Trying out some New Watercolors

Art Supplies, Watercolor

Some time ago I ordered several new watercolours, because Schmincke just recently introduced 36 new colors and I wanted to try some of them. Also they were giving a free dot chart to the first 100 orders in Jackson’s, so I thought it is a good idea to order now and get the dot chart, so I can try all the colors and decide which ones I absolutely must have… Along with Schmincke, I ordered some Daniel Smith too, three colors that I wanted for some time:

So, today and yesterday morning I was just making random doodles to try out the colors. I am happy with my choice, especially the Mars Blue and Green Apatite by Daniel Smith and French Ultramarine by Schmincke, which are all beautiful granulating paints. Also, I wanted that Opera Rose for a long time, and now I got a big tube (they did not have smaller) so there will be plenty of Opera pinkish paintings coming up. It will be great for my mandalas! Here are the two test doodle pages:

New Watercolors

Art Journal, Art Supplies, She thinks positive journal, Watercolor

Yesterday we went to the local mall because the weather was too bad to go out, we had coffee and a walk around and, of course, we visited the art shop. They had one new interesting thing: White Nights watercolors. They are Russian and therefore cheaper than other fine watercolor brands. I bought a 24 pan box.

Last night I made some swatches:

They are very pigmented, except the browns, which are a bit pale. They mix nicely too, mixes of green and blue being my favorite, of course. The only thing I really do not like is that they did not come in a plastic or metal box, but in the cardboard with plastic insert, so even though I can cover them now, the paper will eventually tear, leaving them with no protection. I do have a big metal box I use for my other ‘orphan’ pans, so I will need to attach a magnet on the bottom of the pans and put them there. Not a big deal, but still…

This morning I painted a new girl in She Thinks Positive Journal. It was done entirely with these paints:

I find them very staining, opaque, and hard to lift, so they are a bit unforgiving. They will require some getting used to, but I think it will be worth it because I really like the vibrancy. I will try diluting them more, which will require use of a separate palette, due to afore mentioned cardboard packaging. I have yet to try them on real watercolor paper. This in my journal is just sketching paper with a layer of gesso, not really the ‘right’ surface for wet media.

Today I am traveling and will take them with me to use next week. Let’s see what happens.

New Pencils

Art Journal, Art Supplies, Colored Pencils, Faces, Play Journal

I’ve had really little time for art these past 3-4 days. I started several things, but did not finish any yet, so I have nothing to show you. Except… My new colored pencils arrived yesterday and I am super excited about them. I had just little time to try them in my play journal – started a face, very quick one, but I can tell you that even on this crappy paper the pencils behave like nothing I’ve seen until now. And I do have Faber-Castell Polychromos, which are professional pencils and very good of course, so I know what I am talking about. I am not saying Polychromos are bad, they are just different, so the comparison is not completely fair. I think that the two could work wonders in combination. I have to try.

So, Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901… They are wax based, same as Prismacolor, just much more expensive but, I think, worth the price, judging from the first 20 minutes I used them. I cannot compare them to Prismacolors, because I have never used those. I have heard many times that people are unhappy with Prismacolors being very prone to breaking, so I did not even want to try my luck with them. These are not supposed to be breaking, according to the reviews I read. I haven’t tried sharpening them yet, so I cannot say, but will let you know.

What I can say is that they are super soft and creamy and that they blend miraculously well even on this paper which is not meant for drawing at all. They cover the surface very quickly and with bright colors, and seem to last very long – after what I did, they seem hardly used at all. I kind of expected that they would be shrinking very fast judging from the amount of pigment they leave on paper. And there are so many colors (76) that I am positively overwhelmed. I hope that I will have some more time tomorrow morning to explore….

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