a bit of “stained glass”

Back in 2006 I was a member of a small group we called The Riverside Watercolor Society (or the RWS). That is actually where I was first introduced to watercolor outside of grade school Prang sets. We were an informal group led by artist John Locke, and would each paint the same chosen subject in our own styles — it was great fun and a great learning experience!

One of the members, Mary Jane Rogers, did some really lovely work using Van Gogh watercolors and I’d always wanted to try them. So when my new Travel & Sketch palette came prefilled with an assortment of Van Gogh paints I got my chance. The best way to try new paints is to do a color mixing chart.

I have to say the handmade 100% cotton paper in this sketchbook with its uneven sizing is not the best paper to test watercolor on. But I noticed right away that, though the paints are richly pigmented, they lack the transparency of my usual watercolors (Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton). Their quality is between student grade and professional grade. Maybe not for serious watercolors but fine for adding color to sketches.

This card was painted by Mary at one of the RWS meet-ups. We each painted our own designs, made prints, then put them together as Christmas cards. I saved at least one from each member.