I decided to paint my current watercolour palette. I’m already thinking of changing out some of the paints. I’m using a mixture of brands, mostly Winsor and Newton Cotman, the cheaper ones with less intense colours (I always like that), a few of the Winsor and Newton Professional colours (some are a bit too bold, like Winsor Red, some work well), some Daniel Smith paints (which are mostly pretty bright, though they are often to be used sparingly because of their intensity, like the Phthalo Green) and I also have one QOR paint in there, the Ultramarine, which is intense but utterly beautiful and always looks good, especially when used in foliage against a green. Those few QOR brand paints I have are amazing. I am not a paint brand person, I don’t really go on about the perfect palette or really care too much, but I know what I need when I’m out and about, and some colours are better for certain places than others. I’m a drawer not a painter, but I use these to colour my drawings in. I really like using the Daniel Smith Manganese Blue hue for a sky, but also like a little touch of W&N Cobalt Blue in there to cool it down. I still mix up Payne’s Gray, W&N Ultramarine and Purple Lake to get my shadows, in various combinations. I’m probably gonna ditch that Hansa Yellow Deep experiment and go back to regular old Cadmium Yellow Hue. I bloody love the DS Transparent Red Oxide, which is a type of brown, and not as transparent as you’d expect, but produces an amazing colour. I’m still using those Faber Castell waterbrushes, I do have some other ones I got recently but haven’t used them as much yet. I have some regular paint brushes and a little pot of water too, but that’s more for when I’m painting at home, and I never have very good quality brushes, just a few that work ok for me. I like carrying around the little palette of 24 colours. Anyway these are my current paints, and I’ll probably change them out again next week. I just wanted to see what they all looked like on that Fabriano watercolour paper. I’d been a little concerned the colours weren’t showing up as vibrant as I’d expected on it, for whatever reason, and they do react differently than in the smoother pressed Moleskine watercolour. Anyway, that book is finished now. I still have to scan it all in though.
Tag: art materials
windows of colour

Ahead of the Amsterdam Urban Sketching Symposium, I decided I needed to deal with my paintbox. I rearranged the colours, took some out, added some in, refreshed them all, and this is my paletter this summer. These are all Winsor and Newton watercolour paints, mostly Cotman but with one or two Artist’s ones in there too. I like using this, the deluxe sketchers box, it fits into my hand or attached to the other page of the sketchbook with a rubber band pretty well. I needed to make a guide to the colours in case I forget, so that’s what this is. This could be a new advent calendar, 24 colours, actually that is not a bad idea. I have some new brushes I just bought as well, bigger than I usually use, so that I can paint on bigger paper for some of the workshops I am taking. I got some 11×14 Fabriano paper, which is not I must say really urban sketching material, being really big an not able to fit into a small bag. However I’m keen try something new, and the big pad of paper just about fits into my gym bag (but it only barely fits into my new suitcase, which is small). This paint set however is very small and compact, and fits a lot of stuff in there, the way I like it.
when you’ve absolutely positively gotta draw every single person in the room

I’m often asked what materials I use to draw with. Here are some of them, although they are weighted very heavily towards the brown-black Uni-ball signo UM-151 pen, which I use the most. Also I use Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolour paint to colour things in. The rest is really a bonus. you can find out more on my ‘materials‘ page. I drew all of these using that brown-black pen in a Stillman and Birn ‘Zeta’ sketchbook, the one with the very smooth white pages. Each individual tool took 5-10 minutes at most to sketch.
tomorrow never knows
When it comes to packing for a trip you have to be strategic. Clothes, well that’s quite easy for me. I travel fairly light, I know what I like and there it is, I’m packed. I’ve been packed for days. Art materials, well that’s a different teapot of sardines. Even though I should have it down, I have to pore for ages over which pens to bring and which to leave behind, which pens still kinda work ok and which have worn down nibs but are good back-ups for the more intense cross-hatching of those trees I need to draw. My Winsor and Newton Cotman paints have been filled with all manner of possible colours for a while, but since drawing the above sketch – in my new small red moleskine, which is acting as a kind of journal / place for smaller quicker sketches for the upcoming London/Lisbon trip – I have added another paint to the set, Prussian Blue, because four blues just wasn’t enough. “You Never Know,” that seems to be the catchphrase. Just look at all the pens which made the final cut! That is mental, no truly it is mental. I am trying to cover all my bases, but I’m probably going to shave quite a few off this. Still, it is the 2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium, and when it comes to my sketching needs, You Never Know.


