Major art supplies haul

I have been waiting for this order for over a month. It was held up in the pandemic lockdown. Finally!

A basic set of Gouache

Fingers crossed that this works out. I have heard mixed reviews on the brand. It is less than half the price of the major brands though.

An amazing looking watercolor palette

This looks like one of the best options available. I will be filling it with W&N Cotman colors. Sometimes I feel guilty about all the palettes I have purchased (6 of them now) but then I realize they are all in currently use except one.

New sketchbook! And papers

Looking forward to using this spiral bound sketchbook with mixed media paper. Right now I am using a bound cartridge paper book that was only $5. It isn't very good with water at all as you might guess. Not pictured: Tracing paper.

More drawing supplies

India ink, ink droppers, bamboo pen, gum eraser a couple of small brushes. Not pictured: Erasing shield.

More Cotman colors

I am upgrading from the Staedtler student set ($16.99 for 24) to these ($4.99-$9.99 for 1). They are still student grade but are a big step up. I have about 21 Cotman colors now.

Comments

Work from "101 Watercolor techniques" - Exercise 005

This exercise was a bit of a struggle for a beginner. Believe it or not the result below is the third attempt. The point of the exercise was to get a result of depth on the paper using only analogous colours and without using color gradation. I am sure I learned something from it. What I think I struggled with among other things was "water control" - keeping the water within the small leaf areas from running. Learning: As I went along I had a little bit more freedom with the strokes. I started to notice how the exercise author was using negative space and tried to replicate it. \

Work from Everyday Watercolor - Day 4 - Abstract composition

Another challenging exercise. This time working on day 4 of the popular book Everyday Watercolor . This seemed to take way longer than expected by the author. It took time to pick out the 6 colours. I like the set I picked well enough but don't love them. The exercise challenge is to balance warm and cool colors, stay within lines and practice painting right next to previous washes of paint. This seems to work on water control and gauging drying time. I also got a bit of practice fixing mistakes. I had a couple of large blooms I wanted to fix and one or two drops that got outside of lines. I was very happy with the Winsor and Newton Cotman #6 brush this time. The springy tip did a great job cleaning up tiny edges. Previously I had issues with this brush dumping little bits of water and the tip "squaring off" sort of but not this time. Maybe it was the amount of paint I was using? Learning: Choosing and using a larger palette (6+ colors) Water control Fixing mistakes b...

Learning resources: Books I am using, February 2021

Videos are the best but I still like learning from books. I purchased a few. I get some in physical form from the library and I get a lot of books in e-book form from the library. I am currently working though the following books of tutorials to improve my technique. Everyday Watercolor, Jenna Rainey I am just starting this one now. It starts out simple but looks like it builds to a good level of challenge. I have been struggling a bit lately so I am looking forward to working through some simple exercises to build confidence. Watercolor Basics: Let's get started, Jack Reid This book has a lot of tutorials. It starts by drilling 4 methods: Flat wash Graduated wash Wet-in-wet Drybrush I like this book a lot and should write a full review. It just went back to the library so it will be a few weeks until I have it back. 101 Watercolor Techniques, Parramón Editorial Team I got this in my order of bargain books. It's actually pretty good. The exercises are basica...

Crashing water

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