Just in time for summer, Golden Artist Colors’ OPEN Slow-Drying Acrylics Landscape Set is ON SALE at 30% OFF! Designed for the traditional painter looking for an alternative to oil paints, plein air painters, and/or acrylic painters whose palettes need to remain wet far longer than other acrylics. Blend, soften and shade with traditional painting techniques, reduce skinning on the palette during long painting sessions, both in studio and outdoors. The Golden OPEN Slow Drying Acrylics Landscape Set includes seven (7) 22ml tubes: cadmium yellow primrose, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson hue, cadmium red light, ultramarine blue, manganese blue hue, and sap green hue. Also includes one 59ml tube of titanium white and one 30ml bottle of OPEN Thinner.
Category: New Product
R&F Pigment Stick Video Tutorial w/ Charles Forsberg
Charles Forsberg demonstrates how Pigment Sticks by R&F Handmade Paints are both a drawing and painting medium like no one else. He frequently returns to drawing, forcefully striking marks into the heavily manipulated buttery paint, then tearing it apart, alternating in a push-pull sequence of drawing and smearing, scraping back, revealing previous drawing marks, and piling what he has scraped up into thick sculptural mounds.
Painting becomes an amazing and unceasing gestural exercise over many hours, as Forsberg turns the formless ooze he started with into a powerful structure of shapes and sharply accented marks. www.charlesforsberg.com/
As part of our MOVING SALE, R&F Pigment Sticks are ON SALE at 15% OFF, including all R&F Pigment Stick Sets. The 6-color sets come packaged in a 6½” × 7½” cradled Ampersand Gessobord with six (6) 38ml pigment sticks. The 12-color set coms in a 8″ × 12″ Ampersand Gessobord with twelve (12) 38ml pigment sticks.
Flashe Matte Artists Colors are back!
It’s the same great extra fine, vinyl-based professional grade line of matte permanent colors offering the optics, spirit, and feel of gouache, old tempera paints, and primitive painting grounds that you’ve always loved, but after being unavailable for what felt like forever, Flashe Matte Artists Colors are back with a new look and eleven (11) new colors for a total of 76 colors (including 12 iridescent and 6 fluorescent)!
Oh yeah, Flash Matte Artists Colors are ON SALE at 20% OFF!
Hyper-matte, velvety, and perfectly opaque on any surface, Flashe Matte Artists Colors are extremely highly pigmented, versatile, and can be applied densely for maximum opacity, or diluted with water to create transparent watercolor effects. Offering good adherence and resistance to weather aggression, Flashe Matte is ideal for fresco and wall painting, faux finish, film/tv/theater decoration, etc. Compatible with paper, canvas and other supports, or for preparing grounds.
DIY Embossing Magic with Excel Blades
Check out this video from Excel Blades where Sam Martin shows you how to emboss vinyl with the Excel Burnisher Set. Not only can you emboss vinyl, but you can also use this stylus on materials like leather, clay, foil, fondant, etc.
Materials
- Excel Blades K18
- Excel Blades Burnisher Set
- Cutting Mat
- Bristol Paper
- Vinyl
- Artwork to emboss
- Tape
Process
1. Grab your tape and tape your artwork you’d like to emboss to the Bristol paper.
2. Grab your K18 and cut the artwork out; make sure to only cut-out what you want to emboss.
3. Poke out the cut-out parts of your artwork.
4. Take off the artwork you taped to the Bristol paper.
5. Grab your vinyl and place it over the cut-out; make sure the back of the vinyl is facing you.
6. Grab your stylus and start tracing the cut-out; change out the tips as you emboss to enhance the overall look.
7. You can use the ball tip to trace the artwork.
8. Use the spoon tip to emboss larger areas.
9. Use the needle point tip to emboss the outline of the artwork to enhance the edges.
10. Fin.
Watercolor Mixing Charts: How to Make Them and Why
Why take the time to make watercolor mixing charts?
Color Mixing Charts (or grids) are terrific tools for learning, for color referencing, an excellent way to understand your DANIEL SMITH Extra-Fine Watercolors, and see some of the range of colors that can be mixed. For our example, we’re making a color mixing chart or grid with the 6 colors from the DANIEL SMITH Colors of Inspiration Watercolor Half Pan Set.
As a Learning Tool
When you are mixing colors for your chart, you are learning what colors can be made with each color mixed with every other color on your chart, and get an idea of the color range that can be mixed. Without the opportunity to explore (play!) and see what your colors can do with one another, you may never discover some gorgeous color mixes! You can make glazing color charts, mix colors on your chart (wet into wet) or as we’re doing for this article, mixing them on a plate or palette then painting them onto our Mixing Chart.
While this might seem like a chore to do, it is actually really interesting to see what your colors can do, it is color swatching with a purpose! We generally try to vary the how the watercolors are painted for each box. For example, a little heavier application on the lower right, lighter at the upper left to show more variation for each color and mixed color in the boxes. Painting them that way allows you to see some of the colors’ properties like transparency and granulation. Every color mixing chart you paint becomes a helpful reference tool, so be sure to keep them and make new ones when you add more watercolors!
How the Mixing Chart is organized
The colors are laid out chromatically in both the horizontal rows and vertical columns as shown in the example below for the DANIEL SMITH Colors of Inspiration Watercolor Half Pan Set.
Wisteria, Lavender, Rose of Ultramarine, Moonglow, Shadow Violet and Serpentine Genuine.
Photo 1. After transferring the lines from the downloadable pdf. (link further below) label your colors as in photo 1., and paint out in the order shown in Photos 1 & 2.
Photo 2.
- Paint the first vertical column with your colors, we used less water for deeper colors.
- Paint in the first horizontal row with the six colors, here we did a mid-tone wash.
- The main diagonal, we painted with a light wash.
- Using different ratios of water allows you to see a range of each main color, deep, mid and light.
Photo 3. Now the color mixing begins!
- Working by columns painting both down the column and across a row at a time, you can begin mixing your first color in column 1, Wisteria.
- Mixing Wisteria with Lavender, in a slightly larger portion of Wisteria to Lavender, paint that mix in the box below the light Wisteriawash (that is the Wisteria column) next to the Lavender box on the left.
- Take that same mix of Wisteria/Lavender and add more Lavender and paint that mix in the second column just below the Lavenderbox (that is the Lavender column) in the Wisteria row.
- Repeat these steps for the remaining 4 colors as shown in the following photos.
Photo 4. Lavender column and row.
Photo 5. Rose of Ultramarine column and row.
Photo 6. Moonglow column and row.
Photo 7. Shadow Violet and Serpentine Genuine columns and rows.
As you paint your way down each column and across each row, it becomes faster and faster until your fifth color, Shadow Violet, only has 2 boxes, and the sixth color, in this case, Serpentine Genuine is finished when you finish the fifth color!
Adding extra colors
When you add new colors, it’s a good idea to mix them with your existing palette of colors like the example above, mixing our new Gray Titanium with our 6 color Essentials Watercolor Set. For this, we used our 6 color mixing chart template, and added a 7th row and 7th column to accommodate Gray Titanium as the 7th color.
We also wanted to see how colors mixed with the Essentials Set colors look, for example, New Gamboge mixed with Quinacridone Rose, an orange, looks when mixed with Gray Titanium:
- New Gamboge mixed with Quinacridone Rose – 4th box down in the Quinacridone Rose column.
- New Gamboge mixed with Quinacridone Rose then mixed with Gray Titanium – 5th box down in the New Gamboge column.
- Note, all the colors below the diagonal wash colors are mixed with Gray Titanium.
- Those boxes with the 3rd color, Gray Titanium, mixed into the 2-color mix are noted with (plus GT) in the boxes in the 7 color diagram below on the right.
You can download the 6 color mixing chart template HERE
The 6 color template was designed to be printed on 8.5 x 11 inch standard copy paper, you can trace or transfer the lines onto 140 lb. watercolor paper, we cut the watercolor paper down to 8 x 12 inches so we would have a wider border.
Adding more columns and rows is easy, just print out more 6 color templates, cut them up and tape the extra columns and rows you need, then transfer to your watercolor paper.
We used the 6 color template as a guide when we did our 15 color DANIEL SMITH Ultimate Mixing Half Pan Watercolor Set Mixing Chart, so you can modify the basic template to accommodate larger collections of colors as well.
As a Color Reference
Once completed, your color mixing chart becomes a wonderful color guide to reference when needed. Painting charts like these are also great exercises when inspiration is low and can help stir your creative juices when you discover beautiful new colors.
Have fun painting your DANIEL SMITH Extra-Fine Watercolors Mixing Charts!
Introducing Lorraine Watry, Watercolor Artist
We are delighted to introduce DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Artist, Lorraine Watry! Lorraine will take us step-by-step through her process for making a watercolor painting.
“Spa Day” is from a photo I took of a Red Crested Cardinal after he’d bathed in a fountain. The photo intrigued me because of all the neutral colors around the bright pop of red-orange on the bird’s head. I decided to experiment with this painting and not only did I try the new DANIEL SMITH Greys, but I also tried a different brand of paper and a technique I don’t usually use – blooms. I began the painting by using my photo software to adjust the composition by moving the bird to the right and added some more water dripping in the fountain.
Step 1: I start all of my paintings by doing a detailed drawing from my photo. I then enlarge the drawing and transfer it to my watercolor paper using my light table. I stretched my watercolor paper onto foam board and while it was drying overnight, I played with the greys and did a small color study to get an idea of my techniques for the background.
Step 2: Next, I masked out the bird and dripping water with masking tape. I used masking fluid to mask some of the small drops of water on the bird’s feathers and in the background, as well as the highlights on the bird’s eye. I began the fountain by wetting the area and used a variety of the greys from Alvaro’s Fresco Grey and a little Gray Titanium on the left, to Joseph Z’s Cool and Warm Greys as I moved to the right. While these areas were wet, I flicked on water for blooms and charged in Bronzite Genuine and Mummy Bauxite for color variety and texture. As the area started to dry, I flicked on more of the BronziteGenuine, Mummy Bauxite, and Alvaro’s Caliente Grey to make the fountain feel like rough stone.
Step 3: I used Alvaro’s Fresco Grey in the background on the left and under the bird on the ledge. I really like this cool/purple grey and I’m already using it on another painting. I glazed some of the Bronzite Genuine over parts of this area to give the gray fountain some patina. BronziteGenuine is naturally shiny so this pigment is fun to see up close because it sparkles. I used Joseph Z’s Warm Grey and a touch of Alvaro’s Caliente Grey to create the dark shadow on the fountain behind the bird. Then I removed the masking on one of the lines of dripping water to see if my values were working. This helps me decide if I need to add more glazes before removing all the masking.
Step 4: I continued working around all the greys of the background and used some of Joseph Z’s Warm Grey for the shadow on the back left. I repeated the greys from the walls of the fountain in the water along with some Green Apatite Genuine and Quinacridone Gold. I debated whether to include the green in the water, but I liked the contrast with the red of the birds head. The green also appears along the front edge of the ledge the bird rests on. I finished up the majority of the background and shadows and then removed the masking fluid on the bird and dripping water.
Step 5: I was excited to start the birds head and I began with Quinacridone Sienna for the lighter, muted orange feathers. After this dried, I added a mix of Pyrrol Scarlet and Carmine for the red feathers. Then to give the bird life, I painted his eye with a mix of Burnt Umber and Sodalite Genuine. I left the highlight at the bottom of the eye and later painted some Quinacridone Sienna on that area. After removing the mask for the brightest highlight, I added a touch of Cerulean Blue, Chromium to reflect the sky in the bird’s eye. The beak was painted with glazes on dry paper using Burnt Umber, Quinacridone Rose, and Cerulean Blue, Chromium.
Step 6: I decided to use Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber, a gray mix that I know well for the birds feathers. This mix allows me to vary the gray from cool to warm and keep a unified look to the feathers. I started adding glazes to the bird’s head for shadows and depth and mixed Cerulean Blue, Chromium and Quinacridone Rose for the shadow on the white body feathers. I softened the edges of some of the feathers by applying water while an area was wet or softened the edge after it had dried.
Occasionally I took a break from the feathers and worked on the dripping water in the background. I wet each drip and then painted it using Alvaro’s Caliente and Fresco Greys. I left some of the edges and circles within the drips white to make them sparkle.
Step 7: After adding many layers to the bird’s feathers, I removed the masking fluid from the water drops all around the background. I softened their edges using a small flat brush and water. Then I added some color to some in the shadows. For those that were floating on the water, I added a line to the middle and shaded the reflection in the water.
Step 8: (Detail) At this point, I took some time to look at the almost finished painting. I decided that I wanted to lift some of the color in the water to create some larger white splashes. I used masking tape and a sharp blade to cut out some shapes. I was pleased with how well the Signature Series Greys lifted. After removing the tape, I cleaned up the shapes I created to integrate them into the surrounding water.
In Conclusion: Normally, I would not recommend using so many different grays in the same painting. In this case, the variety of grays seemed to work together for the colors and textures of the fountain. I feel like this experimental painting was a personal success on multiple fronts. The different cold press paper that I tried worked well and gives me an option from my usual CP paper. I enjoyed experimenting with the textures of the fountain and the Primatek Watercolors, and the New Signature Series Greys really added to that effect with their granulation (Alvaro’s Caliente Grey is the only non-granulating gray in the bunch). Finally, it was a pleasure trying out most of the new DANIEL SMITH Greys in “Spa Day”. My favorites are Alvaro’s Caliente and Fresco Greys. Joseph Z’s Warm and Cool Greys are close runners up. These will be added to my arsenal of convenience colors for future paintings.
Lorraine is a watercolor artist painting waterscapes, birds, and reflective objects in a realistic style. Lorraine’s watercolors are characterized by bright colors, dramatic light, and realistic reflections. She likes the challenge of painting water, glass, and metal and recently has become captivated with birds. Lorraine has a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Colorado in Boulder and after college designed clip-art for a graphics company for a few years. Lorraine began working with watercolor 25 years ago and taught the medium at Pikes Peak Community College. She currently teaches watercolor and drawing in her studio and at other venues. Lorraine enjoys the challenge of watercolor and starts her paintings with a detailed drawing. She likes to use intense color and many layers to build up the depth in her images. The DANIEL SMITH pigments are her favorite watercolors for their intensity of color, range of pigments, and beautiful granulations. Lorraine prefers to use the white of the paper and does not add opaque whites to her paintings. She is intrigued by reflections and how they interact to create abstract patterns in a realistic scene.
- Website: LorraineWatryStudio.com
- Instagram: @LorraineWatry_watercolor
- YouTube Channel: LorraineWatry
- Blog: LorraineWatryStudio.com/blog
ComposiMold Learning Curve: Basic Instruction of Reusable Molding Materials
This video shows the process for making molds and casts and then re-using Reusable Molding Material by ComposiMold to make what you want. How many times can ComposiMold be reused? It’s been tested at 35x, but we’ve heard customers say they’ve reused it 100x. Wow. We have Reusable Molding Material by ComposiMold ON SALE at 10% OFF, so it’s even more economical!
Dry Pigments by Gamblin
Over the last few years, we’re finding that the DIY movement continually inspires artists to get creative with raw materials and we get a lot of questions about how to use Dry Pigments by Gamblin. Dry Pigments are the same pigments used in Gamblin’s Artist’s Oil Colors, which is 100% pure, finely-ground, available in a range of 22 colors, and ON SALE at 25% OFF!
While an artist may want to use Dry Pigments to make their own oil paint by mixing with Linseed Oil or other drying oils such as Poppy, Stand, or Safflower, they can also be used to create other paint mediums using binders for acrylics, watercolors, egg tempera, and fresco. Additionally, Dry Pigments can be mixed with Gamblin Oil Ground to provide a tinted base layer to work on top of.
We’ve seen beautiful results when mixed with Art Resin to fill in negative areas in wood grain, or as a colored coating for surf boards. Artists have used Dry Pigments mixed into grout for mosaic and tile projects with much success. We’ve mixed pigments with pouring mediums in conjunction with, and as a replacement to, acrylic colors – to fabulous results. Are we obsessed? Yup. But mostly, we’re inspired.
DIY: Shibori with Indigo Dye
A little different than tie dye, Shibori is a Japanese method of dyeing patterns by twisting, binding, wrapping, folding, and stitching. Indigo dye is used because of its easy-to-create resist patterns on fabric. Jacquard products make it simple to create this ancient natural dye using their Mini Indigo Tie Dye Kit, and it’s ON SALE at 25% OFF this month!
This Mini Indigo Tie Dye Kit brings the ancient art of indigo dyeing to the home dyer in a user-friendly formulation. Indigo dye, which comes from a plant, is one of the oldest dyes used for coloring fabrics and the one still used today to color blue jeans. This natural dye process has long been used in many cultures around the world. This kit includes pre-reduced Indigo dye, reducing agent, gloves, two sizes of rubber bands, two wood blocks, quick start instructions and an instruction booklet with dye patterns and historical overview of indigo. Dyes up to 15 shirts or 15 yards (5 lbs.) of fabric.
Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens
Check out this video of the White Pitt Artist Pens by Faber-Castell in action. Made of pigmented India Ink that is both acid-free and archival (pH neutral), these Pitt Artist Pens offer unsurpassed lightfastness. Perfect for sketches, journals, cartooning, and fine ink drawing. Available in classic fine art colors as well as varied nib styles. Ink is smudge and waterproof when dry.
Pitt Artist Pens are ON SALE at $2.99 ($3.60 list), so now is a good time to give these a spin.
Like to work big? PITT Artist Pen Big Brush Pens contain four times the amount of lightfast, acid-free pigmented India Ink as the PITT Artist Pen, offering great coverage for work in large formats. Opaque White Pitt Big Brush Pens are ON SALE for $4.99 (list $6.70), and all other colors of Pitt Big Brush Pens are $3.00 (list $6.00). That’s 50% off, yo.