I’ve tried Winsor & Newton’s Cobalt Turquoise Light off and on but haven’t found reason to use it much before.

But lately I have fallen in love with turquoise and teal as colors and wish to have one really good one as an “extra, just for fun” color. Years ago I filled a ring binder with the sample sheet dots from Daniel Smith, so I’m checking out their turquoise options.

Their Cobalt Teal Blue is the same pigment as my Cobalt Turquoise Light (PG50) — a bit on the pale side, though it is exactly the color of the swimming pool. I have a tube of Phthalo Turquoise  (phthalo blue + phthalo green but more convenient) — love its deep teal color!

But I’m really leaning towards Cobalt Turquoise  (PB36) — wonderful granulation!

a bit of church sketching

Too much running around running errands, looking at fireplace stone tiles, and lining up new realtors — not much sketching getting done.

But there’s always a bit of time to draw while listening to Pastor David in church.

J. Herbin Terre De Feu ink in Kaweco Liliput fountain pen.

an early gift

After watching Teoh Yi Chie’s comparison video of two popular Japanese watercolor paint brands, I wished to try some for myself. The plastic box of handmade Kissho Gansai arrived this week (I found them on eBay) and I immediately painted out color samples in my sketchbook.

The above sketch shows the order they came in, as well as the stock number and Japanese name. In the pan, it’s hard to tell what color some of them are. My high school art teacher, Annie Lowery, was Japanese — I sure could’ve used her help! Sadly she passed away . . . on the very same day I visited a watercolor group for the first time and renewed an interest in art after ignoring it for 33 years. I always thought the timing a bit weird.

My first impression is how much more transparent they seem than Teoh described. True, they are just a bit towards the opaque side, but still very clear and bright. My second impression: the paint picks up very easily without needing to spritz the pans first with a spray bottle.

The colors aren’t so very different from what I’m used to, though I don’t have any way of knowing what pigments are used. I set them in my old “rainbow followed by neutrals” order — I can now see that one of those darks is an “indigo” and needs to be moved next to the blues. Maybe that “earth yellow” should be moved next to the bright yellow instead of with the neutrals?

I’ll have fun playing with them, especially for painting Etegami with a large Japanese brush, but after they are used up I plan on refilling with my regular paints as it would be difficult to find refills of Gansai. The layout of the plastic palette fits my new “4 primaries + extras” arrangement and I love the palette itself. Which might be the real reason I wanted to try these in the first place.

strategizing

I’ve been a bit lax in posting recent sketches . . . Our realty contract on the cabin expires today and we’ve been seeking suggestions on where to go from here. Properties meant to be weekend / vacation homes typically sell best in early spring and we missed that window.

Before meeting with our current realtor Monday, we tried a new restaurant in Brenham, Las Americas. Very good food and a lovely staff.

And there’s a snow globe to play with on each table!

yet another iPhone card

With my recent post about switching my studio palette from “rainbow order” to a grouping of 4 different “primaries + green + neutral”, I guess it’s inevitable that the card in the back of my phone case reflect the change as well.

I actually started a sketch outside, sitting next to the pool enjoying the sunshiny day — that was 2 days ago! I was distracted by other things that needed doing and places we needed to go and appointments to be kept.

Isn’t that how it normally goes? Perhaps I’ll get back to that poolside sketch tomorrow. After a trip to check out a tile store in Houston and a meet-up with our daughter and a wee bit of gift shopping . . .

studio palette, reorganized

Since I first began playing with watercolor in 2005, I have arranged my chosen colors in “rainbow order”. Pigments have come and gone, but the order always ran from cool reds to warm blues or violets, followed by neutrals running from lights to darks. (Maybe because my mother’s family is related to Sir Isaac Newton who explored the colors of the rainbow?)

A few years ago I saw one of Jane Blundell’s palettes arranged in four rows of primaries plus greens and neutrals. The image stuck with me — so I finally switched my studio palette to a similar pattern. Those three pans on the far right are just extra colors for fun.

This large metal Schminke paint box came with dividers to hold the pans of paint; I removed them, freeing the space up for whatever configurations I choose. At first I attached pans with rubber cement, then I switched to blu-tac. Now I have attached flat magnets to each pan bottom. (I gave away most of the Schminke paints; I prefer Daniel Smith.)

The lines of the ink sketch are very wonky but that made it more fun to draw. There’s actually plenty of room — I may move the pans close together to make room for my most used brushes.

My choice of colors from top to bottom of each column:

REDS: quinacridone rose, pyrrol scarlet, quin. burnt scarlet, lunar red rock
YELLOWS: Hansa yellow medium, quin. gold, monte amiata natural sienna, raw umber
GREENS: Prussian green, serpentine, green apatite, perylene green
BLUES: phthalo blue GS, ultramarine, cerulean blue, indigo
NEUTRALS: grey of grey, buff titanium, burnt sienna, Jane’s grey

EXTRAS: cobalt turquoise light, phthalo turquoise, carbazole violet
I may add potter’s pink to these “just for fun” colors.