Shell-ing a-Round #15 and #16 - Nautilus

Yep, I managed again to loose quite a few days! Many things came in the way, and only today I had the time to work again on the shell series. The good news is that I finished two of them, so maybe it is not too late to catch up...
Both are acrylics, ACEO size. This time the underwater versions of Nautilus.

 #15

#16

 

Mijello Watercolors testing

As you might have already read in one of my previous posts (July 2015), I received the Miejello Watercolors samples from USA, and, before using them for any painting, I do my usual color tests: (a) I squeze a small quantity of paint in a clean palette and examine the paints, (b) I make a small gradient swatch of each color, from straight from the tube to very diluted, followed by  (c) a few mixtures between some of the colors to see their potential.

This time I had 10 different tubes of the Mijello watercolors ( 9 of them are in a small set that can be found in the shops): Permanent Yellow Light, Yellow Orange, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Red, Permanent Rose, Rose Madder, Viridian, Peacock Blue, Mijello Blue, Van Dyke Brown. This is how the paints look in my palette:

Regarding the tubes, I noticed that all colors are well marked with information about the actual pigments, lightfastness, transparency and staining properties. This information is of high value for the professional watercolorists, who usually chose new colors based on the pigment information rather than based on the commercial names each company gives to the paints.
When coming out of the tube, the majority of the paints have very good consistency with the exception of the Van Dyke Brown, which came out far too watery. It could be only the tube I got in this sample that had this issue, and since I do not have the opportunity (anytime soon) to get another tube, I cannot say for sure that this is valid for all their tubes of Van Dyke Brown colors.
In the first day I did the individual color swatches, and waited for the next day to do some mixes. This was because I wanted to see how dry the paints would be next day and how easy/difficult would be to get them back to tube consistency again.
The Mijello paints are not drying fast, although exposed to very hot and dry weather conditions (end of July in Greece). Even after 24 hours these small quantities of paints were still soft and re-wet very well. They reminded me the quality of the Sennelier watercolors, which are also very easy to re-wet even after a very long time.

The next day I painted also the mixture swatches, and this is how my test paper looks:

Regarding the individual color swatches, I noticed that each color straight from the tube is very intense, which is a wonderful property. Only that you need lots of water to get your brush cleaned to move to the next one. Bellow you can see the graded washes of each color.


<- Perm Yellow Light





                Yellow Orange ->

 <- Burnt Sienna





                       Perm Red ->


 <- Perm Rose





                 Rose Madder ->


 <- Viridian





                Peacock Blue ->


 <- Mijello Blue




           Van Dyke Brown ->


Now, the Mijello watercolors have a property which some might love and other don't like at all: they stay in place! What I mean by this is that they do not disperse as much as watercolors usually do when you place a dot of color on a larger wet area. I see this as a great quality desired when painting in a well controlled manner, like controlled graded washes on a small area. But you might also run into troubles and get unwanted hard edges if you are expecting them to act like other watercolor brands.
Based on the above results, I assume that they would be great on hot pressed watercolor for very detailed and controlled techniques. Again, I need to try it to see how it goes.

Looking at my individual color swatches, I was wandering if there is really the need to have both the Permanent Rose and the Rose Madder colors in the 9 tube set. Even looking at how they mix with Yellow and Burnt Sienna, I only see a difference in intensity, but not justified enough to have actually 3 reds in the set and only one blue.

Looking at the mixtures, I must say I like them all - even the complementary colors give beautiful variations of grey. All mixed colors are bright and beautiful. The Peacock Blue with the Orange and Burnt Sienna give some very beautiful greens, while the Mijello Blue gives some lovely earthy greens. The two Rose colors with the Yellow  give wonderful red oranges.

Bottom line: I like them, and although I suppose I will never go fully "Mijello", I think I might get some of their tubes for very specific work/technique.

Next to come: testing the colors in actual paints!

Shell-ing a-Round #14

Another nautilus shell on the beach. ACEO size and acrylics on paper, as for all shells so far.

Shell-ing a-Round #13 - Nautilus

Next shell in my series is Nautilus - lots of stories about it, and its chambers and all the math with Fibonacci series, as you probably know. I do like it very much, because of the beautiful stripes it has on the shell and its rather strange "look" when alive. I started with just the shells in the sea water, on the beach, again ACEOs. First one today, and the second tomorrow.

Shell-ing a-Round #12

As mentioned in my previous post, still another Flamingo tongue snail, the last one of the mini-series for this challenge.

Fundraising for Seniors' Watercolor Workshop at the Community Center

Our new campaign for fundraising is up again on Indiegogo! We did run a fundraising campaign previous year too, which, although did not get much attention, actually allowed us to get started with our first workshop! Even only a very few people were convinced about our intentions, it was enough for us to get motivated and do more efforts to support the workshop for the entire year.
If you would like to help us keep going this year, and get more and more seniors in our watercolor workshops each year, here are more details about the campaign:


And if you would like to find out more about our activities, check what we did at the previous workshop (September 2014 to June 2015).

Thank you for your help and support!

Shell-ing a-Round #11

I did another 2 of the Flamingo tongue snails, trying to get a softer background, but I am not sure it works as well as I was looking for. Here is one of them, and I will post the other tomorrow.

Shell-ing a-Round #10

Wow, already 1/3 of the challenge is gone! And it was really fun to do all these shells so far! As promised, the Flamingo tongue snail mini-series is still on-going, and here comes the second trial to capture its bright colors and contrast.

Shell-ing a-Round #09

When I first saw this funny snail in one of the RIL photos from Li Newton on WetCanvas I knew I have to give it a try! Let me introduce you the Flamingo Tongue Snail:

ACEO size and acrylic paints again. And more to follow the next days...

Shell-ing a-Round #08

I think I figured out which species this snail is after some search on the internet - it must be a "Trochus erithreus". I am amazed how many species of shells are out there, and also how confusing is to figure out the exact name, because they have been named and renamed by various researchers...
Anyway, this is another view of the same shell I posted yesterday, again an ACEO size and acrylic paints:

Shell-ing a-Round #07

Enough with the Mussels, I am moving on to other shells. Actually this one is from a sea snail, a white one with some reddish patches on it. I am not sure about the species, because it is of the shells I have at home, but I liked very much the shape and the contrast of the red with the white of the shell. I draw it and painted this one from two different views (you will see the other one at #08, tomorrow).

Shell-ing a-Round #06

Yet another of the cooked Mussels, just because I like how it looks with both shell parts and the yellow-orange interior. But this is the last of the Mussels ACEO mini-series.

Shell-ing a-Round #05

The inside part of the Mussels, when boiled, takes an yellow-orange color which makes a very interesting contrast with the blue of the shells. Another ACEO, trying to capture how the cooked Mussels look like:

Red Pear studies

In August I hosted the WetCanvas WDE event, and I selected some of my recent photos to share with anyone interested to have a short virtual Summer vacation in Greece. If you would like to use any of those photos for your artistic works, here is the link to my photos at the WetCanvas Reference Image Library (RIL). But at the time I didn't manage to paint myself any of those photos. Now, with my new acrylics paints set I want to give it a try to the pears photo. After changing a bit the composition I needed a decision on the background, and I had a fast go  to two little studies (card size, 4.5x6 inches) in watercolor, which I would like to share here too. The acrylic painting is not ready yet, but I will post it as soon as it is ready. These watercolor studies are done with my usual watercolor palette on Saunders Waterford 140 lb CP paper.

Shell-ing a-Round #04

And yet another Mussel! Still trying to get a more realistic look, and struggling with the acrylics - I have the tendency to work in layers as I do in watercolors.

Shell-ing a-Round #03

The third ACEO painting for the challenge, and it is again a Mussel. Trying to get a smoother shell texture, and some glow with this and next one.

Tomatoes on Plate

In an effort to further learn more about the acrylics medium I also did a small (7x5 inches) painting of real tomatoes from my kitchen. I was trying to get that transparency that tomatoes have in sunlight, which makes them so bright.

Shell-ing a-Round #02

And the second take at a single Mussel shell, at the same size (ACEO, 3.5x2.5 inches) and the same materials as the previous one (Camel Artistis' Acrylics 12x20 ml set, W&N Acrylics Pad). As I will keep working with these materials probably for the entire challenge, I will not mention them anymore unless there is a change. Enjoy the second Mussel of the series:

Shell-ing a-Round #01

I just got the e-mail from Leslie about the beginning of the new 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, and I am ready for it! I would say more than ready, because I had some time previous week not only to find my references, but also to paint in advance a few of the ACEO shell paintings. I first started with a small series on Mussels, maybe inspired by the trip I did at the end of June to Brussels. And as you know, there is no trip to Brussels without Mussels! So enjoy the first Mussel, ACEO size (3.5x2.5 inches), Camel acrylics on W&N acrylic paper.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Shell-ing a-Round in acrylics

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail about the new challenge of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" that will take place in September 2015, and after the first experience I had in January I decided that I will go again for it!
I was thinking a few days about the subject/theme to work with for this challenge, and due to the vacation mood and the many shells I was picking up on the beach decided to "Shell a-Round". This time the most important aspect of the challenge for me is not the subject itself (I have painted quite a few shells before), but the medium, as I will switch to acrylics. I haven't used acrylics for a few years now and I am not sure how it will go, but I have a new set of 12 acrylic  tubes (Camel Artists' Acrylic Colour) which I want to try out.
Due to the time restrictions I have this time of the year, I will paint small, mostly ACEO size and post card size and I hope this time I will keep it up with the challenge for all 30 days (in January I only did 21 paintings). I have already got 2 pads of Galeria W&N acrylic paper (140 lb), of 5x7 and 7x10 inches, and hopefully by the end of the challenge I will finish them.
I am really looking forward for this challenge!

Camel Artists' Water Colour - lightfastness test results

About one year ago, when I first got the first Pan Box of the Camel Artists' Water Colours, I prepared a lightfastness test to check them, as these watercolors are produced in India and supposed to be in the "artist" quality range. At the time I did a few tests and found them behave quite well in terms of value ranges, color intensity, mixing qualities, dispersion on wet paper, etc. They were similar to student and artist quality paints of other brands I have tested, and I (still) consider them an affordable, but still of good quality, tool for people starting to learn watercolor. The quantity you get for little money allow lots of experimentation without thinking their cost, as the final total cost (shipping and duty fees included) is at less than 50% of student quality paints one can get at local shops in Greece.

However, for the more advanced watercolor painters, the findings bellow should be seriously taken into account with respect to color selection, if you intend to get your painting on the market, and have them into shows/exhibitions.

Test Conditions

 Watercolors Brand: Camel Artists Watercolors

Made in: India

Distribution Package: Pan Box with 18 shades Palette

Colors: Lemon Yellow, Gamboge Hue, Orange, Yellow Ochre, Scarlet, Light Red, Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Cobalt Blue Hue, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue Hue, Emerald Green, Viridian Hue, Sap Green, Black

Test Preparation Date: 12/07/2014

Test Conditions: outdoor, south facing, very strong direct sun light all year long (Greece), under glass, rain protected area

Test End date: 17/07/2015

The test paper before cutting it to get the half strips of each color exposed outdoors. The other half strips were kept in absolute dark.

Test Results

Colors strongly affected by direct sun exposure:

Orange – the red component is almost completely lost (right side the exposed)

Crimson – the rose component is affected very much, which is more obvious in the light value area (left side the exposed) 

Cerulean Blue –after exposure the color appear very dull, looking like it contains a lot of white (or filler) (right side the exposed)

Gamboge Hue – the red component is affected, the bit of orange feeling of the color is lost and appears as a strong value medium yellow (right side the exposed) 

Scarlet – some of the color intensity is lost, especially noticeable in the light value area (right side the exposed)

Colors affected by the exposure in a noticeable to slightly noticeable way (photos only for first two, which are more obvious):

·    Burnt Umber – the “reddish” component has been affected (left side the exposed)

Yellow Ochre – slightly affected in the strong value areas (left side the exposed)

Burnt Sienna – some of the color intensity is lost, especially noticeable in the light value area  

Ultramarine Blue – slightly affected in the strong value areas

Emerald Green – slightly affected in the light value areas 

Colors not affected at all

Lemmon Yellow

Light Red

Raw Umber

Cobalt Blue Hue

Viridian Hue

Sap Green

Black

White

Conclusion

As far as I am concerned, there are 2 colors which I will avoid even for the beginners' workshop: Orange and Crimson. For the Cerulean Blue, Gamboge Hue and Scarlet, I think they are "usable", if we don't have other options at affordable price, for the beginners' workshop, with the recommendation that they are replaced as soon as each student moves on and decides to keep going with watercolor painting.

For the rest of the colors, even for the ones with noticeable issues, I consider them as being on the safe side (artist quality), as I must point out once more that the test conditions were quite heavy, taking into account the very strong sun light (all year long) here in Greece.

Note: Except of the pan Camel watercolors, I do have a large collection of their tube colors, and 6 months ago I have started another test, comparative one, for the "reds" and the "blues" I have from all brands to be more fair with my tests. I am looking forward for this comparison.