Getting ready...

I'm off to Montrose again this weekend for another Sketch Journaling workshop with Brenda Swenson. Three days of intense and concentrated drawing and painting--is it a vacation, is it a treat, or is it work? Maybe all three?

Anyway, after coping with some of the inadequacies of my watercolor palette the last time out (notably all the opaque cadmium paints), I decided to splurge a bit and go buy some new colors, and today I washed out my palette (which was mostly pretty low anyway) and started over. I have a mix of Daniel Smith, Windsor Newton, Holbein, Graham, and some French brand whose name I can't remember, but I made sure to get a few colors that Brenda recommended and with which I became enamored when I saw them in her paintings: Holbein Leaf Green and Cobalt Violet Light, Daniel Smith Quincrinadone Rose and Naples Yellow, Winsor Orange, and some Lunar Black, also from Daniel Smith, which granulates beautifully for washes.

My arrangement was likewise kind of haphazard before, so this time I tried to get like color ranges in the same area together, at least. Some of the colors' packaging was deceptive and I didn't quite get everything perfectly graduated by shade, but it's a lot closer than before!

Now I will follow Brenda's instructions by leaving this open to air out and solidify a bit for a day and a night, and then stick my thumbprint in each one to create a well into which I can introduce water when it's time to paint. I'll bet my mixing and painting experience is much more rewarding and successful with this reorganization.