Simple Tulips

I wasn't in the mood for a big painting this weekend, so I decided to do colour swatches from the book "Blue and Yellow don't make Green", by Michael Wilcox. I was reminded of it by a comment from Ruth McCabe on Facebook recently. I've had that book a few years now, and every so often, I go back to it. Each time I do, I'm really glad. I was finding that the last few watercolours I did were not great in terms of hues - I was using nice colours: Indigo, Prussian blue, Madder red, but the overall effect lacked oomph. When that happens, it's time to get back to basics and good colour mixing!

The colours I was playing with this weekend were cadmium red (PR108), violet red (PV19), cerulean blue (PB35) and vanadium yellow (PY184). I can get really engrossed in my little colour squares, and I spent hours mixing and admiring them. I found that some of the  mixes were really vibrant.

So, when I was finished with my last set (with PV19) and I still had paint left in my palette, I couldn't resist. I decided to try out a quick painting. Sometimes, that's a recipe for disaster. But I think this one turned out lovely. OK, maybe not the perfect composition, and the leaves are a  bit stiff, but the colours sing to me like nothing I've painted this summer!