I am testing my watercolours; types and shades
I have already told you (several times – yes, I know!), that I haven’t been drawing for almost 30 years – AND regarding watercolours: I am a novice. So there is much – VERY MUCH – for me to investigate.
Today I have been especially interested in the two colours Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna, and how they would blend and mix. As you can see from the test below I am testing two brands of colours; Van Gogh and Windsor & Newton
The Van Gogh colours are very “juicy” and delicious, but they thereby also have an inclination to dominate – as if they are fighting for attention.
To test colours on something other than a grid, I drew this quick sketch of a kind of imaginary renaissance structure (loosely based on Santa Maria Novella – making everything very easy …?).
This is what I wanted to test
- The difference between sketching with permanent ink and colour pencil
- The difference in colour tone and intensity between watercolurs from pans and watercolour pencils.
Conclusion
As I see it: my sketch is much more interesting when done in pen than in colourpencil – but: The heavy black linework is disturbing, and darkness should instead be added by darker shades of colour.
sub rosa 
I don’t find the black lines disturbing but maybe you can add them after laying down the watercolour? All blues are very insistent! I remember experimenting with the glazes and extenders for acrylic paint they started coming out with (20 years ago! I gave up oils because of the solvents making me ill) and even when I used the smallest, teeny tiniest amount of blue it still managed to stretch in a sort of fabric-like threadiness for miles. Have you tried different weights of paper? It can make a big difference to what you can do with watercolours.
And I love what you are doing! I have started to play around with paint again, you have inspired me. I am not showing anything however. I am a coward!
oh – but I would love to see!
Have you noticed the wonderful Urban Sketcher blog http://www.urbansketchers.org/, or visited Sketchbook Skool http://sketchbookskool.com/blog/?
Regarding paper – I have tested a few sketchbooks and am currently working in an Alpha by Stillman & Birn (https://www.stillmanandbirn.com/alpha.html), I like it because its good both for writing and drawing and even a bit of watercolour.
Wow, very interesting how…scientific (?) you are in developing the skills and analyzing what you want for outcomes.
I think this is my preferred mode of meeting things new to me – reading, writing or … sketching. The researchers way I guess … ?
🙂