Diana Trout's blog

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 technical info here. 

I was noticing that adding more water, pigment or picking up color with a damp brush creates even more texture. I think you can see that in these photos but will doing more playing and sharing. 



I played with the brushes some while we were away visiting friends in Vermont and Massachusetts. Working mostly with the Silver Black Velvet brushes. I was alarmed when a couple of hairs came out of one of them while I was swatching in today's video but haven't had any trouble since. They are very soft brushes and hold a good amount of water. 

You can watch today's video here on YouTube. Like, Subscribe, Comment, Share. Thanks, it helps my YouTube channel.  

Here is a list of what I purchased at DickBlick. You can use my affiliate link, here. There are pictures with links below. I get a commission on sales with no cost to you.

Liquitex Gesso
Liquitex Matte Medium
Archival Ink, Black refill
Color Wheel!
Princeton Neptune Quill No. 6
Princeton Neptune Oval Wash 1"
Silver Black Velvet 2, 4, 10 & 16
Escoda Versatil 22
#4 Watercolor Sable Rigger

Daniel Smith Watercolors
French Ultramarine
New Gamboge
Sap Green
Perylene
Moonglow (Swatched)

Prima Tek Colors Swatched
Green Appatite
Sapphire

Strathmore Series 400 Watercolor paper

 

• Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors
• 
• Price: $7.16

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Gesso
• 
• Price: $5.15

• Escoda Versatil Brushes
• 
• Price: $9.59

• Silver Brush Black Velvet Brushes
• 
• Price: $14.40

 

 

Sumptuous Painted Paper

Three cheers to paint all the paper! I taught this class again a couple of weekends ago in the studio. It's a spin-off of my Playful Papers dvd and I have taught many variations. You can see pictures from the class here.

The process is pretty straight forward. Take paints and inks and spritz, drop, paint, spread around, drip, print, stencil. It's just good fun really.  Everything winds up looking fab. Watch your color families. Stay in analogous (neighborhood) color: red, orange, yellow or blues and greens. You don't really want mud here. 

The papers are great for collage, journaling, cards, mixed media canvases or any paper projects. I've made flower collages from them and used them for paper cloth. Or a tag book: good stuff. 

Enjoy the video. And check out that neat little extra technique I discovered. Spray the water through a stencil, lift the stencil and then spray the in. Very cool look. Supply list is below along with links to the other two blog posts on this topic - my inky holiday hauls :)

Use what you have. The following supply list are affiliate links. I get a % of the sale at no cost to you. Thanks for your support.

Watercolors, Stencils & Yupo

Ooopa! This a technique that I've been playing with for a couple of months now. Here are a bunch of photos from my play time over the past week (or so). The video and supplies are linked below. 

The indigo paint and Yupo paper in my July Artsnacks box inspired me to try the technique on Yupo. 

Fun results are very easy to obtain! Spread the paint out and lay the stencil down right into the wet paint. Set it aside, leaving the stencil in place until it's try (or there are no puddles left). Try to avoid peeking. Good luck with that.

Any kind of stencil will work. Just keep the stencil in scale to the paper size. In other words, I was working on those mini pieces of Yupo so used small scale stencils. 

I played with blowing, splashing, dropping and water and sucking color up with a damp brush. Great stuff! It's easy to get fingerprints onto the Yupo paper and it will resist paint a little. I solved the problem by using an embossing bag which has a powder in it that neutralizes any oils. 

I hope you'll give this technique a try. Any kind of watercolor and paper will work. Use darker colors for more dramatic results. I imagine any watersoluble crayons will work well too. Just make sure the paper is very wet when you lay the stencil down.

I used Phthalo Green and Indigo on the paper above and, honestly!, that is just so cool looking! I love the way the colors separate in some places and mix in others. Very cool. Oh! I used mineral paper on that one. But that's a story for another day.

 

That should keep you all busy for a while! 

Affiliate Links*

 

QoR Indigo Watercolor	Daniel Smith Indigo	Princeton Snap! Brushes	Escoda Versatil Brushes (#22)	Princeton Elite Synthetic Sable #6
Yupo Synthetic Paper	Yupo Paper	QoR Modern Watercolors from Golden	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil BLOCKS THS059	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil TRACKS THS044
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil BLOCKS THS059	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil PLUS THS053	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil BURLAP THS007	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil BUBBLE THS002	Inkadinkado EMBOSSING MAGIC Powder Bag 05847

InLinkz.com

*These are affiliate links. I get a percentage of the sale with no extra cost to you. By using my links you help me support my channel and blog.

 

How To: Mix Patterned Papers

Let's mix it up in today's video ... 

Mixing patterns can be such fun if you understand a few tricks. The same guidelines apply to clothes, decorating your home and art. And the tips aren't hard. 

1. Find your inspiration paper with color and a large pattern
2. Isolate the colors
3. Find papers with those colors and smaller or geometric prints
4. To build out further, find another inspiration piece that contains another color (or two)
5. Repeat steps 2 and 3!

Use the papers for art journal pages. I love using them as borders around a page or box that will contain some writing. You can use these papers for layers on cards. Sew or weave the scraps together and create tags or ATC's. Include some hand painted papers in the mix for a more personal look.

If you don't have paper pads, you may have a failed painting (or at least I do ;) Cut it up and use it as your inspiration. Pull old book pages, gelli prints, leftover stencils bits. Use What You Have this weekend and play with paper. 

How to Paint on Japanese Paper

I'm a paper addict. I love the stuff. I've never held a paper that didn't immediately ask me to bring it home. Japanese papers hold a special place in my heart for its paradox of light as a feather, strong as an ox. Sumi-e paper, aka "rice" paper, is a long fiber very thin paper that is used in Japanese calligraphy and painting. It's fragile when wet but very durable when dry. I use it as a spine reinforcement in bookbinding. 

If you read/watched theblogpost on Etegami cards (Part 1 and Part 2), the techniques used are the same as techniques I used in today's video. 

The amount of paint to water determines the value in watercolor. More paint, deeper value. More water: lighter value. When you use a lot of water on Sumi-e paper, the color spreads mercilessly. There is no controlling it. It's a tidal wave.

 

In today's video, you'll see a bit more about working with this magical paper while I paint patterns to be used in a card project. I matched the paint colors to a few ink pad colors to tie everything in together when I made the cards. 

As usual, 

These are affiliate links. I get a percentage of the sale with no extra cost to you. By using my links you help me support my channel and blog.

 

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 but you can use a binder system for keeping all of your palettes or swatches in one spot.

I swatch everything from my paints to markers and colored pencils. There are great charts available over at Ranger Ink for their inks, sprays and paints. Go here to download. Very handy. Here is a link for Prismacolor colored pencils. That chart doesn't print the top line for me but it may just be my printer. 

I've had loads of questions lately about watercolor: brands, mixing, how much paint to water, etc. My best advice is to pull out three primary and the three secondary colors and play with them. Look (above) at how many colors you can get with just the three primary. 

Here is the video showing a close up of my Color Book. My next video will be on creating a palette with six colors. 

The Arc Binding System is available at Staples stores and online. It'll come right up if you google it. 

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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 watercolor. I let the paint dry and close the case. When I'm ready to paint again, I open the case and give the paints a hearty spray of  water. Let things sit for a few minutes and the paints are ready to go again. There is no difference between high quality pan paints and tube paints. The advantage with tube paints is that you can choose your own palette. 

You'll see the palette I chose in the video. I'll go into color choice in the next video.

I'll be adding videos to this "101" series over the next several weeks. 

 

Here are the affiliate links for this particular video (originally published in December 2015).

 

Japanese Watercolor Postcards, Part 2

Hello dear friends, below is the last bit of video I compiled from my splashing about with my new watercolors and etegami paper. What a magical process! Honestly. It is like having a new kitten! (No offense Teddy.) Find the first post/video here. 

I'm guessing here but would say that the etegami paper is layers of sumi-e paper and other papers that give it more rigidity. Another guess is that the higher the "blur" factor the lighter the sizing in the paper. Sizing is what keeps paint and ink from running on your paper. I'll confirm this with JetPens.

This is the magic, the bounty, the delight of watercolor. The color runs in unexpected ways. It has no mind, it finds the way to flow. Your hand is a facilitator.  The paper used encourages it to flow more or less. This particular paper, like sumi-e paper*, is like a good parent, allowing the "child" to become what she was meant to.  

Watercolor is a perfect metaphor in my mind. 

My artist's eye sees more to be done with these small works. "There aren't lights and darks!" "Emphasize this or that!" "Balderdash."** There is a mastery to Sumi-e painting but I've largely ignored that here, wild Westerner that I am. Enjoy the last bit of video. I sincerely apologize for the lighting. 

Here are the supplies I used from JetPens

*Sumi-e paper is a very light weight paper, slightly transluscent  used for calligraphy and black ink paintings in Japan. The paper is unsized or lightly sized. It's usually in a roll. 

** Balderdash: senseless talk or writing; nonsense. Late 16th century (denoting a frothy liquid; later, an unappetizing mixture of drinks): of unknown origin.

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors

Akashiya Etegami Papers

Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Menso Brush - Medium - Horse and Goat Hair

Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Menso Brush - Small - Kolinsky Hair

Sumi e Paper from Blick Art Supplies (this is sold in pad form)

 

Japanese Watercolor Postcards (Part 1)

I finally had a chance to sit down and focus on my new birthday supplies! I've played enough with the Gansai Tambi watercolors to recommend them.  (All supplies are linked below the video). I plan to complete an opacity swatch today.  These paints are creamy ("soft")  and some of the colors are opaque. That's typical of Japanese watercolors. The pigment load is good, especially for the price point. The mensa brushes hold a lot of paint. 

The paper is a 3-ply postcard sized paper. The top layer being a type of sumi-e paper. Yes,  it bleeds! These postcards have different "blurs." The card I'm using in this video is Blur 4. It's used for the Japanese tradition of Etegami. Tegami means "letter" in Japanese. The point of this is to paint, simply and casually. Then address the card and put it in the mail. No "practice." Just a simple expression.

There are some tips in the video for working with this type of paper. You won't have complete control. Surprises! Here's the video. Part 2 should be up for Friday. Enjoy! If you have a chance, click the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video and subscribe, share, like and comment. That helps me out a lot. 

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors: http://to.jetpens.com/1WyWAAe

Akashiya Etegami Papers: http://to.jetpens.com/1TjOoR4

Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Menso Brush - Medium - Horse and Goat Hair: http://to.jetpens.com/1OEt1hg

Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Menso Brush - Small - Kolinsky Hair
http://to.jetpens.com/1TGOjHj

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Fridays's Live Stream was a success! Yay! I had great help. I hope that this video will inspire you and give you an easy way to work in your journal. You can apply this drawing game technique anywhere and with any media. I've done it with Crayolas with little kids and paint brushes on canvas with adults. It's just fun to take your pen for a wander and then doodle, color and add patterns inside the shapes. Go ahead and color outside the lines too! 

I've provided links for most of the products I've used. Many thanks to JetPens for providing me with some new supplies to introduce. The Deleter Neopiko pens are very nice to use; similar in quality to the Zig Clean Color. The colors are different so they are an expansion to your palette.

All of these dye-based brush markers, including Tombow and Distress work very well together. Children's markers work too! 

As a general note, you'll find that most art supplies at similar prices are similar. I like the color range of the Neopiko 4's and will probably pick up a few more. 

 

Deleter Neopiko 4 Watercolor Brushes: http://to.jetpens.com/1TanP0f
Global Art Fluid Watercolor Blocks: http://to.jetpens.com/1SDmnnz
Caran d'Ache Technalo Graphite Pencils: http://to.jetpens.com/1O0LQ8G
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors: http://to.jetpens.com/1WyWAAe
I just started practicing with brush lettering. It does take practice! I am using Creative Lettering and Beyond. There are some great tips, a few fonts and space in the book to practice. I also love Jenny Doh's Creative Lettering. 

Here are some brush pens that I enjoy. 

Pilot Futayaku Double-Sided Brush Pen: http://to.jetpens.com/1PlyaL9
Sailor Fude Nagomi Double-Sided Brush Pen: http://to.jetpens.com/1PlyaL9

Here's the live stream recording. See below for more affiilate link supplies. 

Use what you have. The following are affiliate links. I get a percentage of the sale at no cost to you. Thanks for helping support my channel/blog this way.