The post Comparing Winsor & Newton’s 4 Marker Pens appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Clever customers of ours for years have been using our free paper cutting service to receive crisp, clean and accurate half and quarter sheets of their favourite watercolour paper sheets. Now, however, we’ve made this service even more convenient. We’ve added a choice in your basket that comes up automatically for all qualifying watercolour papers so that as soon as you’ve selected your paper it can be pre-cut in-house, without you needing to add an order note.

How to use Jackson’s Art Supplies pre-cut watercolour paper service:

1. Select your watercolour sheets and add them to your basket.
2. Click on your basket and select from the drop down below each sheet if you want a sheet cut in half or in quarters.
3. Proceed through the checkout process as normal or keep shopping.
4. Enjoy your specially cut paper without the hassle of cutting it at home.

Screen shot of the watercolour paper cutting option selected for half sized sheets of Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress.

Why get your watercolour paper cut?

The best quality watercolour paper is often only available loose in large Imperial sheets measuring 30 x 22 inches (76 x 56cm) and while this size would make an impressive watercolour painting, it isn’t suitable for all watercolourists. For those who want to work in a smaller scale but still want to use the best watercolour paper available, getting sheets pre-cut means fewer processes to go through when the paper arrives. Choosing ready cut paper gives you the option of how many of each size you want, an option not available when using pads that often contain between 20 to 100 sheets. Using watercolour paper sheets that have been ready cut means you avoid the risk of ending up with small sheets that have damaged edges from pad glue or with roughly cut sheets that have been ineffectively cut at home. We use a guillotine to cut your watercolour paper and will accurately cut your paper to size, meaning you can have the half and quarter sheets you want without any exertion.

We don’t offer this service for our Jackson’s Eco Paper as we have a large variety of sizes and their lovely deckled edges are such a unique feature. Jackson’s Eco papers are made using special small moulds that mean imperial half and quarter sheets of this watercolour paper have four beautifully, deckled edges.

Samples of Jackson’s Eco Paper moulded quarter sheets

View our array of specialist watercolour paper in our paper department and try out our new basket paper cutting function now.

The post Watercolour Paper Cutting Made Even Easier appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

You can fit a whole watercolour sketching kit in your jacket pocket. All you need is a small paintbox, a small paper block and a brush that converts from pocket-size to full-size. This is great for painting from life in the city or countryside whether you are making a complete finished painting or you are making a sketch for a painting later in the studio, in oil or watercolour.

Travel Brushes for Painting Outdoors

Jackson’s Retractable watercolour brushes

Watercolour painting is especially well suited for painting outdoors because the kit is small and portable and the work dries before you need to pack it up to take it home. A collapsible brush usually converts from a short pocket size to a longer brush ready-to-use by reversing the cover that is over the hairs to attach as the handle. Not only does this save space but it protects the fine hairs of the brush. A few brushes are ‘retractable’, that is the end pulls back inside the handle rather than moving the cover to become the handle, but ‘retractable’ is an accepted term for all types of travel brushes that convert from short to full size.

Most brush manufacturers have a retractable brush in their range. We do pocket brushes by some of the very best brush makers including DaVinci, Escoda, Jackson’s, Isabey, Winsor & Newton and Pro Arte. If your brush has a good point and a full belly you can often use one size brush for a variety of marks and washes so a size 6, 8 or 10 can do double duty as both a wash and fine line brush. There are even handy brushes that store a small amount of water in the hollow handle, so you’ve no need of a bottle of water – Water Brushes.

Da Vinci Kolinsky Sable Pocket Brush

The Jackson’s Artica Travel brush is great for summer painting – a size 6 round with a good point is a great choice – a versatile size and shape.

This high quality travel watercolour brush is ideal for plein air painting or for artists who prefer the convenience of a portable brush. It fits in your pocket- the protective lid comes off and attaches to become the handle. Jackson’s Artica brushes are made with the finest quality Toray white synthetic fibres, and have a round pointed shape. Each brush is cured to improve the spring and resilience of the hair so it keeps its shape well for a soft, yet controlled application.

Whether you call the brush a retractable, pocket, collapsible, travel, portable, compact, convertible or folding – they are very handy and easy to transport! Travel Brushes for Painting Outdoors.

Small pads or blocks of watercolour paper are the natural choice for watercolour sketching en plein air and a portable compact watercolour box will complete your easy to carry kit. With a small watercolour set-up you can be ready to paint anywhere at any time! Watercolour Postcard packs are a great for sending home sketches of your travels.

May is Plein Air Month on the Jackson’s Blog!

Read these other posts about outdoor painting and sketching.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Travel Brushes on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Visit the website to see all the useful supplies for working outside in the Jackson’s Art Plein Air Painting Department.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

Claude Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873, by Renoir

The post Travel Brushes for Painting On the Go appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

The post Advice from Botanical Artists: Heidi Willis appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

In celebration of the Worldwide day of Botanical Art, we thought we’d share the thoughts of some leading botanical artists on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress as a suitable paper for botanical illustration. Hear from Margaret Fitzpatrick, Christine Battle and Lizzie Harper, whether they feel Stonehenge Aqua lives up to the qualities of the old Fabriano 5 and whether it has the crispness, vibrancy and working stamina they need in a paper.

Jump to:

*Margaret Fitzpatrick’s rigorous testing on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample Pad.

*Christine Battle’s diary of testing Stonehenge Aqua to create an illustration of a sweetpea.

*Lizzie Harper’s testing, microscopic views and review videos on Stonehenge Aqua paper.

---

Margaret Fitzpatrick’s rigorous testing on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample Pad

by Margaret Fitzpatrick

I was delighted to be asked by Jacksons to trial the Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress paper. I have a number of criteria that I require in a paper for it to perform well and produce the results I require for my work.
I prepared a number of tests using some Winsor and Newton (WN) and some Grahams (G) watercolours to examine the aspects which are important for my work.

These aspects are:

1. To be able to lay even washes;
2. To be able to lay graded washes;
3. To be able to lift the paint from the paper;
4. To get crisp sharp edges and fine lines;
5. To lay glazes one over the other.

---

My findings were as follows.

1. To lay an even wash

I used 6 different colours: Cadmium Lemon (WN); Cadmium Yellow (WN); Cadmium Scarlet (WN); Permanent Aliizarin (WN); Cerulean Blue (WN); and, Ultramarine Blue (G).

I found the paper allowed for an even wash with all of the colours

Margaret Fitzpatrick, even colour lay on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

2. To lay a graduated tone

I used the same six colours for this test.

I found the paper allowed for a graduated wash with all of the colours.

Margaret Fitzpatrick, Graduated tone, Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

3. To be able to lift the paint from the paper

Again, I used the same six colours for this test.

I found the paper allowed for the paint to lift completely, which is important for details in botanical work.

Margaret Fitzpatrick, lifting ability on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

4. To get crisp sharp edges and fine lines

Once again, I used the same six colours with the addition of a mix of blue and yellow to produce a mixed green and I trialled permanent rose.

I found all the colours produced sharp clean and fine lines on the paper with no bleeding of edges.

Margaret Fitzpatrick, crisp and sharp lines on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

5. Lay Glazes one over the other

I painted a block of three colours; Cadmium Yellow (WN); Cadmium Scarlet (WN); and Permanent Rose (WN).
I then glazed over each of these colours with two blues: Cerulean Blue(WN) and Ultramarine Blue (G).

I found the glazes remained fresh and I was able to lay the glazes over the previous paint with the first colour remaining in place and not shifting with the application of the second layer.

Margaret Fitzpatrick, one glaze over another on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

Further Testing:

As a further test, using all of the above techniques, I painted three trial subjects.

I found the paper performed well and produced excellent results. The colours remained bright and vibrant, the edges were crisp and there was no bleeding of colour.

I was able to lift out highlights and veins which is a key part of the way I work to get the required detail. The paper performed well throughout the tests from the initial washes to the final dry brush detail.

Margaret Fitzpatrick, Rosehips on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

Margaret Fitzpatrick, Leaves on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

Conclusions

As a result of this trial, I found the Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress paper performs well and suits my style of botanical painting. For me it would be an excellent replacement for the Fabriano 5 which is no longer available.

Margaret Fitzpatrick, Crocus on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

---

To see more of Margaret Fitzpatrick’s stunning, detailed work please visit her website.

---

Christine Battle’s Diary of Testing Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress

by Christine Battle

Monday 19th March

I opened the packet from Jackson’s Art this morning and had a look at the different weights and textures of paper.

First impressions – the colour is good, compatible with both Fabriano Artistico and Canson Moulin du Roy (which I switched to when Fabriano changed their manufacturing process). I only ever use hot press and the heavier the better, so will try the Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress 275lb first. Having said that I also liked the feel of the 300lb Coldpress – maybe an experiment?

The smoothness of the Hotpress is very good and I was much relieved to observe no sign of machine milling on the surface (it can look like the cross-hatching of a fine fabric weave – not nice to paint on as the colour tends to collect in the tiny squares.)

I currently have a very small commission for some sweet peas, which will be ideal for the sample of 275lb Hotpress. It won’t be a very “botanical” botanical painting because it’s the wrong time of year for sweet peas.

Also, the paper sample is quite small so I think my composition will have to be a bit creative … maybe with the flowers trailing off the bottom of the page. Not much space for the usual botanical details; seed pods, flower parts, leaves, etc. I’ve fortunately got a few reference photos on my computer, which should help.

---

Monday 26th March

I’m working from this photo – in the end none of my images were quite right, so I bought this one from Alamy. They tend to do a good price for artists.

Christine Battle, working photograph

I’ve prepared the paper – using the heavier weight I didn’t need to stretch it, but I find it’s easier to handle a small piece if I stick it down onto a backing board. I use low-tack masking tape from an architect’s supplier.

Christine Battle, Setting up and sticking down Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress 275lb Sheet

---

Tuesday 27th March

I’m a bit worried that some of the surface has lifted off where I stuck a piece of low-tack to keep the tracing paper in place while I transferred my sketch. Hopefully I can burnish it before painting that area.

Christine Battle, transferring sketch to paper

---

Thursday 29th March

The drawing is now complete and I’ll start applying the colour next. My pencil marks lift off quite easily with a putty rubber, which is good news.

Christine Battle, initial pencil sketch

---

Friday 30th March

The moment of truth. My initial wet washes make the paper go a bit ‘woolly’ which worried me at first, but if I’m careful not to go over the same area twice while it’s still wet the paper tends to settle down again.

The more layers I add, the better the paint handles on this paper. I think it will be able to take a lot of pigment. But we’ll see – different colours react so differently. The purple I’m using is W&N Winsor Violet, which always goes down well whatever the paper. Greens can be a bit tricky, depending on the mix. I don’t think I’ll start painting the stems and leaves till I’ve finished the flowers.

Lifting colour off is not quite as easy on this paper, probably due to the slight softness of the surface. I’m used to a very crisp, smooth glazed finish on my Canson HP, which makes it so easy to correct mistakes.

One other thing – again the slight softness, almost fibrous, finish makes it harder to get a clean line with the initial washes. Not a problem so far, I just have to remember to go over the edges with a small sharp brush while the wash is still wet.

Christine Battle, initial washes in progress

---

Monday 16th April

This paper and I do not get on. It is unforgiving of my style of working, and is stubborn about accepting fine lines layered over washes. The petals of my sweet pea become rough after the application of two or three washes; trying to add very fine veins (without snags) to the petals afterwards is therefore very difficult. Also, I just can’t seem to get the petals to glow. The layers of paint become muddy if I’m not careful. Gave up after 1.5 fruitless hours.

Christine Battle, detail of petal in progress

---

Sunday 22nd April

Fiddled around all week trying to get the depth of colour on the petals I wanted, without at the same time roughing up the paper too much. Mixed results, but the flower petals are now finally finished – or as “finished” as I feel they can be. Not completely successful but not quite as bad as I thought on Monday.

Christine Battle, finished sweetpea petals

---

Tuesday 1st May

Took a few days off from this painting while I finished off an urgent commission for the Horatio’s Garden silent auction on 24th May. Hoped this morning when I got back to it that the sweet pea would go better; I’ve finished the really tricky bit – the translucent petals – and all I have to do now are the leaves and stems.

But having worked for the past few days on Arches, going back to this paper was difficult. I think it just doesn’t have a robust enough surface to handle my dry brush technique. Other artists who can work in a looser, wetter style will probably really like it. It’s so hard to get a fine, clear line and now that I’m working on the stems I’m struggling to get a clean edge.

Christine Battle, detail of stem

---

Tuesday 8th May

Finished! What a struggle… This paper is not for me! (See close-up of surface of paper after handling it for a month.)

Christine Battle, detail of paper after painting

---

Christine Battle’s finished Sweetpea Illustration:

Christine Battle, Sweetpea illustration on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress sample

---

To find out more about Christine Battle and view her accomplished illustrations please visit her website here.

---

Lizzie Harper’s testing of Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress

by Lizzie Harper

As I’ve said before, I want to stress the fact that everyone paints in a different way and feels differently about the paper they work on, so what works for me may be disastrous for you and what is dreamy for you might be hopeless when I try to paint on it.

Saying that, I’m feeling quite cheerful about the first paper, the Stonehenge Aqua. I chose to paint a foxglove from the garden. The paper feels smooth and hard, and takes graphite well. The pencil does seem to bite hard into the page, and there are dents left after rubbing out.

The watercolour sits nicely on the page. It doesn’t seem to bleed, and when you pop washes on top of areas of detail (the way I work) the detail doesn’t move. The paint is mobile in response to the brush but doesn’t clog or bleed, even if several layers of detail are applied.

Lizzie Harper, Foxglove in progress on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress

Big areas of light wash work well, you can move the paint around as it doesn’t instantly stain the page. It blots well, allowing you to lift the colour without compromising the paper surface.

Foxglove illustration on Stonehenge Aqua, getting colour on the flowers

Under the microscope, you can see there’s almost no bleeding of colour.

Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress with paint on under the microscope

Even closer, you can see that each fibre is quite short and flat to the paper. Even at this magnification you can see how little bleed there is. However, the paper looks a bit soft and cottony, perhaps this is why some of the vibrancy of colour seemed to be swallowed up?

Up close under the microscope: Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress

In fact, this is my only criticism of Stonehenge; it seems to swallow some of the density of the colour. I painted as I normally do with bright colour, and the finished piece has a pastel-like and soft feel to it. The edges are crisp, but the hues are gentler than I applied.

Foxglove illustration on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress with specimen.

However, it’s definitely worth working with a little more, I’m adding it to my stable of Arches and Moulin du Roy as a potential replacement for the much-missed Fabriano. To me, it felt similar to Arches HP although a touch less prone to bleeding, and a little easier to move paint around on.

Foxglove sketch on Stonehenge Aqua

Lizzie Harper, Catmint Nepeta cataria

---

In Conclusion:

Stonehenge Aqua is a beautifully smooth hot press watercolour paper, and perfect for watercolour work requiring a paper that holds edges crisply but can also take repeated layering of wet and dry paint. It also is truthful to the vibrancy of colours used, and feels good to work on. Much of my work is botanical, but this Robin was done on Stonehenge Aqua, and any issues I have with the finished painting are to do with me, not the gorgeous paper!

Lizzie Harper, Robin, Erithacus rubecula on Stonehange Aqua Hotpress

---

If you want to see Lizzie Harper’s full review where she compares Stonehenge Aua to Fluid 100 please read her article here, or visit her entire website to get fantastic tips and see her gorgeous work.

She also has three amazing videos discussing how various brands compare to the old Fabriano 5:

---

Purchase a sample of Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress to discover if it’s the right paper for you, browse our whole range of Stonehenge Aqua or view our range of watercolour papers here.

---

Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress Sample

The post Botanical Artists Thoughts on Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

The watercolourist Alona Hryn counts flowers as one of her favourite subjects to paint. She takes us through her process of painting an overblown rose that has lost most of its petals which is a beautiful and delicate subject. Alona uses Schmincke Horadam watercolours – both regular watercolours and the new Horadam Pearl Metallic colours – to give clean colour and a subtle shimmer to the flower.

The limited edition set of 12 Pearl Metallic Schmincke Horadam watercolours.

Alona Hryn says she likes to do a lot of preparation in advance when painting flowers because they wilt so quickly. She finds it useful to collect relevant photos and even better to take the photos herself as she can choose the right perspective and the composition when taking photos. “Even flicking through photos can be inspiring for starting to paint” she says.

The materials that Alona uses for this painting

• A genuine rose or a good photo
• Mechanical pencil 0.5 HB
• Schmincke Horadam watercolours in pans and tubes: Titanium Opaque White, Purple Magenta, Yellow Green, Phthalo Green, Sepia Brown
• Schmincke Horadam Gold and Pearl Metallic watercolours: Light Gold, Red Gold, Pearl Red, Pearl Green (these colours are only available in sets)
• Watercolour paper: Fabriano Artistico (extra white), satin, 300 g/m2
• Synthetic watercolour brushes: Escoda Perla in sizes 4 and 6
• Palette, water, tissue for blotting

Painting the Rose with Horadam Watercolours

Preparation:

Alona says “First, you choose the paper, the size and format. For this rose I’ve chosen a bigger sheet of paper to underline the airiness. For flower painting I always choose hotpress paper as rose petals are even and smooth. Rough paper could never show this smoothness.”

1. She draws the outline of the rose with a pencil.

“I always make a very detailed pre-sketch with all shadows and small details, so that the painting process will be easier and not interrupted.”

[/caption]

2. She chooses the colours and brushes she will use.

“I mix several colours to create perfect mixed tones. The best ones, I paint on an additional sheet of paper with the appropriate mixing info.”

Step 3 – She paints the first colour layer.

“The first layer is the most important layer as it determines the areas of light and shadow.” She paints every rose petal separately with its individual colour mixture. First, she wets the petal with the biggest brush. Then, she carefully applies the colours, always starting with the lightest tones, before moving to the darker ones. While the first petal dries she paints the next petal. After drying, the remaining parts – stigma, stamen, style and stipe – are added. When using the Pearl Metallic colours it is important to remember that glitter particles float to the top with each wetting of the colours. So, there is a risk of washing off the glitter or of spreading it everywhere in the painting.

Step 4 – She paints the second colour layer.

At this point she takes a critical look at the painting and decides whether the colours fit or whether they should be adjusted. She recommends “If you have any doubt, take a black and white photo to get an impression of the proportions of the tonal value.” The parts which need additional layers must be wetted with the brush before reworking. “Even when you overpaint small parts of the petals, you should wet the whole petal!” she warns. In this way she adds the colour layers to all parts of the flower.

Step 5 – The last steps are when she adds the details.

Alona adds last details – the shadows, points or freckles – using a small, nearly dry brush. She thinks “It is not necessary to be a botanical expert for flower details; it is more important to paint what you see: colours, forms and shadows.” “It’s also important to know when to stop and to sign your painting.”

The artist

Alona Hryn is a freelance artist who enjoys painting flowers, the sky, architecture and the urban enviromment. She is a member of the German Watercolour Society and will be showing in the exhibition ‘Our Wonderful World‘ in July 2018. You can find Alona on Instagram and on Facebook.

Schmincke Horadam watercolours on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website

Special edition Schmincke Horadam watercolours with Gold Metallic and Pearl Metallic colours are available in three metal paint box set sets: 6 Gold Metallic colours, 12 Pearl Metallic colours or all 18 Gold and Pearl Metallic colours.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Schmincke Horadam watercolours on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Alona Hryn Paints with Pearl Metallic Horadam Watercolours appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

We have been asked this question a few times recently 

“Is the Winsor & Newton Series 7 sable watercolour brush worth the high price and how does the Da Vinci Series 10 sable compare?” 

We thought we’d ask a skilled watercolour painter to compare the two watercolour brushes and give us an expert answer to this question.

We asked watercolour artist Juliette Losq, who studied Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, to give us her feedback. She worked on one of her complex layered paintings using both the brushes and has given us her verdict. Juliette painted with the Da Vinci Maestro Tobolsky Kolinsky Red Sable Series 10 and the Winsor & Newton Kolinsky Sable Round Series 7 both in size 6.

Comparing Watercolour Brushes: Winsor & Newton Series 7 and Da Vinci Series 10

review by Juliette Losq

I build my work up in washes, applying layers of masking fluid in between, before gradually adding more tone and detail. In this instance I was working on a monochrome landscape composition using Winsor and Newton Lamp Black watercolour in washes.

At the stage at which I tested the DaVinci Series 10 I had laid down the preliminary washes and two layers of masking fluid, building up limited detail. I wanted to use the brush to create additional tone and achieve further mapping of detail, and it was useful for both. The brush holds a good quantity of water whilst retaining its shape – it handles very smoothly and I was able to use it to create a variety of marks. It came to a good point and could be used for surprisingly fine detail bearing in mind its size.

Using the DaVinci brush for intermediary steps of the painting.

Using the DaVinci brush for intermediary steps of the painting.

The Winsor and Newton Series 7 similarly held its shape well initially, but after the application of a few areas of wash and broader side-based marks, it did lose the shape slightly. The texture of the hair did not glide as smoothly as the DaVinci but did hold slightly more water on balance. Whilst I was not able to achieve the same level of detail for a comparable size of brush I was still able to achieve a variety of marks.

Using the Winsor and Newton Series 7 brush for the next layers.

Both brushes had their merits and were useful at this stage of building up my work, but I found the Davinci to be much smoother with a finer point.

The painting with more layers added, work in progress.

The finished painting, not yet titled, 150 x 150cm.

Juliette Losq

Juliette Losq studied Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Losq won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2005 and was one of the five shortlisted artists for the John Moores Prize in 2014, receiving the Visitor’s Choice Award. Solo shows include: The Edgelands, Le Salon Vert, Geneva, 2016; Terra Infirma, Waterhouse and Dodd, London, 2016; Nemora, The Fine Art Society, London, 2014; Dans la poussière de cette planète, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, 2013; Lucaria, Theodore Art, New York, 2012. Her work is held in the Saatchi Collection, the Newnham College Cambridge Collection and the New Hall Art Collection. She works from a studio in Eel Pie Island Boatyard in Twickenham.

Juliette uses Winsor and Newton masking fluid and Saunders Waterford 300gsm hot pressed paper.

Juliette Losq’s website
Instagram @juliette_losq
Twitter @juliettelosq

Juliette will be exhibiting in the group exhibition Seen Unseen, June 28 – July 27 at Long and Ryle.

Watercolour Painting Supplies at Jackson’s Art

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Watercolour Brushes on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the Watercolour Painting Department on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Comparing Two Top Sable Watercolour Brushes appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Glyn Macey can often be found roaming the harbours, moorland and coast of his native West Cornwall, sketchbook in hand recording the details of daily Cornish life and history. Such sketches are used as the basis for his studio paintings. If you can’t get to Cornwall for one of his painting workshops you can learn online from one of the tutorials available on his website.

Watercolours ‘en plein air’ with Winsor & Newton

by Glyn Macey

Painting ‘en plein air’ is always a joyous experience and never more so than when working with the most spontaneous of all mediums, Winsor & Newton watercolour. The unrivalled luminosity and loose speed of a good watercolour seems akin to a magic trick. Just a few deft brushstrokes of water, a touch of added colour and the magic begins to happen. Of course, the British weather doesn’t always play ball, but then, the vagaries of the fast changing climate help to keep things interesting, help to keep us on our toes. And for me, this is key.

Artists of all abilities from all over the UK visit my studio in West Cornwall to take part in workshops. Very often these artists want to loosen up their style and work in a more fluid way. It often turns out that these same artists make their work by copying photographs and therefore paint detailed, representational artworks, a mug of coffee and Radio 4 at hand. To counteract this way of working I take them outdoors, painting by the sea – quickly, fluidly, instinctively. The sun is sometimes hot, the rain comes, the winds blow and the light changes…continually. But far from being an annoyance, these elements add life, action and atmosphere to the paintings. The artists’ development in style is instantaneous and exciting.

Weather on the Way
mixed media painting by Glyn Macey

On a practical note, when working on location with any medium I like to travel light and when using Winsor & Newton watercolour the same ethos applies. I begin by stripping out any unnecessary tools from my bag of tricks. How few brushes can I get away with? How few colours?

Other practical considerations also come into play. For instance, full sheets of watercolour paper can be difficult to deal with when a Sou’westerly is blowing in from the Atlantic. Full sheets would also need an equal-sized board for support and probably an easel that won’t blow over. For these reasons I work on smaller Winsor & Newton pads of heavyweight watercolour paper – the more heavyweight the better to avoid cockling. When working with watercolour my blanket rule is to buy the best that you can afford, which for me means Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour, a couple of good quality sable brushes, usually a 1″ flat and a no. 4 round, together with a pad of heavyweight NOT paper in about A3 size. I chose NOT simply because I love the textured surface. Using a board backed pad means that I can dispense with an easel and a separate board which lightens the load and makes life a whole lot easier when climbing mountains or cliff sides (if that’s your thing)! A water pot is also needed to store water that I collect on location. This found water can be river water, rainwater, a top up from the local pub or shop or seawater. And before anybody raises their hands in mock horror at my mention of seawater, it’s comforting to remember that Turner used seawater in many of his watercolour location studies and they have stood the test of time – well, for over one hundred and seventy years so far…

Heavy Seas
watercolour painting by Glyn Macey

If feasible, I love to use Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolours in tubes for the ease of creating rich, deep pools of colour and restrict myself to a limited palette of only four or five colours. A set of Winsor & Newton pan colours will work equally well and a good set will include a carefully chosen range of colours all contained in a durable, small box complete with palette space. These watercolour sets are perfect for travelling, particularly if flying abroad – they’re light, they contain everything you need to capture your chosen scene and they’re not outlawed at the security check-in desks, which can happen with large tubes of paint and mediums (but that’s another story!).

So this summer I challenge you to make the most of creating your artwork outdoors in all of the vagaries of our glorious British weather. Email me an image of your ‘en plein air’ work on glynmacey@googlemail.com for a free critique; I’d love to see your paintings.

You can see what Glyn is up to on social media – Instagram and Facebook.

Cumbria
Watercolour painting by Glyn Macey

Watercolour Painting Supplies at Jackson’s Art

Click on the underlined link to go to the Watercolour Painting Department on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolours on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Watercolour Brushes on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Glyn Macey Paints With Winsor & Newton Watercolours En Plein Air appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Viktorija Semjonova, who works under the professional name And Smile Studio, is a London based illustrator and a self-proclaimed huge Kuretake fan. She produces charming and bright portraits and images and was delighted to try out the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolour Starry and Pearl sets we have just started stocking. These iridescent colours have the same creamy texture and opacity as the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour standard colours (using these led to Viktorija using gouache more) but produce luxurious shades perfect for adding interesting details or luminous backgrounds. Viktorija’s work with these special watercolours really shows how they can be used to add indulgence and interest to a piece.

Trying out Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Starry and Pearl sets

by Viktorija Semjonova

One of my favourite watercolour sets, that I own, is a Kuretake set of 36 different colours. I love how opaque these watercolours are. And I love good quality shiny paints! So I was very excited to try the Kuretake Pearl Colours and the Kuretake Starry Colours sets. I decided to paint a couple of girls and mixed the watercolours with gouache paint.

Viktorija Semjonova
http://www.andsmilestudio.com/

These super shiny watercolours can be activated with a wet brush but a trick I have learned is to put a drop or two of water into the paint and let it sit there for a bit.

This means that once the watercolour is activated you can apply it in thick and quite opaque layers. This is how I like my shiny paints to feel — really rich and opaque. And they did feel like this!

Viktorija Semjonova at And Smile Studio showing the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry colour set of 6

Here are some girls I painted, some of them have a shiny background and some of them have shiny outfits or small details. The other paints I used in these images were my Holbein gouache on Bockingford hot pressed paper with a round synthetic brush (number 5 if you are curious). [Both Holbein Gouache and Bockingford Hotpressed paper are available from Jackson’s.]

Viktorija Semjonova
http://www.andsmilestudio.com/

All of the colours in Pearl Colours Set were so sweet, they are very soft but still have a bit of colour in them and have a lovely shimmer. They go on to the paper so beautifully and are completely opaque when applied generously. My favourite is the dreamy blue from this set, I painted some patterns over a navy coat. I love how bright and fun they look: it has such a good coverage for a very light paint going over a really deep navy.

Viktorija Semjonova’s illustration of a girl with a scarf using Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Pearl set and Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Starry set with Holbein Gouache.

The Starry Colours are so beautiful, I love all the golds in this set. The consistency even of the lighter golds and silver is so so so good, the colours are fun too! I think it’s super fun to add some shiny details to some paintings or paint with them on coloured paper. I loved using these shiny numbers to add some pizzaz to mini paintings, they are super fun to use and I’ll be using them a lot more when creating originals or at live events.

Viktorija Semjonova’s illustration of a girl with a scarf catching the light.

Thank you Jackson’s Art Supplies, I loved using them!

To see more of Viktorjia Semjonova’s/ And Smile Studio’s lovely work and read more of her writing you can visit her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Society6, Pinterest and Instagram.

Viktorija Semjonova’s drawing of a girl in a gold dress using Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Starry set and Holbein Gouache.

You can find the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry Colour set, the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Pearl Colour set and our range of Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolours on our website.

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japenese Watercolour Starry Colour set and Kuretake Gansai Tambi Pearl Colour set by Viktorija Semjonova

The post And Smile Studio’s Illustrations with Iridescent Kuretake Gansai Tambi appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Jackson’s introduced Yupo Paper a couple of months ago to our range of papers for watercolour and mixed media. After reading the description of the paper, that it is non-porous, waterproof and stain-resistant, as I watercolourist I was intrigued to say the least! We had quite a few questions via social media with regard to how the paper performs and what it’s like to work on so I thought I’d take the time to review it and look at its strengths and weaknesses.

About Yupo Paper

Yupo is a non-porous, acid free and pH neutral, synthetic paper which is machine made in the USA from 100% polypropylene. It is completely waterproof, stain-resistant and has become a unique and intriguing alternative to traditional art papers due to its strength and lifting properties.

The super smooth surface allows you to build up nuances and patterns that would normally be impossible to achieve on traditional watercolour and drawing paper. Because it can be wiped clean you have the option to return to specific areas and redo them until they meet your standards, or to build up layers of paint using a similar technique to the one used with oil painting.

There are three different types of Yupo Paper, Translucent, Medium & Heavy. Yupo Paper is available in sheets and pads.

How it’s manufactured

Yupo is made from heated polypropylene pellets which are then extruded to form the base and surface layers of the paper, These layers are stretched to create a dimensionally storable and biaxial-orientated substrate. This process means that Yupo paper is exceptionally strong, opaque and has an incredibly smooth surface. Yupo is also available in a lighter translucent version that will help you see colour from a new perspective. The slick papers can be a great starting point for a variety of media and are designed for backlit applications with the combined strength of having excellent light diffusion.

This paper easily resists tearing or buckling meaning there is no need to stretch or treat in any way before you start work. Yupo has an extra smooth surface and can be used with a combination of media, including watercolours, alcohol ink, acrylic paint, monotype, offset printing, debossing oil pastel, graphite and silkscreen.
When you have completed a piece remember to spray the surface of the Yupo paper with a matt clear varnish or finishing spray so that the work will remain stable.

My initial thoughts before starting to use Yupo Paper

When I first heard about the Yupo paper I, like I suspect many watercolourists that use traditional papers, was skeptical and unsure of what it was, how it would behave and why I would want to use it. A non-absorbent, synthetic paper that is made from heated polypropylene? I’ve seen on YouTube a lot of artists using inks in a very experimental way but that’s not how I paint – how would Yupo fair with an artist that paints in a realistic style and who doesn’t use a lot of water when they use watercolour? The only way I was going to know was to give it a whirl…

I was given three tiny sample pads which are just the perfect size for little paintings or studies, they each measure 9.5cm x 6.3cm. The sample pads are available in Translucent, Medium and Heavy – now normally I work on a minimum of 300gsm with a rough/not texture so I thought, if I’m going to use this new paper I might as well start off with the one which would be most alien to me, the Translucent.

Applying colour and pencil to Yupo Paper

The aesthetic of the Translucent Paper is what I would liken to baking parchment or a really thick, heavy duty tracing paper. It is 153gsm and feels really slick and smooth, almost too smooth for watercolour paint! It was designed ‘for backlit applications and combine strength with excellent light diffusion.’

The paper takes pencil really easily so be careful when sketching out composition if you are using light colours and don’t like rubbing out your pencil lines once your painting is complete – the positive aspect of this is if you are tracing anything you should be able to get a solid outline fairly easily.

My first application of colour was a really light wash as I didn’t want to go in too heavy. I used a Jackson’s Synthetic Watercolour Brush Round size 3/0 for this as I didn’t want to use a big brush and be unable to control the flow of colour or have it spread too much. What I would say if you, like me, work in lots of layers is to be cautious with adding more water when applying colour as it can lift it off the layer underneath (which is great if you don’t want it there but not so good if you are trying to strengthen/darken a colour) Once I got used to that, and being patient between layers letting them dry then the application of colour was really enjoyable, the paint moves so freely as the surface is so smooth, it takes the lightest stroke to get the paint where you want it to go. I also found, that as the paper doesn’t absorb as much as traditional watercolour paper would, I used considerably less paint then I normally would.

You can see the translucency of the paper in this image as I put it in front of the pad and you can see the colour underneath coming through.

The ability to lift colour on this paper is simply amazing, I used a really heavy dark green and I managed to remove the colour just with a tiny bit of water and a brush. Normally on watercolour paper I would have to use a sponge or kitchen paper to remove any colour as I paint in lots of layers. The paper did not buckle or wrinkle once and remained completely flat. It’s definitely a different aesthetic to what I am used to, and I’m not entirely sure I like the sheen that the paper gives to the paint once it is dry, but the lifting qualities and clarity of colour is something which is to be championed!

Showing the sheen that the Yupo Translucent paper gives.

Lifting colour with Yupo Paper

I then decided to use the Yupo Medium Sample pad to test the lifting and blending abilities on the paper. I wanted to really put it to the test so decided to use a range of staining, transparent and opaque colours to see how it would react.

• Lukas 1862 Watercolour in Ruby Red a transparent, staining colour.
• Schmincke Horadam Watercolour Yellow Ochre a semi-opaque colour.
• Schmincke Horadam Watercolour Phthalo Blue a semi-transparent colour.

The below image shows a comparison between the Yupo Medium on the left and the Stonehenge Aqua Hot Press Sample Pad on the right. On each I painted a solid block of colour where on the right hand side I have removed the paint with a piece of kitchen towel and on the left, lifted the colour with a brush. As you can see from the image, the colour from the Yupo paper has lifted considerably – the Phthalo Blue can still be seen so hasn’t been lifted completely but it’s pretty clean and I’m sure with a bit more water and scrubbing it would have been removed. The texture and integrity of the paper remained exactly the same no matter how hard I scrubbed and did not break down at all.

In comparison, the Stonehenge Aqua Hot Press began to bobble and become fibrous pretty quickly after the initial removal of colour. As you can see, it’s nowhere near as neat and bright as the Yupo and quite a bit of the colour has remained. This is due to the absorbency of traditional watercolour paper, as the Yupo is non-porous it makes it much easier to lift colour without damaging the surface.

You can clearly see the difference between the two papers, Stonehenge on the right has bobbled and some staining has occured which I was unable to remove. Yupo on the left has come away much cleaner and it was much easier to lift the colour out.

Blending colour with Yupo Paper

I also did a test which looks at the ability to blend and manoeuvre colour around the paper. I painted three blocks of colour with gaps in between, on the left is Yupo Medium and on the right the Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress. I waited for the colours to dry and then re-activated them with water to see how they would blend. The colour on the Stonehenge did blend but it took a bit of work and you can still distinguish where the blocks of colour were. With the Yupo, it took a minimal amount of water to completely reactivate the colour to the point where it was running around the paper and I had difficulty controlling it. This is something to take into consideration if you use a lot of water when you paint as it doesn’t take a lot for the colour to bleed and run.

The biggest difference I noticed though between the two papers is the complete lack of buckling/warping in the Yupo. As you can see from the images, it remained totally flat – whereas the Stonehenge has lifted slightly either side.

Here you can see the warping of the Stonehenge Paper whereas the Yupo remained completely flat.

Using fineliners with Yupo Paper

As well as watercolour I wanted to see how the Yupo Paper would take to fineliner pens as I know quite a few watercolourists use fineliners to pick out details in their work. I used the Yupo Heavy Sample Pad for this simple illustration of a succulent. The Yupo Heavy is 390gsm and definitely feels more along the thickness of paper I would normally use. I was concerned with fineliners that as the surface was so smooth, the ink would bleed off and spread, however the ink went on really well. I used a Staedtler 0.2mm Pigment Liner Pen and because of the smooth surface, the pen glided over giving me a much neater finish.

Part of the description we have for the Yupo Paper states to “spray the surface of the Yupo paper with a matt clear varnish or finishing spray so that the work will remain stable” once it is finished. This is a very important piece of advice, as you can see below I did not fix the drawing with anything and moved it probably 2 hours after completing it, thinking that the ink would be dry. Clearly, the ink has smudged and I consequently ruined my first attempt!

First attempt at using fineliners on Yupo Paper without fixing the artwork, as you can see it smudged as soon as I touched it.

Completed illustration which was sealed with a fixative.

Final thoughts and impressions of Yupo paper

I must say before I started this review, I was sceptical and unsure of whether I even wanted to try out the Yupo paper – I’ve used the same watercolour paper for years and know its capabilities, strengths and weaknesses and I just couldn’t see where this would fit in. However, after using it I can totally see why artists love using it. The ability to lift, or more accurately wipe colour clean from the paper is simply amazing. I think it makes working on watercolour paper a lot less daunting for those not used to using it and it allows you to be more experimental. Colour clarity is another big plus for this paper, sometimes watercolour paint can dull slightly because of the absorbency of the paper however the colour on Yupo remains true to what is on your palette.

Obviously I am, along with Jackson’s, well aware of the environmental impact and issues surrounding a paper which is essentially made of plastic, however there are two points which I think are worth mentioning. The first is that although the paper is made from heated propylene, this means that it is tree-free, meaning that there are no trees having to be cut down to be made into paper. The second point, which is more down to how you would use the paper – as it can be wiped clean it means a lot less wastage as you can tweak/remove things until you get your artwork exactly how you want it. This potentially means less paper being thrown away.

Here is a statement from Yupo’s website which outlines their stance on environmental issues: https://yupousa.com/our-company/environmental-statement/

Click on the underlined link to go to Yupo Paper on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website. Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post A Review of Yupo Paper – Lifting, blending and painting with watercolours appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Ann Blockley’s ‘Watercolour Workshop’ is an inspiring read. Far from being prescriptive, Ann is the best kind of teacher. Her writing style encourages experimentation and play in the studio, as a means to developing your own creative voice. In this post I document what happened when I tried out a project found in ‘Watercolour Workshop‘.

A double page spread found in Ann Blockley’s ‘Watercolour Workshop’

Who is it aimed at?

‘Watercolour Workshop’ is really a book for painters who have some experience of painting, although not necessarily in watercolour. I feel this book was written for someone looking to inject some new energy into their work.It’s targeted at those who like to paint expressively and loosely, and are brave enough to take risks with their painting.

Pages on using drawing as a means of developing ideas and recording subject matter, in Ann Blockley’s ‘Watercolour Workshop’

How is it laid out?

There are 5 main sections to the book: ‘Getting Started’, ‘Flower and Field’, ‘Trees and Hedgerow’, ‘Landscape Features’ and ‘Towards Abstraction’.

‘Getting Started’ begins with the words ‘This book is about YOU’ – and this really does set the tone. Ann describes her approaches to interpreting the landscape, drawing, photography and decision-making. She is very clear when she is describing her own experiences of how she tackles the various challenges of painting a picture, but emphasises that her ways are not the only ways.  There’s also some great advice on what materials to try out – again not prescriptive, but an informative guide to what’s available and what the consequences are of their use.

Ann Blockey’s project focussing on abstraction – found in ‘Watercolour Workshop’

The rest of the book is organised into projects. I gave one a go and immediately saw that this book is a perfect studio companion. It’s like enrolling on a painting course that invites you to break out of your comfort zone and try something new. With each project Ann suggests a couple of specific approaches that you might like to try. I can see that you could choose to work through the book as if you were on a course and quickly discover so many exciting ways that you can put watercolour to paper. Ann’s strength in her own work is to really make the paint look beautiful – the subject is almost incidental. These clearly explained techniques are accompanied by fantastic photos that succeed in both demonstrating and inspiring.

The Introduction to the Wildflower Meadow project, in Ann Blockley’s ‘Watercolour Workshop’

Trying out an Ann Blockley Project

I gave Ann’s ‘Wildflower Meadow’ project a go. Her introduction to the project shows some photos of a Wildflower Meadow that was her point of inspiration, and describes how you could paint the scene from various viewpoints – each with its own set of challenges. She then tells us what colours she used, and techniques such as sprinkling salt on to damp paint. The prep studies she produced of this subject are loose explosions of vibrant colour. They are evocative of a place or memory, but they also look fun to paint!

The beginnings of my project – following advice to lay watery colour on and allow the colours to bleed into one another

The project takes you through 4 stages, with clear explanations of what you could do and the reasoning. Although I consider myself a fairly experienced watercolourist, I started by following the book word for word. However I quickly found myself enjoying this freer way of painting too much! It was reassuring to have Ann’s knowledge on the page hinting at how I might expect the paints to behave. This liberated me to have fun with the medium. I found myself moving away from the text in order to explore further what my paint was doing. When I felt ready for more ideas I returned to the book.

My painting mid way through the project – it was great to be this loose with my watercolour and be reassured by Ann Blockley’s words and images!

Following the steps of the project Ann then summarises the mark-making approaches she adopted in the work. Again this is accompanied by some lovely pictures that really inspire and help you to see how beautiful the results can be.

A detail of the poppies in my painting – trying out ‘negative painting’

Although my finished painting did look a bit like a third rate Ann Blockley(!!) I learnt so much in the short space of time I was painting for. I feel really confident that these new techniques will filter through into the paintings I’ll do in the future. It’s well worth spending time with this book every now and then if you are a watercolourist wanting to try something new. The instruction is open enough to allow for these approaches to work their way into anyone’s painting practice, irrespective of what your instinctive way of painting is.

‘Wildflower Meadow’ by Lisa Takahashi, instructed by Ann Blockley!

Ann Blockley is an artist whose passion for watercolour is infectious. She believes wholeheartedly in letting her colours sing, and not feel at all restricted by her subject matter. ‘Watercolour Workshop’ succeeds in celebrating her work. It also explains clearly how we can move forward with our own painting.

Ann Blockley’s ‘Watercolour Workshop’ is available from Jacksonsart.com at a special price of £15.90 (RRP £19.99) Click here to view

The post Ann Blockley’s Watercolour Workshop: Book Review appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Zoe Elizabeth Norman is an award winning watercolourist who has been working as a professional artist and illustrator for over 25 years. Zoe’s flower, still life and animal watercolours have been successfully published as greetings cards and calendars for numerous publishers including The Medici Society, Woodmansterne, Carlton Cards and UK Greetings Cards. In 2007 she gained a diploma with distinction from The Society of Botanical Artists and her original paintings are held in private collections around the world. Zoe uses watercolour in a realistic, detailed style building up multiple layers to achieve rich luminous colour and fine detail.

We have just started stocking the Isaro Watercolours from Belgium after customers raved about them. We sent Zoe eight tubes of colour to get her expert feedback. She used them to make a painting of a place she had recently visited – Monet’s iconic lily pond.

Zoe Elizabeth Norman Reviews Isaro Watercolour paints

To get started with these new watercolour paints from Belgium I decided to create a colour wheel to familiarise myself with the colours and some basic mixes.

The first noticeable thing was how fluid the paints were, this makes them beautifully easy to mix with water however the down side is the tubes probably won’t last as long as other makes like Winsor & Newton.

All the colours were very pure and bright and I was especially impressed by the Cadmium yellow lemon which was exceptionally vibrant and strong.

Another colour which stood out for me was Isaro’s Ceruleum blue which again was very clear, sometimes this can be a slightly muddy hue but not in this range.

I have many different shades of pink from the Winsor & Newton and Sennelier ranges of watercolour but Isaro Pink was different to them all, so I am very pleased to add this to my collection; as a flower painter you can never have too many pinks!

The Scarlet red however I didn’t like as much as Winsor & Newton Cadmium Red as it was a bit too orange.

Included in the eight colours I was given to try was a Payne’s grey which was new to my palette, however I have found it very useful – when mixed with the burnt sienna it made a lovely black and with yellow to make dark green.

My colour wheel was created from the eight colours provided in my set.

• • Ultramarine Blue
  • Ceruleum Blue
  • Payne’s Grey
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Cadmium Yellow Lemon
  • Indian Yellow
  • Scarlet Red
  • Isaro Pink

Colour wheel of Isaro Extra-Fine Watercolours by Zoe Elizabeth Norman.

Monet’s Lily Pond – Demonstration using Isaro Wartercolours

Using a sketch and photograph I chose to paint this pretty landscape of Monet’s garden in Giverny. I recently visited the famous gardens and thought it would be nice to paint the scene using the new Isaro watercolours.

I also used the following:

• Bockingford 535gms Not watercolour paper. (No need to stretch this beautiful paper)
• Kolinsky sable round brush size 0 (used for detailed drawing of leaves and lily pads)
• Kolinsky sable round brush size 2 (used for the majority of the painting)
• Daler Rowney acrylic filbert size 3 (used for wet-in-wet areas)
• Daler Rowney acrylic flat size 4 (used for wetting paper)

Fig 1. Lily Pond

Fig.1
After drawing in the water lilies and willow tree very lightly with a HB pencil I wet the paper over the water lily shapes in the middle of the picture. I then blocked in the water lilies with three green shade mixed from 1. Indian yellow/ Cadmium yellow lemon and Ultramarine blue. 2. Indian yellow and Scarlet red. 3. Ultramarine blue and Cadmium yellow lemon. All these colours were used very wet and allowed to run into each other. I then moved onto the foreground water lilies and repeated the process but replaced colour 3. Instead I mixed Isaro pink and Burnt Sienna and used with colour mix 1 and 2 letting the colours bleed together. I also used Isaro pink. I used the Daler Rowney acrylic filbert size 3 and a Kolinski round brush size 2.

Fig 2. Lily Pond

Fig.2
I next wet the area of the willow tree. I mixed two colours for the leaves. 1. Ultramarine blue and Cadmium yellow lemon and 2. Ceruleum blue and cadmium yellow. I used colour 2. First for the highlighted area and dropped a little Indian yellow into the wet paint on the paper. I waited till this was dry before re-wetting the areas to be in shadow and painting the leaves with my 1. colour mix. Finally I went over the whole tree with a light wash of Ceruleum blue mixed with cadmium yellow and Indian Yellow.

Fig 3. Lily Pond

Fig.3
I wet the whole sky area and then mixed a pale blue with Ultramarine and Cerulean blue. When dry I mixed a grey green for the background trees using Ultramarine blue, Isaro pink and Indian yellow.

Fig 4. Lily Pond

Fig.4
I wet the whole water area carefully working round the water lilies. I used the same sky mix but kept it thicker so the colour stayed more intense at the bottom and let the colour lighten towards the middle to mirror the sky. I left areas white which will reflect the willow tree and grass banks.

Fig 5. Lily Pond

Fig.5
Using the darker green mix used in the willow tree I started adding the lightest reflections in the water before making a very dark green mix for the darkest reflections in the water. To make this dark green I used Payne’s Grey and Cadmium Yellow Lemon.
The lighter willow fronds were Indian Yellow dropped onto the wet paper and allowed to merge into the darker paint colour with the blue sky peeping through

Fig 6. Lily Pond

Fig.6
I mixed two greens for the shadows and detail in the willow tree and bank. 1. Payne’s Grey and Cadmium Yellow Lemon 2. Cadmium Yellow Lemon and Ultramarine. Both greens were quite thick in consistency and I wetted the paper around and under the lightest willow fronds and then painted all the shadows in using wet -in- wet. When this was dry I used my tiny brush and the darkest paint to draw around the light fronts and added the branches.

Fig 7. Lily Pond

Fig.7 Using the same dark green mix and my tiny brush I added the very darkest detail to the lily pads.

Fig 8. Lily Pond

Fig.8 The last stage to the painting is to add colour and detail to the water lily pads. I started with the farthest ones which are in shadow and used a mix of 1.Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Yellow lemon leaning heavily to blue and mix 2. Cadmium Yellow lemon, leaning heavily towards yellow. I also mixed all my reds and browns for the rest of the lily pads so I would have these ready to drop into the green lily pad area where required. 1. Scarlet Lake and Indian yellow with a touch of blue. 2. Isaro pink and Scarlet red with a touch of Ultramarine blue. 3. Isaro Pink, scarlet red, Indian yellow and Ultramarine blue. 4. Ultramarine blue and Isaro pink. and Indian yellow. I finished by adding a bit more green reflection and adjusting the bank reflections. Lastly I signed the painting!

Zoe Elizabeth Norman

See more of Zoe’s artwork on her website zoeelizabethnorman.com and her Facebook page ZoeElizabethNormanArt.

Isaro Watercolours at Jackson’s Art

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Isaro Extra-Fine Watercolours on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the Watercolour Painting Department on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Watercolour Brushes on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Zoe Elizabeth Norman Reviews Isaro Watercolours appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

FAQ – Some people find the measurements of watercolour paper a bit confusing. Here is a short summary that might help.

• Loose sheets of watercolour paper often come in Imperial sizes (these use inch measurements).
• Pads and blocks of watercolour paper usually come in European (ISO) ‘A’ sizes (these use metric measurements).
• Imported American pads usually come in inch sizes but are neither Imperial nor A sizes.

Imperial sizes

A sheet of Imperial Paper is also called Full Imperial.

• Full Imperial is 30×22 inches (approximately 76x56cm)
• Half Imperial is 15×22 inches (approximately 56x38cm)
• Quarter Imperial is 15×11 inches (approximately 38x28cm)

We offer a free cutting service at Jackson’s for our watercolour papers. We can cut Imperial sheets in half or quarters on request. You can choose this in your shopping basket on the Jackson’s.com website or when ordering by phone. Paper stretchers are often made to accommodate Full, Half or Quarter Imperial sized paper.

European ‘A’ Sizes

A Full Imperial sheet of paper and an A1 sheet are the two largest standard sizes. Full Imperial is a bit smaller than A1. (A0 exists but is usually special ordered.)
Like the half and quarter Imperial sizes the A sizes are based on the next size down always being half of the larger size above it. So 2 pieces of A2 paper will fit side by side inside one piece of A1 paper.

• A1 is 84.1 x 59.4cm (approximately 33×22 inches)
• A2 is 59.4 x 42cm (approximately 22×16 inches)
• A3 is 42 x 29.7cm (approximately 16×12 inches) (the size of the Jackson’s catalogue open)
• A4 is 29.7 x 21cm (approximately 12×8 inches) (the size of the Jackson’s catalogue closed)

For more information about art papers see the Papers entry in the art glossary on this blog.

Jacksons Two Rivers Handmade Watercolour Paper

More Watercolour Blog Articles

• Molotow Masking Fluid Markers – Easy to Apply and No Paper Tearing
• Travel Brushes for Painting On the Go
• Choosing Colours to Fill Your Watercolour Box
• Stretching Watercolour Paper for a Better Painting Experience
• ShinHan Pass Hybrid Colours

Watercolour Painting Materials at Jackson’s Art

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Watercolour Papers on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Watercolour Paints on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on Watercolour Brushes on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Click on the underlined link to go to the Watercolour Painting Department on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Watercolour Paper Sizes appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Anna Mason is an esteemed watercolour artist, who is known for her stunning, realistic depictions of the natural world. Anna runs her own online school, which has thousands of subscribers from around the world. Having interviewed Anna Mason last month about her latest book ‘Watercolour World‘, I decided to try one of the exercises in the book to see what I could learn. I was amazed by the results of following her step-by-step ‘painting a sunflower’ project. Here’s how I got on!

My Sunflower Painting in progress, following instruction via Anna Mason’s ‘Watercolour World’

Selecting a Project

‘Watercolour World’ offers 4 different projects – Blackberry, Autumn Leaf, Sunflower and Garden Bird. I chose the Sunflower because I thought it might be a bit easier, and I’m often drawn to painting and drawing flowers. I paint and draw quite frequently, but I don’t usually try to paint as much detail as Anna does! Because I usually simplify what I see quite a lot, following Anna’s project was a good way for me to try and slow the painting process down. It helped me commit to creating a ‘realistic’ image.

Tracing the Drawing

I decided to take up Anna’s offer of starting with a tracing of her own outline drawing of the subjects. Outline drawings for each of the projects can be found at the back of the book. In the absence of tracing paper I photocopied the page from the book and went over the lines in a soft 7B pencil. I then put this face down on to my watercolour paper and then shaded with pressure over the back of the photocopy with a harder H pencil. This pressure deposited the 7B lines on to my watercolour paper reasonably faintly. I could see the lines but not so prominently that they’d show up through layers of watercolour. I reinforced some of the lines in the head of the sunflower free-hand.

Transferring the image to my watercolour sketchbook.

I then followed the project step by step.

What it was like to follow the project

If I’m brutally honest, I did ‘cheat’ here and there. Anna recommends a hot press paper and advises on the sizes of brushes you paint with, but I worked with what I had, which was a moleskine watercolour sketchbook with cold pressed paper (albeit a very lightly textured one in comparison to other cold press papers) and I used size 0 brushes where she advised a size 1. But I think so long as you roughly stick to the plan you will benefit from following the instructions.

My faint outline drawing with the head of the sunflower reinforced with hand drawn lines.

Challenges

The biggest challenge for me was sticking to the instruction, but through applying myself to the best of my ability I believe I got results I would not have achieved otherwise. Why was sticking to the instruction so hard for me? First of all, some of Anna’s instruction is hard to put into words; I suspect following one of her online tutorials might be easier where you can see her demonstrating. Sentences such as ‘These lighter midtones are the areas of the petals that are lighter than the mid-midtones but not as light as the lightest tones painted on the previous page’ took me a while to get my head around!

The Understanding Follows The Doing

I soon found that if you relax about trying to understand the concept of each stage and instead simply follow her literal instruction in the second paragraph of each stage (I.e. ‘mix this colour with another colour and apply here with a size 0 brush’ etc.) then the conceptual understanding will follow in its own time. There’s also some very handy greyscale photos of the sunflower with the areas that you should paint in each stage highlighted in bright pink which I found very helpful.

This project only requires 4 colours – here’s my careful mixing of the lightest and first colour to go on – Winsor Lemon with a touch of Schmincke Transparent Orange

The second part of the challenge was resisting the temptation to go on my own journey with the painting – I was enjoying the painting too much! As the pages went on I moved further away from the reference photo at the beginning of the chapter which meant I should probably have flicked to and fro a lot more than I did. Instead I looked to her painting, which is shown at each stage, for guidance.

The painting with the first colours applied. Relieved it doesn’t look too far removed from the reproduction in the book!

I realised towards the end of the project that Anna’s approach is about constant comparison of tone and colour – going back and forth and adjusting very carefully.

Working on the Sunflower Head…

Charting Progress: A selection of Work In Progress Shots of my Sunflower attempt

My final painting looks nothing like anything I’ve ever painted before and I surprised myself that I could paint a flower as detailed as this!

My completed Sunflower with 3 of the essential colours: Winsor Lemon, Schmincke Translucent Orange and Burnt Sienna

I finished the painting with my head fizzing. What could I achieve if I tried to capture this level of detail in my work in the future? Anna will doubtless inspire many readers to paint images from photos. Since completing the project I have thought about collaging imagery together to make highly detailed, slightly surreal looking work. This book offers a helping hand when you want to slow down your painting. Anna’s instruction guided me to a realisation that I can paint highly detailed watercolours too!

Lisa Takahashi in action!

Anna Mason products are available at Jackson’s Art

• Anna Mason’s ‘Watercolour World’ book
• The Modern Flower Painter book by Anna Mason
• Anna Mason Brushes
• Anna Mason Watercolours with Wow Paints Set

The post Attempting the Anna Mason Approach appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Gouache is a favourite paint of illustrators worldwide because it is opaque so it can be overpainted and corrected, yet it still has the simple and easy qualities of watercolour. Like watercolour it is bound with gum arabic which is re-soluble in water and because of the larger amounts of pigment used in artist-quality gouache it is opaque. Because of this you can also create transparent washes with some colours of artist gouache just by diluting it with more water.

Gouache colours are most often used for instructional purposes, illustrations and underpaintings – abstract works are rarely seen. We are therefore very pleased to look over the shoulder of the artist Anita Hörskens who uses Schmincke Horadam Gouache for abstract and mixed-media painting.

Abstract gouache painting with Horadam Gouache
by Anita Hörskens

Materials

The materials she uses:

• Schmincke Horadam Gouache in 15ml tubes in the following colours:

• Titanium white
• Cadmium yellow light
• Cadmium orange
• Cadmium red deep
• Quinacridone violet
• Helio turquoise
• Cobalt blue light
• Cobalt green deep
• Olive green
• Raw umber
• Vandyke brown
• Neutral grey

• Schmincke Aqua modelling paste, fine
• Torn newspaper
• Heavyweight watercolour paper – Andalucia by Hahnemühle – 500gsm
• Pencil
• Natural charcoal sticks
• Painting knife
• 40mm wide brush

Preparing the surface

As I like to work in series, I prepare three painting surfaces with Aqua fine modelling paste at the same time. To bring the surface to life, I glue a torn strip of newspaper with Aqua fine modelling paste on one of the vertical third lines. Here I keep in mind the rules of the golden section (2/3 to 1/3 proportion). I cover the desired area with a thin layer of modelling paste, arrange the newspaper in small folds and press it down with a painting spatula. I spread the remainder of the paste over the collage and over parts of the painting.

Drawing

I draw lines freely over the entire painting surface with a pencil. I have, for example, drawn my signature several times here. This results in engravings in the areas of the still moist paste.

Applying the paint colours

After the structure has completely dried, the first coat of colour is applied. What I like most about Horadam Gouache is the visual depth of the velvet-matt appearance of the dried colours. I also appreciate the natural, highly pigmented covering power. Since I do not intend that the series of paintings use the same colour families, I choose a different colour tone for each of the three paintings. I apply the colour simultaneously, but in different ways.

How I work – Painting ‘Blue Composition’

I painted Horadam Gouache in helio turquoise and cobalt blue light with the painting spatula over the entire painting ground.

I connected the two colours by filling the free areas with titanium white.
With the spray bottle I sprayed a fine mist of water over the entire ground so the colours started to run.
In the spontaneous colour flow of the pigments several more colour shades are created.

I used the painting spatula to place a large dark form in Vandyke brown in the middle of the painting.

With a stencil I again applied Aqua modelling paste. I interrupt the darkness and create additional effects.

I glazed a mixture of cadmium yellow light and olive green over the paste in the left half of the painting and agitated the brush with diluted paint residues so that they splash into the painting.

I brightened a mixture of helio turquoise and cobalt green deep with titanium white and proceed likewise on the right half of the painting.

I glazed a mixture of Helio turquoise and Quinacridone violet (thinned with water) from the upper right and lower left parts with a brush. I then sprayed onto the paint edges with a spray bottle.

In the last step, I took colour residues of titanium white and the mixed yellow-green on the spatula blade and spread it over the entire painting surface with the flat spatula as if I were ironing. Because the knife is held flat the colours only adhere to the raised structured areas, emphasising the texture.
The finished painting has a combination of intense, velvet-matt colours which are typical of the Horadam Gouache.

Other examples

These other works were painted in a similar technique but with different colour compositions.

About the artist

Anita Hörskens

Anita Hörskens lives and works in Pfaffenhofen a.d.Ilm, Bavaria, Germany. She is an expert in most painting and drawing techniques. Originally a watercolour painter, she has been working mainly with acrylic and its possible combinations in the mixed media technique since 2002. More than 30 published instruction books, publications and videos are testimony to her expertise. Her German book “Acryl Praxis Buch” has been on the bestseller list as a classic standard work for years. The sought-after author is currently working on the implementation of a correspondingly well-founded “Watercolour Practice Book”. In addition, the artist has been working as a successful instructor for over 20 years, both in her own painting school and for various independent academies.

Schmincke Horadam Gouache at Jackson’s Art

Schmincke Horadam Gouache is artist-quality opaque watercolour available in 48 colours.

Schmincke Horadam Gouache on the jacksonsart.com website.

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Abstract Painting with Horadam Gouache appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

‘Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour’ by Jean Haines is a recent publication that inspires expressive interpretations of flowers from direct observation and photographs. This review by Lisa Takahashi explains why Jean Haines’ experience and passion for painting is so effective. The book is highly motivating, packed with practical tips to explore the true breadth and potential of watercolour painting.

‘Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour’ is a book that the artist has wanted to write for a long time. It is a celebration of the joy of painting flowers. It also gives insight into how Jean Haines achieves her unique and expressive painterly techniques. The book is currently available as a 176 page hard-back book that is beautifully laid out with many illustrations of Jean Haines’ exciting work.

For those unfamiliar with the work of Jean Haines; her style is loose and exuberant. She is not afraid to let the paint run and allow colours to burst. She adds subtle detail to very fluid looking initial washes to give the work focus, leading your eye to where she wants it. Her gift lies in combining a love of the subject with her love of paint. She knows where to strike a balance between the two, and this is very much reflected in how she has approached the writing of this book.

Her book is divided into 5 main sections – ‘What We Need’, ‘Seeds of Ideas’, ‘All Things White and Beautiful’ ‘Seasons of Life’ and ‘The Journey’.

Section 1 – ‘What We Need’

In ‘What We Need’ Jean Haines goes through the essential tools for painting – both in terms of materials and attitude/state of mind. There are some really interesting tips. These include using a piece of watercolour paper to mix colours on to rather than a palette, and discussing just how much water is the right amount to mix into your paint. She also goes into colour matching, what brushes to use and her favourite paints. As someone who hates waste I also love her encouragement to keep hold of scraps of paper for painting experiments! All really useful information, simply stated and beautifully laid out.

From the ‘What We Need’ section of Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour

Seeds of Ideas

In ‘Seeds of Ideas’ Jean then starts to investigate where ideas come from and how they can be developed. The chapter is full of encouragement to explore, play, and enjoy the process of investigation. There is a sweet Step-by-step instruction of how to paint Violets. It’s ideal for beginners and serves as a great way to follow in the author’s footsteps. By doing the project you really get a feel for how loose you can afford to be with your painting. Following the exercise is an illustration of how Violets can be painted a different way. This epitomises a key theme running throughout the book – that there are infinite ways to paint a subject. Half the fun is choosing how you are going to paint yours.

After this exercise the book presents a series of considerations and how these might benefit your practice. These include painting in monochrome and adding other points of interest to your painting (such as insects). She also covers knowing when to stop painting and how to portray white using a ‘negative painting’ technique. These are presented as demonstrations with excellent close up photos of the stages. You could give them a go yourself or just take a look and absorb it as food for thought. I really found the ‘The Point Of No Return’ section with a step by Step Forsythia project fascinating. I consider Jean Haines to be a pro at knowing just when to leave a painting so that it is at the very edge of representational painting and abstraction. The results are so effective. Jean Haines spent time in China learning Chinese painting techniques and I sense that this has influenced this aspect of her work profoundly. She takes a meditative approach to observing when to place a mark on the paper and when to leave it.

All Things White and Beautiful

In ‘All Things White and Beautiful’ Jean goes further into when to paint and when not to paint. She presents a number of ways to paint white flowers, all of which involve leaving the white of the paper. This ensures a degree of luminosity with the work. For me this can feel counterintuitive, because when I draw or paint something in front of me it takes a lot of mark-making to find the subject and my relation to it. In this book Jean encourages a more measured and courageous approach which I am now itching to try.

Seasons of Life

‘Seasons of Life’ is the real meat of the book – where Jean goes through each of the seasons and demonstrates a way of painting flowers to be found at each time of year. There is a mixture of step-by-step projects and demonstrations of her own work. These are accompanied by passages addressing composition, paint handling, and mark-making. It is as if Jean is painting and then an idea pops into her head which she wants to discuss with you. The result is that there is a lovely informality and honesty about how she imparts her knowledge and enthusiasm for watercolour painting. I particularly like her pages describing painting summer flowers such as roses and sweet peas, which are so beautiful and understated.

The Journey

The final section of the book is ‘The Journey’. Here Jean Haines hints at how you might take steps away from her suggestions to further establish your own creative voice. With headers such as ‘Interpretation’, ‘Painting with Soul’ and ‘Abstract Composition’, these pages encourage the reader to keep taking risks. Play with paint, make experimental abstract washes just to see how they look and work out what you like and dislike. I love Jean Haines’ approach. The book is full of the passion she has for painting. Her enthusiasm doesn’t prescribe how we should paint at all. It hints at ways we might tackle a subject but always goes on to say ‘but you could do this as well’. It serves to open our eyes to just how limitless painting in watercolour is. There is no right or wrong way; and mistakes are experiences to learn from.

‘Painting Magnolias’, from Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour

The beauty of this book is summed up in a quote by the author in the first chapter. ‘I am not really aiming for ‘perfect’ paintings. Instead, I aim to capture my favourite subjects and show them full of life, atmosphere and containing a terrific sense of energy or mystery. My goal is unique results’.

If this is what you desire in your own work, then I thoroughly recommend you check out this book!

‘Simplifying Complicated Shapes’, from Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour

Jean Haines’ ‘Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour’ is available from Jacksonsart.com for £15.90 (RRP £19.99). For more information and to order a copy click here.

The post Book Review – Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour by Jean Haines appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

The Jackson’s Art shop in Gloucester hosted our first artist workshop a few weeks ago. It was so successful that we are now planning more events. The watercolour workshops ‘Expressive Watercolour inspired by Turner’ and ‘Sea Mist over a Harbour’ were led by Cornish artist Glyn Macey with materials provided by Winsor & Newton. Glyn gives us a summary of the art he demonstrated.

Winsor & Newton Watercolour Workshops

by Glyn Macey

‘Sea Mist over a Harbour’

When working fast and loose, often wild landscapes create the best subjects.
In this instance the dramatic cliff-side mining ruins of Crowns Mine in West Cornwall became the subject for a one hour step-by-step workshop using Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolours.

Working with the painting board in an almost vertical position is always a challenge for the watercolourist but sometimes we can use these seemingly difficult challenges as the catalyst for dynamic and interesting mark making. In this instance I deliberately let the paint drip, dribble and run in order to create expressive vertical layers of implied texture, sunlight and shadow. These ‘accidental’ marks often have far more fluidity and movement than conventional brush strokes could ever have.

Letting the paint layers dry completely before adding more wet paint allowed me to work extensively with glazes and Winsor & Newton’s unrivalled translucency and colour brilliance in their Professional Watercolour range allows the underlying colour, tone and texture to ‘ghost’ through the secondary glazed layers. All in all this glazed and layered way of creating implied interest is tailor made for wild, natural subjects such as these.

I do like a touch of detail and focus in my compositions so chose to focus my attention on the tin mine ruins. Using a palette knife for crisp edges and details, a simple watercolour wash of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine mixed together gave me a satisfying rich deep dark tone for adding shadows to the buildings creating the all important modelling.

The finished watercolour paintings of the artists that attended the workshop.

‘Expressive Watercolour inspired by Turner’

To work in such a loose way without losing vibrancy demands materials made to the highest quality as can be seen in the second of the one hour workshops. For this subject I chose a calm, misty scene of boats on my local river. It’s early morning and the sun is beginning to burn off the river mist. These sublime elements can be hard to capture and often results can be insipid and disappointing particularly when using cheap paints (and I use the word cheap in all senses!) as the binders and pigment quantities and qualities won’t be anything like as satisfying to use.

With this in mind, I’m confident that a combination of watercolour wash glazes blended will keep their depth and richness of colour. Once completely dry I am able to work crisp details over the naturally blended washes. A good rule of thumb to remember is this: wet paint placed next to wet paint will blend together softly, wet over dry will give you crisp edges but at all costs remember to avoid wet paint added to almost dry (but not quite!) painted areas. If you’re unsure if your paint is properly dry, hold your painted surface at a slight angle to a light source. Any glisten means it’s not quite dry yet so give it a few more minutes or a blast from a hair dryer.

All in all, watercolour is the most fluid and spontaneous medium of all to work with, and the more we can create and use the ‘accidental’ elements created by working loosely and with confidence the more exciting the outcome. So, throw away those tiny brushes and throw away the watercolour book of rules. Play, experiment and enjoy!

Artists painting along with Glyn’s demonstration.

I’m always looking for collaborative project ideas so if you’re up for an adventure, drop me a line on glynmacey@googlemail.com and if you’re searching for further inspiration check www.glynmaceystudio.com

If you can’t get to Cornwall for one of Glyn Macey’s painting workshops you can learn online from one of the tutorials available on his website.

You can see what Glyn is up to on social media – Instagram and Facebook.

Glyn Macey’s books and the watercolour paints that he prefers are available on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website

• Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolours
• Glyn Macey’s World of Acrylics book
• Acrylics Unleashed book by Glyn Macey

Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

The post Glyn Macey Watercolour Workshops at Jackson’s appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Before we added Daniel Smith to the range of watercolours available at Jackson’s Art Supplies, they were requested by many of our professional customers. Why?

The Story Behind Daniel Smith Primatek Watercolours

Fans of Daniel Smith Watercolours love the array of pigments used to make their exquisite colours. They are best known for reviving the use of some pigments that are mined from the Earth. Daniel Smith began with the Primatek collection in 1998. Their penchant for creating fascinating colour mixes began with the production of Lapis Lazuli — the gold speckled blue gemstone found in King Tutankhamun’s mask! Painters who tried the colour adored it, and the positive response compelled the company to hire a mineralogist to find more natural pigments from which to create a range of paints.

Finding the right pigments is no mean feat. Journeys have been made across the world via plane, jeep and even mule to get to the, often remote, sources of the pigments. High quality veins of ore are identified and then mined with large quantities of minerals, or “massive”, being processed to unearth the colour within.

Making paints is as much a chemical process as it is an artistic one. Chemists and paintmakers come together to grind and re-grind the pigments until they are at the optimum particle size to bring out maximum colour vibrancy. These pigments are then milled with the medium, at a ratio that guarantees the necessary attributes of the finest watercolour: vibrancy, consistency and stability.

Insight into a Few Colours

Today there are 35 colours in the Primatek range. Here’s an insight into four of the colours.

Piemontite Genuine Daniel Smith Primatek Colour Swatch

Piemontite Genuine is ground from a scarlet-streaked mineral sourced in the hills of Italy. When squeezed from the tube its appearance is of a deep ruddy violet. Add water to create a granulating violet-brown that has a carmine tone.

Amethyst Genuine Daniel Smith Primatek Colour Swatch

Amethyst Genuine looks almost black when squeezed from its tube, but it’s actually a rich purple. It is capable of a wide range of tone when more and more water is mixed with it. Although it does granulate, it also makes beautiful clear washes with the faintest hint of sparkle due to the crushed gemstone that the pigment is extracted from.

Serpentine GenuineDaniel Smith Primatek Colour Swatch

Serpentine Genuine is a green that comes from a stone found in Australia. This soft stone is used cross-culturally for carving amulets used to ward off harm. Daniel Smith Serpentine Genuine is the newest colour in the Prima Tek range, and has no comparison in any other known paint palette. Serpentine Genuine is semi-transparent and develops granulation with specks of burnt scarlet. It makes a great addition to landscape and floral palettes.

Bloodstone Genuine Daniel Smith Primatek Colour Swatch

Bloodstone Genuine is from a stone that is seen as mystical, magical and medicinal. Its red specks are thought by some to represent the blood of Christ. Bloodstone when ground into pigment makes an intense and velvety aubergine colour. When washed out it then turns to a warm grey wash that has great lifting properties, and granulates beautifully. It mixes especially well with transparent Rhodonite Genuine and Quinacridone Burnt Orange.

Quinacridone Magenta Daniel Smith Swatch

Did you know?

Daniel Smith was the first manufacturer to use Quinacridone pigments to create artist paints. Quinacridone pigments were originally developed for the automotive industry which requires extremely lightfast and durable paints. Quinacridone is known for its brilliant colour and luminous transparency which also makes it the perfect source of pigments for watercolour.

Daniel Smith Watercolour are available at jacksonsart.com, 5ml are priced between £6.00-£9.00 and 15ml are priced between £11.00-£22.00.

The post Unique Paints Made with Mineral Pigments: Daniel Smith Primatek Watercolours appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

Ever wanted a watercolour sketchbook for taking around with you? We noticed a mysterious in-depth review on a Stillman & Birn Sketchbook, by a customer simply named Evelyn, saying how she found it weighty and yet that the paper was lovely and could soak up oodles of watercolour, while the colour stayed beautifully fresh. The detail that Evelyn went into about her requirements, meant we thought she’d be a great artist to describe the differences between sketchbooks and how to make sure your one is portable enough for your needs.

Some thoughts on Stillman & Birn (gamma) sketchbooks, compared with a Handbook Journal, for watercolour and pen sketching.

Why is the right sketchbook important?

It is one of those deep mysteries of life that I haven’t yet managed to solve – how much blame can I reasonably lay at the foot of my materials? While I am well aware that not even the most astonishingly perfect sketchbook ever created will make up for lousy skills, I’m also aware that bad paper is dismally unrewarding to use and sucks the life out of your painting. I began my watercolour sketching habit using cheap basic bargain books, which function perfectly well as a gateway drug, until you are hooked, slightly obsessed, and are then forever on the prowl for the perfect pad.

By way of explaining what it is I’m looking for, here are a few examples of the kind of use my sketchbook gets. I mostly draw with a fountain pen, though occasionally with a Pitt / Staedtler waterproof pen or a brush pen, which I expect to be able to run smoothly across the page with no bleed. My paints are mainly Winsor and Newton artist’s watercolours, with the odd Daniel Smith thrown in for luck, which I would like to be able to apply liberally on occasion without too much paper buckling, and I’d like the colours to retain their vibrancy. I sketch on location sometimes, so portability matters, and I often sketch across two pages, so they should ideally lie flat. When I’m being good and sketching regularly, I can flake through books quickly, so price is an issue.

Bramble leaves on a Handbook Journal – across two pages, with some densely applied paint.

Courtauld sketch on a Handbook Journal – on location, across two pages, using fountain pen and ink

Buttonhole kale on Stillman & Birn -quite wet paint application.

After working my way through a few books I didn’t get along with, I found and was quite content with Handbook Journals. I thought my search was over, but then, rather annoyingly, I kept coming across glowing reports of sketchbooks from a company I had never heard of – Stillman & Birn – and well, what could I do except buy one!

First impressions of the Stillman & Birn Gamma Sketchbook

I bought the Stillman & Birn, hardback, gamma, portrait format book measuring 14 x 22 cm. (This review should also apply to the alpha, as the weight and surface are the same as the gamma, but the alpha is white rather than ivory). When it arrived I promptly set off on an excitedly keen sketching binge, however, in no time at all, I developed a deep dislike of it!

Firstly, it is astonishingly heavy. The similarly sized hardback Handbook Journal weighs in at 330g, the Stillman & Birn, with its incredibly ponderous cover, is 430g. That is a whole 100g heavier, despite having only 48 pages compared to the 64 of the Handbook. When you are trying to pare the weight of a portable sketching kit down to a minimum, that extra weight really matters.

My second major gripe with the S&B was that no matter how hard I pressed down and forcefully leaned upon the spine, I found it impossible to flatten down the pages. This matters as I often work across two pages and I found it very frustrating when the pen snagged in the gully of the spine instead of skimming seamlessly across it. Although the blurb promises that the spines ease in and lie flat, mine remained resolutely stiff and stubbornly solid, resulting in sketches that had nasty gaps down the centre, as in the first example, and also in sketches where the paint seeps into the gully and formed an unsightly puddling, as in the second.

Stillman & Birn, hardback, spine gap

Stillman & Birn, hardback, pooling

Looking at the spine of the sketchbooks

These differences are apparent when looking side on at the spine; the Handbook is more flexible, while the Stillman & Birn is quite rigid.

Handbook Journal Spine

Stillman & Birn Spine

Paper weight and buckling in both sketchbooks

On paper weight: The S&B paper is the heavier of the two at 150g vs. the 130 g of the HB. One of the things that piqued my interest in the Stillman & Birn was the oft repeated reassurance in many reviews that the paper can take a lot of paint and it will not buckle. Yes the Stillman & Birn paper is strong, and yes, you can liberally slather washes over it with gay abandon, and will not doesn’t soften or breakdown in the slightest. Pens don’t bleed, and even the worst ink leaks from a wayward fountain pen won’t seep through the pages. But I found it does buckle, and it stays slightly bucked when it dries. I love to turn a new leaf and to greet the optimistic potential of a fresh blank page, I don’t however love to turn a leaf and confront the dimpled back of the previous day’s attempt. I found this dimpling to be worse on the Stillman & Birn, and to test this somewhat empirically, I covered a few pages of both the S&B and in the HJ with a variety of matching daubs and streaks of soaking wet washes, and left them to dry. I photographed the results, admittedly, not terribly successfully, but enough perhaps to show the slightly more undulating texture of the Stillman & Birn.

Handbook Journal- the back of a wet page.

Stillman & Birn- the back of a wet page

Perhaps the difference is more obvious from the side – both books have lain flat on a shelf for a month or so before taking this shot:

Side view of Handbook Journal ( on top) and Stillman & Birn (below).The S&B pages are notably wavier.

How does each sketchbook’s paper react to paint?

More so than weight or bucking issues, the ultimate sketchbook test must surely be how well the paint behaves on the paper and how well it retains its colour and vibrancy. I have to admit that there is something about the Stillman & Birn paper which really pleases. It has a very appealing surface – slightly rough, or with a bit of tooth, but not rough enough to hinder the flow of pen or pencil. But lovely though it feels, I couldn’t really find much difference between the two papers when it came to performance. Again, I thought perhaps an experiment might help, so I tried to produce the same marks, with the same amount of paint on both sketchbooks (harder than you might think!).

Colour and lifting swatch on Handbook Journal

Colour and lifting swatch on Stillman & Birn

After quite a few pages of swatches and much addled staring, I came to the earth shattering conclusion that the results on both papers are remarkably similar! Neither appears to have more notably vibrant colour than the other and washes have soaked in, spread and mixed in similar fashions. The S&B paper seems to arch up when wet which results in a bit more puddling and therefore denser colour at the spine end of the swatches. I felt the colour lifted slightly easier from the Handbook, I thought grainier pigments possibly showed their texture a little better on the Stillman & Birn, but quite honestly, any differences were far too slight to be of note to all but the most exacting critic.

Swapping from a hardback to a softback sketchbook

So on balance, for me, the lumbering weight of the hardback Stillman & Birn and its inability to lie flat would rule it out for me, which should bring an end to this (rather protracted!) pondering. However, just to complicate life a little, and because I did rather like the texture of the Stillman & Birn paper, I decided to try the same book but with a softback cover. This solves the weight problem, as the softback S&B is only 230 g, making it almost half the weight of its hardback older brother and a good 100 g lighter than the Handbook Journal. It also lies flat easily, hurrah! The lack of a hard cover does however mean for sketching out and about, not at a desk or table, you are effectively trying to draw on something floppy, which is really not to be recommended. Bringing along a bent piece of corrugated plastic and a couple of clips solves this issue without adding much weight.

Corrugated cardboard attached to Stillman & Birn softback sketchbook for support

Conclusion on the pros and cons of each sketchbook

So, where has all that comparing and contrasting left me? Well it has left me with two sketchbooks! I like the ultra-light weight, the vellum textured paper and the behaviour of paint on the softback Stillman & Birn, but I like the hard cover, the price and the behaviour of paint on the Handbook Journal.

Other differences that may be worth considering: The Handbook Journals come in a pleasing square format, approx. 14 X 14 cm. They also have a useful elastic strap, and a little plastic pouch, which is handy if you are one of those sketchers who collect paraphernalia. The Stillman & Birn books are available in a greater variety of larger formats than the Handbooks, and they also come in a greater range of paper weights and paper colours, and they come spiral bound, if that is your thing. Beyond that, I’m afraid that any improvement in my paintings is going to have to come from, well, actually painting, rather than from any particular choice of sketchbook. Perhaps less time spent pottering away procrastinating over materials might be in order? Or perhaps not, where would the fun be in that!

About Evelyn

Out and about with a softback Stillman & Birn Sketchbook and an impatient collie.

I have a background in Graphic Design, but I’m now mid-way through an MA in Art History, and a little way through a long long journey to become a better artist. I paint in oils when time allows, but I try and to watercolour sketch daily (ish), partly because the looking, the drawing and the colour mixing involved are wonderfully useful for progressing in painting, but mainly for the sheer enjoyment of it.

I pop some pics and some ponderings on my blog.

Visit our sketchbook department to discover which one appeals to you or view our range of Stillman & Birn sketchbooks here.

Calling all artists to share their views!

We would like to encourage you to write a review on our website of any products that you have used. Simply navigate to the product you wish to review and click on the ‘Reviews’ button beneath the product image. Be thoughtful and detailed – think about what information will be useful to others.

Each month we will be selecting several well-written examples which will be published on our blog. The writer of the best review will receive a £25 Jackson’s gift voucher plus a photograph of them in their studio (if they wish) and a link to their website will appear alongside their review.

The post What Makes A Good Portable Sketchbook? A Review of Stillman & Birn Books appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.

With the new addition of Jacquard Piñata Alcohol Inks to Jackson’s store, we asked alcohol ink artist and art therapist, Jenna Ferguson, to test them out with Legion Yupo Heavy Paper. She shared her findings with us here saying ‘I was delighted by the interesting range of pattern and colour created’. Read on to find out more about Jenna, her work and her Instagram Giveaway.

On Legion Yupo Paper and Jacquard Piñata Alcohol Inks

by Jenna Ferguson

Alcohol inks are a fun fluid art medium that can be used to create really unique and interesting art. They’re very versatile and can be used in lots of different ways using a wide range of techniques. The painting process can be both fascinating and mesmerising as the inks move around and dry to create the most beautiful effects. After trying them it’s easy to see why they’re becoming so popular!

Items in Jenna’s Instagram giveaway.

In this review, I tried five ink colours from the Jacquard Piñata range and painted onto Legion Yupo heavy paper. I have to say, this is, without doubt, the best quality Yupo paper I have tried. It’s really thick and sturdy which is great as you’re able to pick up the paper while the inks are still wet and move it around to create effects in the ink as they dry.

Mixing the Alcohol Inks and Creating Swatches

The range of Jacquard inks are fabulous. The colours are really bright and vibrant and they have a wide variety of colour choice, as well as a range of metallic mixatives to add to the inks. Before painting, I often create ink colour swatches of the inks I’m thinking of using.

Sometimes different coloured undertones can emerge from the inks when isopropyl alcohol is added to them, so creating swatches gives me an idea of which colours will work together. I then pre-mix the inks I’d like to use with isopropyl alcohol and put the colours into pipettes.

Application and Technique

I love the vibrancy of these inks when they’re poured onto the paper. I keep the paper wet and gradually add each colour, while continually blowing the inks around with a straw to create patterns and merge the colours into each other. The gold mixative looks striking against the other colours and I love the way it mixed with the inks and created different effects depending on how much I added and how much I moved it around with the other inks. The inks blended wonderfully together and I was pleased with the variety of marks they left as they dried.

I was happy that even though I had kept the paper really wet, when the inks dried it hadn’t warped and had maintained its original rigidity. The inks had thoroughly dried within about 10-15 minutes and I was delighted by the interesting range of pattern and colour created.

Check out Jenna’s Instagram page @jennafergusonart to see videos of how she created this piece.

About Jenna Ferguson

“I’m an Art Therapist from Scotland and I use art as a way to help others express their feelings. I support children who are looked after within the care system, as well as young people who have been diagnosed with cancer.

I have a degree in Psychology with Honours (University of Glasgow) and I qualified for my Masters degree in Art Psychotherapy with distinction (Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh), and so my skills and knowledge are in the emotional benefits of creativity.

While I was on maternity leave I began to use alcohol inks for my own creative outlet and was immediately drawn to their therapeutic qualities. The process of using this fluid art medium is both intuitive and expressive; my pieces are often a result of playful spontaneity without having a predetermined plan for the finished product. My work usually consists of multiple layers and I love to combine alcohol inks with other mixed media, such as beautiful gold leaf detailing to accentuate the ink underneath.

My abstract art pieces are available for sale through my Instagram and Facebook pages, my online Etsy shop, ‘Picture It’ Gallery and Framers in Helensburgh (Argyll & Bute), and Made in West Dunbartonshire shop in Bowling.”

Clare: Who are your top three favourite artists?

Jenna: That’s a hard question because I’m inspired by so many artists! I’ve found using Instagram has been an amazing way for me to connect to a vast community of artists and it’s through this I’ve discovered so many artists I might not otherwise have come across. So this might not be your typical response to this question, but my favourite artists are all inspirational women whose art I adore through Instagram. Similarly to me, all are inspired by nature, especially the sea and the sky, and they create art that really speaks to me.

Phoebe Gander
Phoebe is originally from England and now lives by the ocean in New Zealand. She uses a variety of mediums in her work including alcohol inks, but most recently her ocean inspired resin pieces are just amazing. I love to get to know more about artists whose work I admire, and I enjoy Phoebe sharing about her life as a mother of 3 and as an artist who like me, is trying to use her love of creating art as a way of supporting her family while also being able to spend as much time with her children as possible.

Art by Phoebe Gander

Wendy Stevens-Mizee
Wendy is wave obsessed and I love it! She uses a range of mediums but often alcohol inks, creating detailed paintings inspired by the Oregon coast where she lives. Wendy finds real joy in the process of painting her water-like images, which is something I relate to. I’m enjoying following her journey as a self-taught artist who is embracing her new found love of painting while sharing her reflections of what her art means to her.

Take Me Away, 2018
Wendy Stevens-Mizee
Alcohol Inks on Yupo Paper, 22.8 x 30 cm

Jessica Swan
Jess is at a stage of being an artist that I aspire to be. She creates the most beautiful abstract paintings that I really connect to. Her art draws you in and the colours she uses are just amazing. She shows confidence in her work while she also shares her journey of learning and growing. From Perth, Australia, Jess is a self-taught artist but has had her own solo art shows. She is another mum who is trying to share her art as a way of doing what she loves while finding a good work-life balance. Jess’ work is admired worldwide and the videos she shares of her art process inspires artists to embrace creativity and enjoy the process.

Jessica Swan in the Studio

Clare: Do you use alcohol inks in your art therapy sessions? What other mediums do you use?

Jenna: I haven’t used alcohol inks in therapy sessions yet because I work with children and I would need to give careful consideration to how this could be done in a safe way, as the process of using alcohol inks involves mixing them with isopropyl alcohol, which is a toxic liquid. Likewise, it’s unfortunately not something I’d be able to use with cancer patients. So although it’s definitely a medium which has huge therapeutic potential it’s not something I’ve been able to incorporate into my work as a therapist yet.

Other mediums I use in my own art expression include a range of mixed media. I particularly love the Pebeo brand for this – especially their gold leaf and gold foils. I also love to paint using acrylics and create layers of texture – although it’s not something I’ve done much of since discovering my love of alcohol inks! Lately I’ve been experimenting by adding resin to my paintings, and this is something I plan on doing more of and developing my skills with.

Clare: You have experimented in painting objects like mugs and tiles. Do you intend to continue exploring this avenue? Where else would you like to see your work and what other objects do you have in mind to paint?

Jenna: Yes, I definitely intend to continue exploring alcohol inks on ceramics. It’s so much fun to do and can create really striking results. I’m enjoying making sets of coasters on ceramic tiles at the moment as this kind of art-making really fits in well with how busy my days are just now – I’m off work on maternity leave, and with two little ones there isn’t always a lot of time for creativity! Using alcohol inks to create coasters means I can do a little at a time, one layer of the process, then easily put it aside to go back to the next time I get a chance.

In terms of other places I’d like to see my work – the sky’s the limit! I’ve already had my paintings printed onto luxury, 100% pure silk scarves, and I’ll be launching this product for sale within the next couple of months. I can see so much scope for my art to be reproduced onto a range of products and it’s something I’m excited to explore further. I also intend to continue creating original paintings and would love to see my work displayed in other art galleries in the future. I’m really proud to have sold paintings across the world, it makes me so happy to send my work to places as far away as California, or Japan! I’m hopeful this will continue as I develop as an artist.

One of Jenna’s experiments with painting on mugs.

Clare: What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start out with alcohol inks?

Jenna: If I could encourage anyone starting out with inks (or possibly any medium for that matter) it would be just to play! Inks offer endless opportunity for self-expression and I would recommend simply playing with the inks and having fun trying different ways of applying them, moving them around on the paper, drying them, and experimenting with different ways of finishing a piece, for example adding mixed media layers or different ways of mounting your work. I love the ‘accidental nature’ of inks – the way the painting can take on a life of it’s own and become something other than what you had intended, often becoming even more beautiful!

In terms of using alcohol inks, I’m completely self taught. I gained some knowledge about how to use the inks and what materials I could use by following other alcohol ink artists on Instagram. There are amazing artists who share aspects of their process such as @janelovesdesign, and artists who offer online courses, like @jessicayoungart and @oliviajoystudio. I think you can learn the basics from watching other artists but it’s so important to develop your own style by experimenting with different techniques and finding what fits for you.

Instagram Giveaway

Jenna is giving away 3 Jacquard Piñata Ink colours plus Extender and Legion Yupo Heavy Paper on her Instagram Page along with the original painting she created for this review. Click here to see how you can enter to win!

You can view all of the Jacquard Piñata Alcohol Inks online here along with the Legion Yupo Paper range here.

The post Review of Legion Yupo Paper and Jacquard Piñata Alcohol Inks appeared first on Jackson's Art Blog.