Latest Posts
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Do artistic compositions need a focal point?
In art, the focal point, or center of interest, is the spot in the scene where viewers’ eyes go first and linger longest. But what if your scene doesn’t have a specific focal point? Does it need one?
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Color Spotlight/Palette Review: Joyce’s Mother Violet
I’ve previously reviewed the palette of Joyce Hicks, as described in her book How to Paint Beautiful Watercolor Landscapes. Hicks has a brand agreement with Da Vinci Paints, who sell a couple of different Joyce Hicks themed palettes, with slight differences. The one that intrigued me most is the “Mother Violet” palette, which proposes using…
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Mix Your Own Pyrrol Crimson Hue
When exploring the quinacridone red hues, I became interested in how to mix a slightly deeper crimson, like Pyrrol Crimson (PR264).
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The two-for-one painting method!
Just a quick post to share a method I use sometimes that’s sometimes helpful: painting the same scene twice simultaneously, layer by layer.
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Call for Shadow Paintings & Summer 2026 Palette Review
How was your Colorful Shadows month? If you painted any colorful shadows and you’d like them featured on an upcoming blog post, please email them to me logan @ idyllsketching.com and include the name you want credited, by Wednesday, September 9, 2026. While I’m in review mode, I wanted to use most of this post…
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Mix Your Own Quinacridone Red Hue
The term “quinacridone red” can be used by different brands for different colors, but today I’m referring to Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Red (PV19), which is basically just a redder-hued version of Quinacridone Rose (PV19). Crimson in masstone and rose-pink in dilute, it sits somewhere between a typical Quinacridone Rose and an Alizarin Crimson hue. This…
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Shapes Plus Value Plus Color: Making Color Sing, Chapter 22
In the chapter 21 of Making Color Sing, we covered shapes. I was right to suspect this non-color chapter was a building block; chapter 22 covers assigning a value scale and colors to those shapes.
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How do I make granulation happen?
Watercolor artists and fans often go gaga for granulation, the textured appearance from paints with large pigment particles. But just buying granulating paints isn’t always enough to get that beautiful textured appearance seen in paintings or commercial swatches. It also takes the right technique to coax out maximum texture. Today, I did some experiments to…
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MVP: Minimum Viable Painting
Recently I’ve been enjoying making simple daily watercolor scenes where I ask myself “what’s the least I can do to call this painting done?”
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My Palette Formula
Over the years as I’ve build different seasonal and situational palettes, I’ve gradually converged on a formula. These are the color slots that I find most useful in a small-to-medium palette of 10 to 18 wells.
