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“There are things you can’t reach” by Mary Oliver

“There are things you can’t reach” by Mary Oliver

“There are things you can’t reach. But
You can reach out to them, and all day long.

The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god.

And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier.


I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.

Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
As though with your arms open.”

by Mary Oliver

New Watercolor Palette Loaded and Ready to Paint!

New Watercolor Palette Loaded and Ready to Paint!

I finally made the choices for 40 colors on my new watercolor palette!
I made a color chart for each color.  I always recommend making a color chart of the colors on your palette because sometimes you can’t really tell what the color looks like sitting there in the well.

On my chart I list the manufacturer as well.  Then I get the chart laminated a Staples so that it will hold up and not fall apart if it gets wet.  I abbreviate the manufacturer names as follows:
Daniel Smith = DS
Winsor Newton = WN
Sennelier = Senn.
Holbein = HB
Schmincke = Schmin.
I hope you can read the chart that I made shown in these photos. 

Working my Way Around the Color Wheel

Working my Way Around the Color Wheel

I am using my color wheel to pick my colors to go on my new palette.  I went from my yellows to oranges, reds, purples, blues and now finally greens.  I weeded out lots of colors that are too similar or that don’t interest me by using my little color swatches that I painted (see previous posts).  It is time to start laying out the tubes of paint in the order that matches the colors on the color wheel.

More About Yellow Watercolors

More About Yellow Watercolors

I like to make a color swatch of each color.  This takes some time but it is fun to do!  You can learn a lot about your colors this way.  I start by cutting pieces of watercolor paper 3″ x 1.5″.

I write the name of the color and the manufacturer of the paint on the back side of the paper.  Then I wet the front of the paper and paint it.  I try to have lay the color on thick and thin to see how dark it can get.  When it is dry I write the name of the paint on the front of the paper.

When I decide on a color, I start to lay the tubes of paint around my palette to see where they will go.

Yellow

Yellow

Starting with the color yellow, I took a look at all the tubes of paint I own.  I have a lot of tubes of paint!!!
I want a well rounded representation from cool yellows to warmer yellows.  To best see the colors, I painted little samples on watercolor paper.  Then I organized them according to the color wheel.

I always check the information that is available on the tubes of paint.  Paint manufacturers often switch out pigments but maintain the same name of the color.  Here is an example:
This is an example of Sennelier’s Indian Yellow.  The older tube on the left is made up of PY153.  The newer tube on the right is made up of PY 154, and PY 153.  They do look different!
New Watercolor Palette!

New Watercolor Palette!

What a treat for me to get a new watercolor palette!  People often ask me what colors I use and how do I set up my palette.  I want to share with you the best way to set up a new watercolor palette.
This is the biggest palette that I have ever bought.  This is the Mijello Silber Nano Palette.

It has room for 40 colors!  Yippee!!!

Now the fun part is to decide which colors will go where.  I always use a color wheel to figure out where to put my colors.

The first thing to do is to pull out the tubes of color that I want to add to my new palette.  This will take some time and careful thought.

Jacqueline Newbold DVDs

Jacqueline Newbold DVDs

Good Colorful Morning!  

Are you new to watercolor and not sure how to get started?  I have just the DVD for you!  It is Watercolor Toolbox One offered for sale through Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat.  

I take you step-by-step on everything you need to know about painting with watercolor.  Exploring techniques to get you started on your artistic journey, you will learn the correct way to set up a palette and care for your watercolor art supplies.  
You will also learn a variety of basic watercolor techniques.  All your examples can be put into a file or journal creating a toolbox for future reference.  This workshop on DVD is the perfect introduction to watercolor painting! 
Using Black Gesso

Using Black Gesso

I wrote an article for Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine a while back about creating a very interesting journal page using black gesso.  It is a favorite technique of mine and love the look of it in my journals!

Jeannine Stein blogged about it at the Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog.
Here is a little of what she had to say:
In the article “Black-and-White Journal Pages” in the same issue of Pages, Jacqueline Newbold has a fantastic technique for prepping art journal pages and turning them into paper art. Start by painting a watercolor border on all sides of the paper. The beauty of this technique is that even if you’re not that familiar with watercolor, you really can’t go wrong. I sprinkled table salt on some areas of the wet paint to get a textured effect. 

PAINTING in Italy 2018

PAINTING in Italy 2018

I am very happy to announce that I am teaching again in Orvieto, Italy, September 11 – 16, 2018! Consider joining me on this wonderful journey.  Painting in Italy is offered through Adventure in Italy.  I have very fond memories of our painting workshop in 2014 creating colorful memories in our watercolor journals.  We had so much fun exploring Orvieto – what great food, wonderful wine tasting, friendly people and it was so inspiring to be surrounded by beautiful Italian art!
If you have taken a workshop with Adventures in Italy before, you will get a 10% discount for being a returning artist.

Let’s paint together!
Here are a few photos of our joyous time together: