Picking some colours I have in my stash but haven't explored yet. Love the mix of Blue Compose with Mars Violet. And Jaune Brilliant No2 with Blue Compose. Probably need to dilute that Jaune Brilliant a lot more. And the Yellow Grey too. The PW6 in the mix goes too pasty otherwise.
I had no idea I had so many orange tubes in my stash. That's without counting colours that are already in palettes!
This is as important to my practise as the wild watercolour landscapes that seem to emerge out of nothing. Understanding the consistency of what's on (or rather, in) my brush.
Rearranged my Roman Szmal watercolour pans into the 3 little palettes I have. I went for 2 yellows, 2 reds, 2 blues, a green and some darks for 2 of them, and mostly darks for the third one. Now I feel I can work with them. And I have a record of the colours in one place instead of several sketchbooks.
That's it, it's decided, I'm bringing a tube of Potters Pink with me to Toulouse. It mixes so well with everything in my palette, Naples Yellow, Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Hansa Yellow Medium, Quin Rose, Buff Titanium.
Watched Liz Steel's video on Neocolor II. A lot to take in! But that glow!
Someone very kind gave me a dozen tubes of Korean watercolours. Great excuse for play and experimentation! I added a bit of white gouache to one of them, and then an extra bit of pure white. Love how that created a wave shadow!
And yes, this is still on the theme of my residency in Cill Rialaig last year. The Atlantic Ocean was such a presence, on good days, and stormy days even more so.
This could also be called - why do I pack so many pencils in my suitcase? I know that once I'm on location, I will have one yellow, one red, one orange, one pink, one green, a dark blue and a light blue, one dark purple, one light purple and one turquoise. But I have all these lovely pencils! And lots of mixed media supplies! And that's without counting my usual watercolour palette, fountain pens and black and graphite pencils!
I dug through my collection of old Inktense pencils and Ecoline markers (and a few other brands). And yes, a few colours are the new ones I bought that I mentioned previously, like the Iris Blue and the Pink Flamingo. I'm loving the intensity. And it's sometimes easier than deploying the watercolours, particularly if I'm standing. Although I'm adding more to my backpack, so a cull will be needed soon. I chose one yellow, two greens, a pink, a blue, a red and a sepia. Plus all the Arrtx acrylic markers I have swatched below. Definitely too much to carry. I will regret this!
This was always gonna happen. I was using some old Inktense pencils that I had neglected for years. And of course when I started using them, inspired by Liz Steel's Patreon, and then I had to go and buy some more! And when I see them on the same page where I swatched some Arrtx acrylic markers, I'm thinking, oooh, they would look nice together.
I'm in a bit of an art slump at the moment - it's ok. I'm not panicking yet. Maybe I had reached a natural end to my exploration. But when that happens, I have to find ways to start again.
So I was very inspired by Sally-Ann Ashley's words when she had the opposite problem (too many ideas fighting for attention) "So if your mind is a hive of activity right now like mine, ask yourself one question, 'what did I enjoy the most about today's studio session?' Whatever answer jumps out at you, don't discard it and don't overthink it. Let it be your starting point for tomorrow - as this will be mine"
When I woke up this morning, I thought about which item in my studio book was intriguing me the most. It was an ink piece, done in orange and purple, creating an abstract sky and land in very strong colors.
So I did what I always do, colour swatches, and a little experiment in a watercolour sketchbook. And then I couldn't help adding a bit of those iridescent acrylic inks, and Unison soft pastel!
Trying a few pigments, new to me, except for Holbein's Vermillion, which I love (it's a bit dirty in this swatch)
Scim means haze, or mist. I'm thinking of a more fluid watercolour painting. I never know what they're going to look like. But I start with colours, and words. And a place. Although my paintings are not representational, they always start with a real place, at a particular moment.
Lots of blues in these test swatches. I'm running low on Cobalt blue and I wanted to see what else I have that would work for the painting I'm thinking of. I know I could just order some Cobalt blue, but I have so many other colours in my stash. I just want to use them.
We're in a period of our lives when we do quite a bit of travel. And it always takes me a while to settle back into my painting afterwards, as I struggle to deal with changing from one activity to another, one mood to another. But I'm getting there. Often, it starts with a few words, and colour swatches. Even if most of the colours I try out won't make it into the next piece.
I had fun with darks in ink on a small scale, but now I want to create colourful darks in watercolour to paint something that reminds me of the feeling of community and fun and friendship, but slightly larger. I made one attempt with ink on watercolour and I am not sharing that with anyone. I know, I know, I normally share everything, the good, the bad and the ugly. But not that one. So I am now exploring darks in watercolour. I am mixing the same colours I have been playing with, Quin Magenta, Quin Gold, Phthalo Blue. Also Haze Indigo (granulating). And a good dollop of Neutral Tint (Holbein watercolours) to push the dark. Some of these darks are a bit too purple or too blue. ButI really like the mixes that contain all the colours, particularly with the hint of Quin Gold and some extra water. It reminds me of the colour of the rocks on the Copper Mines Trail that goes up from Allihies. Particularly when the rocks are wet with rain.
Mixing granulating and non-granulating pigments makes me happy. Granulating pigments can lack punch. But add Quin Magenta, Quin Gold or Phthalo blue and the results are much more to my liking.
I was awake in bed early one morning, and my mind was swirling with all the things I want to paint. I was painting headlands before I went to Allihies, and I was experimenting with inks also. Then there is all the sketching and painting I did while I was on the Beara Peninsula, which will inform future abstract landscape paintings. But there is a view I have to get out of my system before I can move on. As I was driving out of Allihies, taking the road towards Urhan, I managed to stop at the same location that inspired a number of paintings from my exhibition last May. The light was very soft and beautiful. It was really peaceful. Not a sound around me. I took lots of photos, then drove on, as the light faded on that side of the peninsula. Some days you might get no sunlight at all, but others, the sun comes out between the clouds and illuminates the hills. It's always different. And magical.
So I have started now with colour swatches to try and capture that feeling. Always very soothing to do colour swatches.
