Color atmospheres and environments and glazing with pencils. Mixed media.
For the most part, these are two different watercolor palettes with two different colored pencil palettes.
THINGS I FOUND OUT:
You’d think this would be common knowledge, but it isn’t. I guess we all have to learn by experiences. I love experiences.
So, the grittier the watercolor, the more likely it would color on gritty. Gum Arabic already dries on very, very tight and has texture when I touch it, but the granules on some are fascinating. I have a watercolor on here that I forgot what it’s called, but I think it’s by Prodigal Sons, one of my favorite handmade watercolor brands. It’s Han Blue (maybe?) and when I color on top with colored pencils, it feels like using sandpaper and I love it sooo much because I wasn’t expecting it.
As well, some other colors have that same scratchy feeling.
Some colors are fine, but still produce a texture so there’s a ring around them and a change of reflection and light that comes off of them. Absolutely stunning.
Now, colored pencils have a similar feel to transparent watercolors so they layer and show the white of the paper or show whatever’s underneath it. Prismacolor isn’t as transparent as Crayola (I used crayola on here) and Faber-Castell Polychromos. Faber-Castell has some opaque colors, but typically they are transparent.
Things I like:
The backwashes! Those look stunning. I avoided coloring over them. Everytime I get them on something like this, I get so happy because they never look the same…however, when on a design I don’t want them at, I get so sensitive and irritable. They’re accidental here because they’re swatches but are beautiful.
I like how different the color pencils look when backgrounds change.
What I don’t like:
The paper. This is a study and not a major art piece, but dang…I liked painting on it, but coloring ACTUALLY SUCKS. It’s no texture so it’s slippery and hard to go light and dark. Also, with experience with this paper, I know it cannot take thick layers of acrylic without screaming uncle and crying. It’s only going to take so much. This paper is not useful for everyone, but it can take light water mediums alright. I enjoy it.
I also just don’t like how I left a space of white for some but then got jacked because I didn’t really think of it that hard. I also wish I left less white around so I can do Josef Albers’ levels of comparison. His studies however were more scientific, mine are just done so I could practice and avoid drawing and coloring characters. 😓
Anyway, thank you for talking to me. Have a great day and make sure to stay healthy and hydrated.
What did you bring to the potluck? 
19 replies on “Studies and experiments”
Thank you for sharing, I am not an artist type of person. I do love art and enjoy reading about the subject especially from artists.
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Oh, well thank you for coming and reading my blog! I appreciate it so, so much.
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It is my pleasure, I enjoy reading your blog
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Thank you so much. It truly means a lot!
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Take care and keep blogging
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I can imagine the paper quality makes a huge difference as does the type of paint. I’m always drawn to art with great texture and I bet it does make a difference when you can feel the sandpapery feel when coloring over the paint with colored pencils. It’s about the feel as well as the look. Thanks for sharing this. Your color studies are quite beautiful in their own right.
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Certainly. I can deal with the sandpaper texture but get disgusted and upset with thick acrylics and oils who make a just as fascinating texture.
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Oh, and thank you so much! I try to find colors I love.
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I don’t know much about art so I can’t say much lol. But I do find myself preferring the brighter colours. Which is weird because in real life, like with clothes and stuff, I prefer darker colours. Also, I think practice always makes perfect no matter what you do. Even when things seem obvious, practice helps.
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You saying that reminds me of my preference of wearing warm, bright colors but painting with cool, desaturated colors. You may like something but it may not suit you in another way. I enjoy looking at non representative, non objective abstract art, museum and gallery art and realistic art, but someone couldn’t make me do it even if they put a gun to my head (hyperbole). I frequent on Pinterest and on Google Arts and Culture.
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Yes, I think we enjoy something but it may not be for us in some ways.
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Looks like you had a lot of fun. Color play that leads to great insights.
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Sure does. Normally I hate studying, but I guess I like it when it’s something I care about.
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I really like ultramarine too. You’ve opened my eyes to a whole new world. Painting looks like a whole lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
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It’s a lot of work to do anything, really. It’s not fun in a conventional sense, but it’s fun to see what happens when I do particular things that change the outcome.
I feel like I’m experimental and interesting like Leonardo da Vinci trying to see how things turn out but not doing enough tests and scientific methods (mine is out of lack of interest in doing that). I like the process. Some people call it playing. I just want to see how things turn out because I’m intellectually nosy and always have been.
You can do very similar things digitally by using different brush looks or art programs. Try using different filters. The only limit to our intelligence is our perception and humanity.
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I have been experimenting with the digital brushes and filters, but it’s not the same as doing it on paper: the smell, the feel, the process… buying and trying out shades instead of just selecting it on a colour wheel. Things are cheaper and easier in digital art, but it lacks so many things because of this.
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Meh. People got you devaluing your art. It’s a different experience. A different visual experience. A lot of people devalue painting unless it’s antiillusionistic. However, value sculpting and carving because one can’t erase and it’s 3D and in our “reality.” It’s annoying.
Watercolors, useless you have mold, do and shouldn’t smell like anything. They have paint brushes, but rarely do I touch the paint with my hand unless it’s on accident and I stupidly track oil. Even then, when you have a trackpad or a tool, you should still feel something and be decently connected to something. I know what brushes I hate with my digital art. I like my oil paint like brushes and hate ones that look like line art brushes.
You should have a process regardless of any art you do, interior artists have processes. Process is what you do. Whether that be to sketch first then cover the layer. I always use my sketch layers on top when I color digitally.
Also, most people in the watercolor community buy single pigment sets and only value colors. You can pick out a lot of colors on a gamut instead of worrying about a color wheel. I don’t pick mine off of a color wheel because I think that’s boring as heck and I don’t care. When I do digital art (somewhat my traditional art, it’s all light anyway), I pick based on a LAB and HSV, typically going for a more abstract idea and not worrying about primaries and more on color ranges.
https://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/labwheel.html
Here’s a particular type of color wheel that an artist made for themselves to track their watercolors. It balances with a green leaning and red leaning or warm and cool tones.
There’s so many colors you can make digitally. It’s basically equivalent to Josef Albers’ studies or the things I did. Color variation exists around other colors. I have a link on different areas you may use on the color gamut. The world is your oyster.
https://images.app.goo.gl/H3UZUCwfmV1WEoDg9
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Thanks for the helpful advice, Feets. I owe you one.
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No problem. Enjoy your process and your art. I know I do.
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