Lifting Paint

  This entry was originally posted on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 

Just a little tip about lifting paint. 

 You can use your soft or hard scrub brush depending on what you are trying to lift.

(More information on scrub brushes can be found by clicking here and here)

When you lift your paint, wet your brush and lightly scrub the surface of the paper.

But make sure you have a tissue handy to dab at your paper as you lift the paint.

If you don't dab your paper with the tissue often, you will just be pushing dirty water around. 

The paper will also become too wet.  Then the paint around the area you are trying to lift will just bleed back into it.

I prefer a nice soft tissue for my lifting. Paper towels and some brands of tissue I feel are too rough for lifting. They don't seem to wick the water away from the paper as easily. 

It is also a good idea to stay away from tissues that are antiviral or have lotion in them.

They might leave some oils behind which become difficult to paint over if you need to.

The Best Reason for the Best Black

   This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 

It can be difficult to commit to painting a black. 

You might wonder, What if it is wrong?

What if I put it in the wrong place?

What if I can't undo it?!!!

 

But with French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna (US), you can undo it!!

These two colors, since they are opaque and sit on the surface of the paper (another reason to know the properties of your paint) you can easily lift your black!

Just use your soft scrub and some water and the paint will lift right off. 

Knowing this, I use this technique in several of my paintings.

For The Attic Room, I painted the background with the US combo and then lifted out the ceiling beams with a soft scrub brush.

More Reasons to Love the Best Black

  This entry was originally posted on Monday, March 5, 2012 

There are so many reasons to love the mixture of French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna for your blacks.

One is that you can vary your black between the warm and cool and give it life.

This can be seen in the window behind the portrait of Harold.

If it were just black, it wouldn't be as interesting and it would look like a black hole.

Harold

My greys in the wood are also done with the US combo.  

Another reason to love this combination is that both French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna granulate and push and pull each other. I love that!! 

Knowing this, I can use it in places where I want texture.

For instance, I use it for rocks like below.

 

The Best Black becomes the Best Grey

   This entry was originally posted on Saturday, March 3, 2012

Now that you know how to mix a good black, you can make an even more fabulous grey.

Just add water to your US (French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna) mixture and you now have grey.

To make it a warm grey, add more of the brown (burnt sienna).

To make a cool grey, add more blue (french ultramarine)

The Best Black

  This entry was originally posted on Friday March 2, 2012

When I was discussing paint colors in my previous posts, I mentioned that the two must have colors are:

 French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.

Now you get to know why I like them so much!

French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna when mixed together make the best black.

This is because you can make it a warm black by adding more of the Burnt Sienna into the mix or a cool black by adding more of the French Ultramarine into the mix. 

I like to call this mix US for Ultramarine Sienna. 

Now your black will have more variation and life to it.

The Two Must Have Colors

 This entry was originally posted on Monday, January 16, 2012.

I know I said that you can choose your colors for your limited palette but I feel that there are 2 colors that are absolutely essential to any palette, especially if you are a beginner.

These colors are French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.

I also call these 2 colors US for Ultramarine, Sienna.

They are extremely universal and versatile.

You will notice that these two colors are used by many of the great watercolorists, including John Singer Sargent.

 

There are many reasons why I use these colors but that will be discussed later.