Walking the dog II

The first two paintings for this mini series... once again I am in love with Daniel Smith's Sodalite Genuine and its gorgeous granulation's.

Walking the dog   watercolour on paper 17.5x17.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Walking the dog II   watercolour on paper 19.5x19.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Both paintings are available at Seasidestudiosuk on Etsy.

It might be time for a little colour. Where did I put my colour chart?

Just walking the dog

Wet sand, reflections and silhouettes fill my mind and sketchbooks at the moment. They are inspiring a new mini project. I watched an interview on Youtube with Fred Cuming one of my all time favourite artists which is where the quote in my sketchbook has come from. He said;

'I might be the only person in miles of open space.

It provides me with endlessly fascinating problems

of conveying something which is about nothing

more than emptiness.'

Fred Cuming

You can see more of his work here.

Sketchbook page   watercolour and pencil   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

He sums up so eloquently what I am trying to achieve. Light, space, solitude and quiet. I often think of my sea and sky paintings as 'the big empties' and this feels an extension of that work. Maybe the addition of a figure exaggerates that notion. Time to explore...

Sketchbook page   pencil on monoprint    ©LisaLeQuelenec

A gloomy day and a good book

It is dark, gloomy and decidedly cooler today. Perfect for curling up with a book. This is my latest aquisition;

The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair 

ISBN 9781473630819 hardback

ISBN 97814730630826 ebook

I have only dipped into it so far - it is that kind of book (you don't have to read it in any particular order). The history/story of 75 colours are discussed individually. There are chapters on the science, politics and language of colour. At the end there is a glossary of other 'interesting colours'. I rather hope that this may mean a second volume may be in the future. I am enjoying her writing style and will keep this book for the gloomy days to come as something to look forward to it will chase the dull greys away.

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History 

ISBN 9781473659032 has just been released and also sounds like an interesting read.

Anyway that is me set for today, hot coffee, a great book .... maybe a jammy dodger or two ;o) What are you reading at the moment?

Colour charts and colour sketchbook pages

The colour that I used in the previous post was Daniel Smith's Sodalite Genuine. I like using this colour on it's own for tonal studies for it's unpredictable granulation and the way the blue and the black sometimes separate as it's drying. I think of it as a soft faded denim and as comfortable to use as a pair of well loved jeans is to wear. It occured to me that although I have used this colour often and have used it in mixes with other blues I hadn't actually made a colour recipe chart for it with the other colours in my palette.

Colour charts for black watercolours ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Above is the chart painted this week on the left. To the right are some charts made previously  - you can see posts about previous expermients with black watercolours  here.  It was well worth doing the chart as I don't think I would have discovered these beautiful greens that can be mixed otherwise. I particularly like the way Sodalite Genuine mixes with Cobalt Turquoise Light, Green Gold and Indanthrene Blue (all Winsor & Newton)

Pages from my colour recipe and experiment book ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

This another chart to add to my colour sketchbook or recipe book. Below are a few pages from it that I have been refering to lately with all the greys, blues and aquas. It's filled with experiments, clippings, charts, notes and all sorts - even a couple of disposable palettes have been stuck in. To be honest it is an unruly mess with splats and spodges and scribbles but it is well thumbed, dog earred in places and beyond value to me. It's been added to over a number of years and as I am running out of room I will have to re-bind it to add more pages at some point in the future. It could end up as thick as a brick :o)  .