Folio One (A4 Moleskine Folio Sketchbook)

[virgo68]

Robert, beautiful vibrant colours, I like the Mayan Dark Blue - perfect for the berries. A lovely page

[robertsloan2]

Thank you both! I first ran into the flowers on the right when I lived in San Francisco. I found a large clump of them in Golden Gate Park. Someone with me told me they were Fuchsia, which probably isn't the scientific name but is their common name. They were very vivid, but different bushes had slightly different hues. Most of them had fuchsia in either the top part or the bell under the top part, some just had two values of fuchsia.

The reds and oranges tend to be very close together and worse, to flatten out in scans. I noticed the Cadmium Hues come very close to the Cadmiums in brightness and hue, given labeling differences. Cadmium Orange from Winsor & Newton leans more toward yellow than the Cadmium Orange Hue here. Cadmium Red Medium is pretty close to its Hue though the W&N one is a hair more orangy.

The biggest difference seems to be that the actual Cadmiums are one step more opaque, handling more like Yellow Ochre than a transparent color like Alizarin Crimson. Depending on the effect you want, you might still want actual Cadmiums in a painting. But these Hues aren't toxic and they're a great match in terms of brightness, which seems to be a lot of what Daniel Smith was going for in creating them.

I liked the Mayan Dark Blue too, it's a good muted deep blue. Might go well with an earth tones triad, yellow ochre or Quinacridone Gold and an earth red. Or with a bright warms, muted cools triad.

[mhimeswc]

Your color studies could make a great book for beginner artists, Robert. Much more interesting than the little grids and squares that most color theory books use.

[robertsloan2]

Wow, thanks Mickey. That would be a pretty cool idea. I know I'll get more into mixing in this book too, it's all demos of one kind or another.

Here's nine more of the new colors, with one repeat for Fuschia.


A4 Moleskine Watercolor Folio, Page 15
Color Explorations - Daniel Smith
8 1/4" x 11 3/4"
Daniel Smith watercolors and Pigma Micron pen
90lb cold press watercolor paper

All from memory or imagination.

[Vivien Maloney]

These watercolor and Pigma pen sketches are great. Love the whole page.

[DrDebby]

It's so fun to see your explorations of these new colors that you got. I like the concept of painting something with them rather than the squares or circles of color. It makes it more interesting and sticks better in my head. These are great examples of what the paints can do.

[robertsloan2]

Thank you both! Viv, try it when you get new watercolors. Or even with the same ones you're used to. It helps me a lot to understand exactly how the colors function when I'm shading out small monochrome paintings with them. It's also easier to compare them with similar colors.

Here's the rest of my new ones:


A4 Moleskine Watercolor Folio, Page 16
8 1/4" x 11 3/4"
Daniel Smith watercolors and Pigma Micron pens
90lb cold press watercolor paper.
All from imagination except for the rose, which is from a reference by Faafil.

[DrDebby]

I looked at this page and notice the "Amethyst Genuine" and thought, "Of, course, what else would you paint but a piece of amethyst?" More great examples. And such wonderful paint names.

[robertsloan2]

Thank you! I love the Daniel Smith watercolors. They're strong, they dissolve so easily and handle so well that it's a joy using them. They're right up there with Winsor & Newton for me but come in those big tubes so I've got more to work with using them. I have a lot of watercolors, if I tried to do this with everything I might fill the book and head on into another.

Next page is combinations and mixing, I've gotten started on it with three shells but reread the rules for the forum and noticed Yorky said not to post partial images of a page but wait to post the page when it's done and put any detail images in the same post with the page. I'm not sure people are really paying attention to that rule but I post so much that I probably should.

[Jakesgram]

Oh goodness! My mouth is watering over some of those lush new colors you have. I also really enjoy seeing the images you come up with to test out the new colors. It truly is so much more useful than seeing little square charts - although little square charts are a lot better than nothing!!!

I've always been a sucker for sepia, and I love your little sepia bird. Also love the Mayan Dark Blue and the lovely brown you got mixing MDB and Mayan Orange! So rich!!! AND pretty much every color on page 16. (I don't need any more colors, I don't need any more colors, I DON'T need any more colors) Hope my mantra works.

Very nice work, Robert!

Jean

[robertsloan2]

Jean, good luck with the mantra. It's too tempting, especially when Daniel Smith puts new colors on sale in sets or triads and they send out those dot samples to try. Sometimes all I really need for a painting is a primary triad. But at the same time all these new colors are inspiring and I find new ways to use them every time I order more.

I do the swatch tests too, just haven't posted them as often. I keep those in my first Moleskine, the one I post into on the Watercolor Gallery. Why not do both? Swatches, with a full strength and a washed out thin end on the rectangle. Then once you see how the color looks in a swatch, choose a subject that color and do it in monochrome or near-monochrome.

Here's a page where I haven't done monochromes, just used the colors and made some notes about pen and watercolor painting.


A4 Moleskine Watercolor Folio, Page 17
8 1/4" x 11 3/4"
Color Pigma Micron pens and Daniel Smith watercolors
90lb cold press watercolor paper.
Everything on this page is from life.

[DrDebby]

I really, really like this style of drawing/painting. The shells are great. The tomato and amethyst are just awesome.

[robertsloan2]

Thank you! The tomato was difficult. My son in law set me the challenge of doing it several times as it ripens, though I may put it at different angles to do that. It'll be fun.