fore edge painting - test

Press the book between two boards and see what happens when I apply watercolour.
 

Not too bad for my first fore edge painting. 

These are Japanese paints Gansai Tambi so they have a thicker texture than modern European Watercolours.  Think more like watercolours were like during Albert Durer's day.  (now that's a painter!) 

fall leaves

Playing with the leaf spot we get on maples.  

And upgrading my paint box.

 It's mostly Van Gogh and Cotman, along with some Rembrant, Winsor and Newton and the occasional Holbein from japan (but these are hard to get here).

There are some colours I use a lot more like Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre, so they get more pans.  I also left a special spot for Potters Pink as I would love to try that one day.  

(these blog entries are coming in a bit out of order, but I hope to catch up to the current day in a few months)

wizzard vs. chicken

 The granulation shows up even better when it's big.  

Painting that it's a doll is hard, so I just focused on the idea.  

But also, something was missing, so I added some gold ink to his robe and stars

moody paints vs wizzard

 

These are part of a granulating watercolour paint made by Van Gogh.  I think they are brilliant for this wizzard.  They make a wonderful dark mood.  

Wizzard vs potato

 The second thing that must happen is a Wizzard!  (comment if you know why it has two Z's)

Here our Wizzard is having a walk in the potato patch.  He loves potatoes.

Only, it goes all wrong somehow.

Details on how Nicole made this mighty wizzard here.

another felted chicken

 this is me just showing off another needle felted chicken by fairy grove creations

And my other favourite thing - coffee! 

(make note of how small that coffee plant is in the coffee bag, it comes back later)

Chickens

 To understand the next painting, two things must happen.  

First, chickens!

This is needle felted henny penny!  You can get your own epic chicken here.

bigger cathy

 This seems to capture her elusive personality best.  Handmade granulating watercolours 

cathy and handmade paint

 

A quick sample to see what these new watercolour paints can do.  Handmade paints are awesome! 

It's amplifies what I love about watercolours - the paints participate in the creation.  They flow and granulate adding texture and surprise.  

HannahLouMyers handmade watercolour paint review

A review from a new painter of HannahLouMyers handmade watercolours and a variation on the review I wrote here.

  

The magic of using good quality materials is something any craftsperson can relate to.  Like carving a beautifully grown apple branch into a spoon or knitting with lovingly handspun yarn.  Spaghetti sauce from homegrown tomatoes.  The materials add a flavour to the final project that is more than knowing where our ingredients come from, it adds a feeling of life to the final creation.  

So when I started learning how to paint this summer, I looked around for handmulled paints that would give this feeling to my paintings.  Commercial paints are lovely, but they feel like the pigment is flat on the paper and it takes a lot from the artist to add that extra dimension to the painting.  Thus the quest for handmulled paints began.

I suspect if I had spent as many hours painting as I did seeking out the perfect handmade paints, I would be a master painter by now.  But I finally settled on HannahLouMyers' handmade paints on etsy and I am over-the-moon happy with these paints.  (I just hope I'm worthy of them).

They look like handmade chocolates, but the inside is even better.  I bought the set of 6 handmade watercolour half pans in a tin.

Okay, I want to stop here and say that these paints smell amazing.  Like all the good memories of winter holidays in one tiny tin.  

The ingredients include clove oil for preservation and honey to help the paint flow smoothly.  Local honey!  This is another reason why I choose this maker as the shop is just the next city over and they source many of their ingredients locally.  

I hear you saying "alright already, but how does it paint?"

Before I decided what colours to get, I bought some dot cards.  These are small mounds of watercolours on a bit of paper we can use for swatching.  HannahLouMyers has generous size dots that I was not only able to see what the colour looks like, but to swatch and do some colour mixing to see which combination gave me the most versatile and useful palette.  

I am really glad I got some dot cards first because I had no idea that paints could be so lively.  It's not just the colour, but each paint has a personality it adds to the painting.  Some of these paints are so textured you can feel it on the page and it makes the most marvellous effect.  The thing is, I've only been painting for two months and I worried that my skill wasn't up for those paints... yet.  So I chose some of the calmer paints.  

The Colour Theory or Primary set has great mixing power so they were an obvious place to start.  The more muted yellow and red (forsythia and maple) are very much like my most used colours of yellow ochre and burnt sienna.  But different enough that I'm going to have fun learning what these paints can do.  As for choosing brine... well, that was an oddball for me.  Of all the colours I swatched, that was the one that sang to me most of all.  I don't know why or how to use this colour but I just knew it would improve my painting if I tried it.  

So, the next step is to swatch out a little cheat sheet for my tin until I can get to know the colours better.

I love this little set and the only big adjustment I've made is to add magnets to the bottom of the pans so they don't rattle around.

And a final comparison between commercially made paints and the hand mulled watercolours.

The commercial paints have the advantage of being consistent and predictable.  But when I see them next to the handmade watercolours, the handmade paints look more lively and the commercial ones flat.  

I'm very excited to try out these new paints, but I'm also worried that now I have them, I will be too afraid to use them because I'm not yet good enough.  I need to find something too paint soon so I can get over the fear.  There's no point having beautiful paints and not using them.  

additional to the original review:

I love these paints and I especially like that they include pigment information.  The pans are overflowing with paint and considering these are cheaper than commercial paints, I am definitely getting my money's worth.

What I didn't mention is how long shipping takes.  I've had things arrive the same day from that city, but it usually takes 2 to 3 business days to get here.  I'm very lucky if I get my order in under 3 weeks.  

The paints are less consistent than commercial versions, but I kind of like that as these paints participate in the art instead of just sitting where I put them.  

alpha

 It's nifty to see that watercolours can be this dramatic.  

Alpha watercolour beginnings

 Playing with salt to create a textured background, this hen is as dramatic as she is old.  Ancient sunken eyes make it hard to find her in the shadows.

Lady in watercolour

 I'm quite pleased with this watercolour chicken.  I was able to push the blacks quite dark and it comes close to sharing her personality.  Although the stylized comb and wattles are also an interesting element, I don't know if they worked as well.  

Her name is lady

 Because she is a lady.  

watercolour chicken

the chicken I'm ashamed to admit

 secret video and my first attempt at oil pastels.

It didn't go well. 

fig

 good enough for now, try again when my skills improve