Latest Posts
-
Winslow Homer’s Palette, Part 2: The Studio Tour!
When I visited the Winslow Homer exhibition at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston last December, I attempted to reconstruct Homer’s palette based on an artifact on display and an article discussing chromatography analysis of his paintings. Recently, I traveled to the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, which offers seasonal tours of…
-
People have argued about lightfastness for 120 years
Recently, for Reasons, I was on archive.org perusing a 1900-era monograph about watercolor with the catchy title A descriptive handbook of modern water-colour pigments : illustrated with seventy-two colour washes skilfully gradated by hand on Whatman’s drawing paper: with an introductory essay on the recent water-colour controversy, by John Scott Taylor. Wouldn’t you know it?…
-
Baohong Masters Paper Review
I’ve had a sample pack of Baohong Masters paper on my to-review shelf for awhile, and of course, by the time I get around to it, they’ve jacked up their prices (at least in the U.S., likely due to tarriffs) and are no longer the great deal they used to be. Still, it’s worth checking…
-
Sky yellows are warmer than I think.
I just did two versions of the same sky, and I thought the difference was instructive so I figured I’d share. Here’s the sky. This has that blue to yellow gradient that I like to practice! Here are the two versions I made. The two versions differ in two major ways: On the left, I…
-
More on Shapes: Making Color Sing Chapters 24-25
I’m working my way through Jeanne Dobie’s Making Color Sing. Chapters 24-25 build on the idea of planning your shape structure, as introduced in Twelve Shapes: Making Color Sing Chapter 21 and developed in Shapes Plus Value Plus Color: Making Color Sing, Chapter 22. In the interest of moving along, I’ll combine these chapters.
-
An Autumn Palette 2026
It’s my favorite time of year: time to design my autumn palette! Autumn Palette 2026 I always end up changing my palette midway through the season, but here’s where I am starting. I decided to opt for a larger Folio Palette this year with 15 large pans. Top row: Middle row: Bottom row: Past Autumn…
-
A Love Letter to Convenience Colors: My Floral Palette
A lot of watercolor painters who know about pigments prefer single pigment colors. At least that’s what I’ve heard and seen. I am here for all the colors, not only the pigments. I love to swatch them and to paint with them! Let me convince you with this article that convenience colors can be as…
-
Unpainted Shapes: Making Color Sing Chapter 23
I’m working my way through Jeanne Dobie’s Making Color Sing. Chapter 23 is about negative painting and leaving areas of the painting white.
-
I hate watercolor mixing charts
What, me, the biggest proponent in the world of watercolor mixing charts, claiming to hate them? What??? Okay, I’m not talking about all mixing charts. I’m talking about a very specific, very common type that I find unhelpful.
-
Artist Palette Profiles: Brienne Brown
Brienne M. Brown is a watercolor landscape artist from Pennsylvania. She has private class subscription called Traveling Colors Studio and a free Youtube channel.
