Diana Trout's blog

Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Primatek Watercolor

Here is another beautiful Primatek color from Daniel Smith. It's mined from the Sleeping Beauty mountains in Arizona(?). I loved swatching this one out and using it as a blue in a primary triade palette. Watch the video on YouTube here Sorry for the background noise, my ac is on... Read more →

Watercolor Swatches: Blues

Here are all of my Blues. Wouldn't it be wonderful to put all of your blues away into little pockets and choose when to have a look? And by the way, I'm not feeling so blue anymore and I'll be back with an update soon(ish). Watch here on YouTube You... Read more →

Swatching All of My Yellow Watercolor Paints

I had loads of yellow watercolors and a couple were the same PY. Not very happy-making, that. Another good reason for paying attention to the pigment numbers. I'm happy to be through this part of my process this year and will have the rest of these swatch videos up by... Read more →

Swatching All of My Green Watercolors

I'm swatching Green watercolors today for a belated nod to St. Patrick's day. I love green and use it often so it's useful for me to have a few greens. How about you? QoR's Green Gold makes me think of those fuzzy little seeds that fall from trees in spring.... Read more →

Daniel Smith PrimaTek Watercolor & Brushes Haul Video from DickBlick

I am pretty jazzed about these new watercolors and brushes so wanted to share this haul with you. The Prima Tek watercolors from Daniel Smith (and Blick) are the stars of this show. Mined from minerals and stone, they are textured and glittery (some) and scrumptious. You can read more... Read more →

How I Fell in Love with Quinacridone Coral

It's true. I fell hard. Oh PR 209! Where have you been all of my life. LOL. My decision not to buy any more paint until I swatched all my paints out went right out the window when I found this tube at a local art supply (Artist & Craftsman... Read more →

Color Mixing in My Art Journal

I had some leftover paints out in my porcelain mixing cups and figured I'd turn on the camera and use them up! In my Dina Wakely Art Journal: In my Chunky. By the way, I've had many requests for a tutorial on making a Chunky journal. I am putting a... Read more →

Beginner's Watercolor Flower Painting

After Wednesday's video on beginner watercolor supplies, how could I resist doing a little painting? Check out the simple techniques in today's video. I stuck to the supplies I outlined in Wednesday's blogpost. No cheating LOL. There are far fewer decisions to make with limited supplies and beginner painters are... Read more →

How to Make a Color Swatch Journal

How much fun is it to make color swatches? Right! I love it. Several years ago, I found the Arc or Levenger disc binding system and it's absolutely perfect for keeping this kind of an ongoing notebook. You'll see more in the video. The hole punch is kind of pricey... Read more →

Watercolor 101: Palette Setup

I've had some requests lately on how to use tube watercolors (or gouache) to set up a palette. Here you go! This is a video showing Winsor & Newton gouache paints but the same applies for watercolor. (Affiliate links below). I like to use a folding palette for gouache and... Read more →