Watercoloring to Clear My Head

At the end of last week, I kind of fell off the wagon of consistent blogging. I had a bit of an odd week with some things and I didn't plan far enough out to have a post for you on Friday.  To clear my head I spent Wednesday watercoloring and creating a few new pieces of art.  I got a custom order on Thursday, so knocked that out on Friday.  Then spent the weekend working on a color mixing chart and starting seeds for our garden this year.  So enough housekeeping, let's get to the meat of the post.

I started watercoloring in 2019 when I found Let's Make Art.  I've talked about Let's Make art before and you can read about the start of my watercolor journey here.  I'm still learning and still love the LMA tutorials.  

This past week I started my watercoloring projects with the duck.  Not gonna lie I struggled with this one a little, "painting" white animals or objects is never easy.  In the end, the results were satisfying, but only after I laid it aside and looked at it later in the day.

Then came the rooster.  Not gonna lie, I still don't like him, but I will try again.  I think I would like to work with different colors on the next one. 

I also painted another Iris, because well I just love painting the Iris.  This color combo was inspired by a pic I saw on Pinterest.  When we lived in Missouri our yard was full of Iris, of several color variants.  I miss those flower beds full of color in the spring and summer.  Until I have iris again I will just have to paint them.  

I painted all of these with my Windsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors, while they are considered student grade they are a step up from the less expensive pan paints I started with.  I also paint most of my projects with Princeton Heritage brushes.  I have a round 6, 4, and 2, with plans to expand my collection to include a couple of flat brushes.  I also use a few Simply Simmon brushes.  I use a Masters International Folding Watercolor Palette.

I have 20 watercolors in my palette but had never created a color mixing chart.  I do have them swatched out in a watercolor sketchbook, but that was about it.  I usually fly by the seat of my pants and mix things until I get a color I like.  I'll be honest, that's probably still how I'll mix colors, but I wanted a complete chart for some starting points.

My chart isn't quite finished, but it's on my list of things to do this week.  I can't wait to have it complete and on my wall.  It's gonna make a great "art" piece, as well as a great reference tool.