Those of us who love books know what it’s like to go a little overboard in our collecting addiction! hobby. Once we run out of shelf space, we find new ways to stack, store, and display these treasures. If you’re like me, even your kitchen is game–under my wine rack I have two shelves dedicated to cookbooks. While I’ve never read them from cover to cover, they offer endless advice, and I value having them to refer to when I’m looking for a little structure for the next meal, rather than just throwing together random things that I find in the refrigerator and cabinets.
600 Watercolour Mixes also includes a chapter on Finding Your Subject: “This painting is more about sky than landscape,” says Sharon, “though the diminishing river and trees provide a sense of space. The clouds are achieved by leaving areas of white paper showing,then adding brushstrokes of grey to give them solidity. Vigorous brushstrokes add a sense of movement to the sky.”
But isn’t this the case for all reference books? When you’re passionate about something, it feels good to have something tangible in your hands to browse in your spare time, because while it doesn’t feel like work, it’s still honoring what you love: cooking, for example, and of course, art. That’s one reason that I chose Sharon Finmark’s 600 Watercolour Mixes, Washes, Color Recipes, and Techniques as one of my “Editor’s Picks” during the North Light Shop sale. It’s full of color combinations that you can use to inspire your next painting, or simply study for comparison (master works, as well as future possibilities). Here’s just a sample of what Sharon offers in this book:
Three Ways of Mixing Watercolours
Most watercolour paintboxes contain two pigments in each primary colour–red, yellow and blue–one in a warm and one in a cool version. The concept of warm and cool colours is an important one, as it is fundamental to successful colour mixing. Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine are warm, while Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue and Lemon Yellow are cool. These are the colours you should get to know best and the ones you should use for your first experiments in colour mixing. There are three different ways for artists to mix watercolours, each producing a different effect. The following examples use ultramarine and alizarin crimson.
1. Palette Mixing By mixing pigments on the palette you can make a graduated range of colours, influencing them by altering the proportions of the colours in the mix. When you mix two primary colours together the resulting mix is a secondary.
2. Overlaying In this method of mixing, a glaze of one colour is laid over a dry area of another colour to produce the new colour.
3. Wet-Into-WetThe third way of mixing is also on the paper, but on damp or wet paper so that one colour merges into the other. Where they meet they produce a new colour. ~Sharon Finmark
11 Must Have Watercolor Supplies for Beginners by Matt Fussell Perhaps you’re an experienced watercolor artist, or maybe you’re just starting out. Either way, there are several supplies that I feel are essential. You may not use them all in every painting that you create, but if you’re looking to stock up, here’s what I suggest having in your tool box… 1. Watercolor Paints Well there’s no doubt that you’ll need watercolor paint. But what brand and what type you should use really becomes a personal choice. Let’s look at your options… First, a note on low quality brands of paint. There are plenty of low quality brands of watercolor. Watercolor can be made very cheaply and for the lower quality brands, the price reflects this. You’ll see the price that you pay reflected in the quality of your painting as well. Using low quality paints will just lead to frustration, so my suggestion is stay away from the cheaper brands. Watercolor is produced in two main forms: Tub...
How To Get the Perfect Size Painting For Your Wall CAROLINE MCDONALD 7 COMMENTS It all started with a comment a customer made on our oversized art, Storm Over the Marsh (above). The customer expressed how much she loved the print, only she wished it came in a smaller size. “That was our aha moment,” says our wall decor buyer, Karen. “We have all this great art, typically offered in a single size, and the fact is people’s homes and walls are not one size only.” Thanks to that one customer comment, we’re excited to introduce new sizes for 30 of our top-selling prints and new art. Most of the selected art is now available in three sizes — what we consider medium, large and extra large — but actual sizes vary according to the proportion of the individual piece. “Now’s the time to check back and see if an old favorite is in the size you need,” Karen urges. “We also have some fantastic new art we’re really excited about, too.” This is wonderful news,...
Art Material Glossary Facts in books, information in glossaries, the ability to use them in our heads! If you are new to the arts you may have problems to decipher certain art material terms used in the arts field. Or you wonder what brand to get. To help you along, I added this little glossary as a guideline to make it easier to find the right materials when starting to draw or paint. Save Drawing Materials GRAPHITE PENCILS There are varied types of graphite pencils. When you buy a set, make sure that you get one with a 4h and 2h otherwise buy them single. All brands are really fine. I personally use the Faber Castell graphite and Staedler pencils. Staedler is cheaper and a little lighter than the Faber Castell. Faber Castell are the only pencils with an added inner core strength so that the pencils don't break inside when they fall. SKETCHPAD The paper we draw on is of importance. In my time as commercial illustrator I tried man...
1. Palette Mixing By mixing pigments on the palette you can make a graduated range of colours, influencing them by altering the proportions of the colours in the mix. When you mix two primary colours together the resulting mix is a secondary.
2. Overlaying In this method of mixing, a glaze of one colour is laid over a dry area of another colour to produce the new colour.
3. Wet-Into-Wet The third way of mixing is also on the paper, but on damp or wet paper so that one colour merges into the other. Where they meet they produce a new colour. ~Sharon Finmark
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