Cerulean Is a Weird Color

I sat down to paint with nothing in mind. I really wanted to try out some basic shapes and forms - putting in some practice with flat washes and diffused edges. I didn't end up with a finished painting, but I do feel a little more comfortable with the paint.

As the title and picture would suggest, Cerulean is odd. Cotman brand Cerulean pigment has really weak tinting strength. Even in its most concentrated form, Cerulean is extremely light in color. Oddly enough, it is also the only hue in my palette that stains and separates on the page. I really like the effect it created on this sphere, but it's not appropriate for most things.

I appreciate that Cerulean is more subdued than Pthalo Blue; it just happens to go a little too far in the opposite direction. I may have to look into French Ultramarine for something in between the two.

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Rules and requirements (mostly for me)

Initially, I was taking a look at my scanner for the maximum dimensions of a painting. I realize now that archiving paintings is a bit more involved than posting 300x300 pixel GIFs. So, some of these pieces will need to be photographed. Others will be scanned (provided the paper doesn't curl too badly). Here is the rough draft of my proposed project: I will create 2-3 finished watercolor pieces every week for the year 2014 The minimum dimensions for each piece will be 4x6" (no maximum) Materials list: Watercolor paint (in tubes or cakes), watercolor pencils, brushes, India Ink, bamboo pen, white gouache, and gold paint pen. Subject matter will change with every painting. I know there is a lot a person can learn from painting the same subject over and over, but this is not that project. New paintings will be posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Expect extra posts to occur between those days. Since the whole purpose of this project is to learn, I plan on reading and resear...

Ice Skating Characters

What watercolor has taught me about drawing

The virtue of patience - building up values slowly from very light to very dark as necessary. Noticing small changes in neighboring values. Understanding that yellow isn't yellow, black isn't black, and red isn't red. Saving the white of the paper for the highest values. These are techniques and ideas that will take my drawings just a little further. I wanted to paint today. But again, I was frozen by the blank page. This drawing was the result of forcing myself to do something. I'm not sure how this would turn out as a painting - but it might be fun to do some little studies of its feathers and try to put something together. Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow is another opportunity to try again.

Rainbow Bisque

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