This time of year is great for picking up some extra art supplies as there are so many offers for Black Friday week, the run up to Christmas and during the New Year sales. It can be difficult to know what's worth investing in though, so I've decided to try out a few of my recent watercolour purchases over the next few weeks, in case it's helpful to those wondering what to buy. This week, I've been using a couple of my more muted tones to see how they work together in a simple, saucer sketch.
Earlier this year, I picked up my first tube of Daniel Smith watercolour paint. I'd long admired many colours in the Daniel Smith range, but had previously been put off from making a purchase by the relatively high price and had always opted for Winsor and Newton, Schmincke or Roman Szmal instead. The colour I chose was Undersea Green, which is a favourite of many Youtubers and a lovely, natural green colour. The pigments are PB29 (French Ultramarine) and the PO48 and PY150 combination found in Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Gold (the new version to replace the now discontinued PO49). As you can see from the photo below, it splits into the granulating blue and lighter yellow/orange pigments, given enough water.
A couple of months later, I decided to add Schmincke Horadam Neutral Tint to an order I was making as I felt like trying an alternative shadow colour to the Payne's Grey that's usually in my palette. Neutral Tint is a lovely, muted purple containing PV122 (Quinadcrinone Magenta), PB60 (Indanthrone Blue) and PBk7 (Carbon Black). The idea of a neutral tint is to provide a paint that can deepen a colour without making it cooler or warmer in tone. There are many versions of neutral tint from different manufacturers (see Jane Blundell's comparision) and Schmincke claim that their formulation is particularly suited to deepening greens. As I haven't used either Undersea Green or Neutral Tint much since I bought them, I thought I'd try them out together on the sketch today.
It's nice to draw within a circle sometimes. Drawing within a circle somehow helps me to sketch imaginary scenes more easily and I find the curves soothing. The first step is to draw a circle on some watercolour paper. Happily, the saucer that I often use to mix watercolours on is the perfect size to draw a circle on my 12"x9" block of Bockingford paper.
After drawing the circle on the paper with a pencil, I created a thicker, dark line by going over the line a number of times with black ink from my Twsbi Eco fountain pen. The ink is Platinum Carbon and so is waterproof and a properly dark black. Once I had finished the border, I sketched a scene in pencil.
I then went over the sketch in the black ink and, in my haste, didn't let the ink dry quite enough before I rubbed out the pencil. This led to a smudge on one of the birds in the sky and is one of the benefits of sketching; it doesn't matter in the sketch but reminds you to be careful in the future.
I was then very patient and layered up washes of the Undersea Green over the sketch. I started with the pale wash and gradually added darker washes to the objects in the sketch as they moved towards the foreground.
I was happy with the variation in tones that I could achieve with this paint. The lightest layer was very delicate and I was able to build up to quite a dark tone in the foreground. I was a little disappointed not to see some more separation of the colours though and the paint didn't granulate as much as I expected. This may well be due to my poor handling of the paint and/or the qualities of the paper. I feel more practice on different paper types is in order.
I then added Neutral Tint to the sketch and this definitely allowed me to deepen areas to a proper shadow. The hue did change to a warmer, brownish tone, but this wasn't unpleasant,
just a little dull. It gave the sketch quite a vintage feel and could be quite useful in the right circumstances.
I wanted to lift the sketch a little and, resisting the ever-present urge to reach for my Luminance pencils, I found my white Gelly Roll gel pen to add some highlights and clouds to the scene. It's always fun doing this and often makes all the difference to a drawing.
I enjoyed creating this sketch today and will create more saucer sketches to try out other colour combinations. I'm really curious to try the Neutral Tint on its own as I love this colour on the palette. Working with watercolour over an ink drawing is a great way to relax and test out colours as you don't have to worry about creating so much shape and definition with the paint and can concentrate on tone and colour. If you don't want to invest in a fountain pen and ink, I can recommend the Sakura Micron fineliners or the Staedtler Pigment Liners. The Uni Pin Fineliners that are available in Bridge Bookshops in the Isle of Man are good too.
I'm off to prepare for the Christmas Open Studios at Grenaby now. The studios are open from 10am to 4pm tomorrow (Saturday 30th November) and we'll have lots of lovely, original art on show and for sale. I have prints, stickers, greetings cards and original art for sale, but I only have two coaster sets and one set of mugs left in the Isle of Man beaches range, so be quick if you'd like these.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow if you can make it.
Emma
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