Story: "Squiggles" 1510.04.10

[ysabetwordsmith]

"Squiggles: Excerpts from Nleimen's Journal"

1510.04.10

Oh, by all that is licensed! Vloroshaal gave me a novice's set of Rainforest Glory watercolors. That is the top luxury brand. The box only has the eight basic colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black) rather than the sixteen that I have in my current set, but for the boost in quality I will gladly mix my own in-between colors on a palette. I'd feel guilty about the expense but Vloroshaal says that he knows a Mayaloi woman who works at Rainforest Glory so he gets these sets wholesale for the gift shop in his gallery.

What in the world can I get for him? I would be totally embarrassed to send him my artwork. He looks at professional art all day long! I will have to think of something else.


See the landing page for "Squiggles: Excerpts from Nleimen's Journal."

Comments

[natalief.livejournal.com]

Hard to mix white from that palette…

Sorry that was my first thought. My brain is not good at sociable sometimes.

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> Hard to mix white from that palette… <<

You're right! But white is kind of different in watercolor than in opaque paints. It isn't used much. Usually if you want white, you leave that part of the page unpainted. I don't know if Torn World has a "frisket" product or not, but that's one way to protect the paper.

White watercolor paint is usually used to make other colors into a sort of creamy pastel tone. It doesn't show up in a lot of paint sets. I based the colors in the story on what I found for sale on art websites, including descriptions of the colors, their pros and cons, etc.

A similar problem occurs with black. Small watercolor sets don't come with black, but with 6-8 bright colors. You can't get black by mixing them; you get a muddy gray-brown that isn't even a very good brown. So ideally, you want a set with a black and a brown paint, and white is convenient if you want those milky pastels.

>> Sorry that was my first thought. My brain is not good at sociable sometimes. <<

That's okay! What you said was relevant and accurate.

Re: Well...

[natalief.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. I have a small tube of white gouache in my watercolour palette. *looks for photo*



This is a test sheet I painted using my artists set (top quality Windsor & Newton, colours selected individually) but it does not show my white tube and I don't seem to have taken a photo of the actual paint box with tube(s). Any colours that I do not have I can mix.

Re: Well...

[natalief.livejournal.com]

*takes photos*
*uploads them to flickr*
There is actually a tube of black in there as well. I can mix any other colour.
Apologies for out of focus photos - the light is failing on my desk and the iPhone does not do well in lower light.

My paint-box (not paint-pox as I initially typo'd)!:



And my "travel" kit:

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Lovely top picture! The second photo crashed, alas.

From what I know, watercolor or gouache in tubes is superior for studio work. The solid cakes in a case are more convenient for travel or field work.

Re: Well...

[natalief.livejournal.com]

Huh, weird. Both photos show for me. Can you click through?

Personally I prefer pans over tubes when at home as well but then I do not have much space and definitely do not have any kind of studio - just my desk that gets used for knitting, the computer, the sewing machine, etc.

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it works if you click through.

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

That looks like a beautiful set! Gotta love that Payne's Gray. It's so versatile.