I love watching you and your Videos! Today’s was truly a pleasure! I’m in my 80’s and learn with every brush stroke! Listening to you today really made happy, I’m trying so many colors and am very grateful to watch you also investigate your art. Thank you for sharing your art journey with me.
I am just dabbling in watercolour. I started with Kuretake and love them. I also have some gouache. There is definitely a difference between them. Also have Reuben’s watercolours. I think for me Kuretake is a nice in between.
Hi Katie! Like you I decided to stick magnets to the pans. However, it bothered me that the palette base is not even, so I took the metal insert that originally was in the palette and got rid of the two railings from it. This way I had a flat metal surface for the pans to stick nicely to, besides whenever I want to wash the palette, I just get the insert out, with all the pans stuck on it. It works so convenient for me. :)
@@huricanekat5706 yes, they are for that, but since there are some wells on the bottom of the palette, the edges of those wells are sticking out and... I found it much more stable and secure to use the flat metal insert. Plus the extra benefit that you can take it out with all the pans at once and wash the palette. I hope I explained it well.
This is soooo helpful, thank you! I've done exactly that, and the pans stick so much better now it's smooth! And so helpful for when I wash the palette too, thank you so much for sharing 🥰
I've only just started with watercolour too so I have no advice! I had a really old W&N Cotman set which is finally getting used but I took some out to make my own custom palette. It's mainly a mix of warm primaries, cool primaries and a neutral grey. I'm really enjoying mixing colours - it's so satisfying when I get the colour I need 😁.
Hi Katie -- You are going to have such a fun year playing with watercolor! You're off to a great start. I'm happy you found Liz Steel. She does share soooo much information on her blog. Because of her, I've found I love Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbooks for urban sketching (and my comics). Although completely different, I also love Khadi log books when I just want to experiment with paint. I'm looking forward to following your journey. Enjoy!
Thank you so much Ina! She's fantastic, and she's just started a Patreon which I've joined too! I'm very tempted by the Alpha after seeing all her beautiful work in them! Thanks for sharing your recs too! 💜
I’m excited Katie to see & follow your w/c journey - this is where I started & I’m still relatively new at it! However I’ve become quite distracted of late with the whole “mixed media” world of art, which is probably how I stumbled across you & your lovely joyful videos! 😃 Lol ~ when you said that you would have 2x seperate pans of yellow - one (dirty) for mixes & one to keep pure/clean ~ I knew straight away where you got that great lil tip from before you even mentioned Liz’s name!! 👌🏼🤪 Some lovely colours you have chosen for your palette 😊 Although I would also recommend, as a few others have too - adding a cool blue such as Cerulean Blue Chromium, or a Phthalo Blue (Green Shade) ~ this one only use for mixing as it’s quite a garish/unnatural colour on its own! Plus a cool red such as a Quin Rose or Magenta ~ that way you’ll have a more complete split primary set 🙂 I can def see you using your Buff Titanium a lot like you use your White in gouache! 😃 I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it to you before, but along with the fabulous Ohn Mar Win & Liz Steel - whose artist styles & advice I love, I’ve found that Jane Blundell is another fantastic WEALTH of information on all things w/c & is the “Queen” of colour mixing! 🎨 She has tried n tested almost every professional brand & colour of w/c out there, comparing them to each other & cataloguing them etc… Jane B has also collaborated with DS paints in creating the ‘Ultimate Mixing Palette’ of colours from which you can create 100’s of other shades with just those few well chosen colours! She’s also done something similar with Roman Szmal… for those interested, she offers a very comprehensive self paced online course - “Mastering Watercolours” - that covers all the basics you need to know on the w/c medium & colour mixing (I’ve actually started doing this course a while back & plan to get back on tract with it very soon this year;) I really feel that it would be well worth you looking her up too when you’re ready to do a deep dive in! Btw both Jane B & Liz S know each other & are friends in Sydney, here on this side of the globe, Australia! Not to overwhelm you, but I’ll try to attach some useful links for you to investigate at your leisure… 😊🎨😘👩🏻🎨 * Here’s a link to the main colour categories comparisons across several brands where you can then go further down different rabbit holes from there… 🐰🕳️🤪 janeblundellart.blogspot.com/search?q=Watercolour+Comparisons * For example ~ an in-depth comparison of the blue hues: 🟦 janeblundellart.blogspot.com/2014/08/watercolour-comparisons-8-blues.html * Here’s a bit about her DS ultimate mixing set I mentioned above & why she recommends it, as well as similar alternative colours in other brands that you could substitute with these Daniel Smith colours: 🎨www.janeblundellart.com/the-ultimate-mixing-palette-a-world-of-colours.html * And here is where Jane B has painted out all of DS w/c, with a few of her personal comments on some included: janeblundellart.blogspot.com/2017/04/daniel-smith-watercolour-full-range.html * An article on an array of different palettes & comparisons to store your w/c you may also find interesting: www.janeblundellart.com/palettes.html * Plus you may find you prefer a lil palette tin with x3 mixing wells on the lid rather than the x2 on yours ~ as Liz Steel gives somewhere a good explanation/reasons why she prefers to use these ones like her original Schmincke tin she uses & how she designates each mixing area for certain colours. [see here: www.lizsteel.com/mixing-in-my-palette/ ] If you’re interested in getting one like that, then you can look up DERIVAN brand that makes them, although I see that Jackson’s also sells a similar one too: www.jacksonsart.com/en-au/jackson-s-empty-metal-watercolour-box-holds-12-half-pans-or-6-full-pans?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-aBoBF50GRWN7IFOnCaskOl-sVo&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItcr3pIepiwMVWRiDAx0VQjUOEAQYBCABEgJVLPD_BwE There are probably so many more links I’d love to share with you, but for fear of already overwhelming you, I’ll stop here!! 🤯🥴🤭 Hope you enjoy all those articles & happy w/c painting! 🥰🎨💚
Aaah Fab you are always so generous with your knowledge and I so appreciate the time you spend in sharing it with me! The links are suuuuper helpful, I hadn't heard of Jane Blundell before but I can see I'll be learning so much from her! 🤩 I'm definitely going to add those cooler tones to my watercolour palette next time I make a paint order so thank you for your advice there too 🥰 I couldn't find the three pan watercolour set on the Jacksons UK site but I expect I'll be able to find something similar so will keep that in mind. This is all so useful, thank you again for this Fab! 💜
@ Awe bless ~ you’re very welcome Katie 😊💚 No doubt you are feeling a bit overwhelmed atm with the floodgates open to so many lovely suggestions from everyone, but I’m sure in time many of these will make sense & naturally fall into place as you wade through this ‘new to you’ media! 😉🤗
So exciting getting whole new paints!! Hope you enjoy them! I absolutely love mixing buff titanium for some nice muted earthy colours, so glad you added that to your palette
I love to see you using watercolor! It’s my medium of choice and I hope you end up liking it! I definitely recommend getting 100% cotton paper sketchbooks, and the one from Hahnemuhle is one of my favorites.
Oh, this is going to be fun! The DS undersea green is my all time favourite, I have it in every palette set up of mine. The Roman Szmal’s are gorgeous, though it took me a while to come round to them as they are VERY sticky! Can’t wait to see how you enjoy using these Katie. 😍
Hi Katie! I have the same metal palette, but larger. I personally find the bottom of the tin to be great for extra mixing space if needed. I removed the silver metal rails from that white tray insert, then used magnets to attach the pans to the white tray insert, and put it back in the palette. This way, I can remove the tray along with the pans if I need more space to mix on the very bottom of the palette (underneath the tray insert). This set up is also handy for cleaning the palette! Thanks for the lovely video, and good luck on your watercolour adventure!
Thank you so much Lisa! I've just done this and it's sooo much better for the pans to sit flush now too, so thank you for sharing! I love the idea of using the area underneath for more mixing space too! 🙌🏻
So great to see you starting on your watercolour journey, Katie! I'll be happy to follow your progress here and on your other channels. I've been using watercolour for years (in fact, watercolour and coloured pencils are my favourite mixed media combination and I've only started exploring other mixed media supplies more because of channels like yours). Watercolour sketchbooks are a science of their own, and deciding which ones are ideal for you or not depends so much on how you use your watercolours. If you do a lot of wet on wet techniques and mainly use them on their own I'd definitely reccomand 100% cotton paper, and in that regard the best budget option is probably finding a paper you love and binding your own sketchbook from loose sheets, because 100% cotton sketchbooks are hugely expensive. A ready made budget option I love for experiments is the Artway Indigo cotton rag sketchbook. The colours dull down a bit on this one and the paper is very delicate and doesn't allow for a lot of erasing and rubbing, but wet in wet techniques work really well on it. Hahnemühle cellulose watercolour sketchbooks are nice, but personally I'm always fighting with the backruns and cauliflowering on this paper. When I add other media on top, it doesn't matter so much, but you really have to be experienced in water control if you want to use it for watercolour only pieces.
Aah thank you so much Sonja, this is super helpful! There are so many watercolour sketchbooks out there, and lots of different brands being recommended so I can see why it's a personal preference and also a science to it all 🤣 I have a concertina Artway Indigo sketchbook from a previous project I was really impressed with, especially for the price here in the UK so maybe I'll test that out again! Thanks again for the advice 🥰
@@KatieMoody Yes, Katie you should definitely have another look at that concertina sketchbook for use with your watercolours if you've got it at home anyway.
Those colors are very fitting for you. I see that you figured out that adding buff titanium makes for a quick, slightly muted opaque pale color (on your brown). I call my Kuretakes watercolor because they are watercolor, just more opaque. But yes, generally speaking Western watercolor is more transparent. However, some colors (buff titanium and many of the mixed pastel colors) are almost as opaque as Kuretakes. Some people say to not use white watercolor, but Daniel Smith has just released about 3 new paints that are pastels made with white, in addition to their other pastel mixes. Of course you can make pastel-ey colors by just diluting the paint, but sometimes the pre-mixed pastels come in handy for things like layering. You can easily make your own pastel colors by mixing hardly any of your strong colors with white...you would literally need just a tiny dab of that Pyrrol orange with a bunch of white to make Daniel Smith's new "Coral reef". (which is definitely a color of your regular color palette). You can test this with your white gouache before going out and buying a tube of Titanium white if you get inspired by the test. Enjoy.
Thank you so much for your advice! Absolutely, the buff titanium almost felt like a gouache to me! Love your thoughts about the white watercolour too - it's habit for me to mix with white so I was struggling not having that in my palette! I think I'll test out the white gouache next time with it, I'm not a purist with mixed media anyway so why not 😄
Thankyou so much for sharing- more watercolour skills are on my wish list for this year too, thanks for introducing me to some new artists to learn from! ❤
hi Katie, I also use the Hahnemühle watercolor book! It's really great for watercolor but a bit expensive. If one day you want a beautiful, very grainy and quite dark green, I recommend Van Gogh's "dusk yellow" from Royal Talens. I wish you a lot of fun with watercolor.
Hi katie like you im starting my watercolour journey. My palette is filled with winsor and newton professional tubes. I also have a practice winsor and newton cotman watercolour set untill i get better. What i have learned is to start with a split primary and work out from their with a few convenience colours. There so many artists who work with watercolour to learn from. Enjoy. Im beginning with swatches of mixing primaries of the split tones ie cold yellow with different reds both cold and warm to see the effect and also from pure colour then gradually adding more water. Im also doing drills. This way im learning colour and varying brush strokes before moving on to studies. Im also isung a jumbo pad of winsor and newton paper for this. Its not full cotton but has a nice tooth to it and i find im not scared to play. Ive also got a couple of small cheap watercolour sketchbooks for plain air when better weather comes in. Not decided if im going to get a good sketchbook yet or move on to cotton paper. Thinking the paper as i can tape it down or cut to size.
Natalie Martin on Skillshare has wonderful classes and Laura Horn on RUclips has some lovely sessions on RUclips with watercolour. 100% cotton sketchbooks are the best for watercolour. Absolutely love your videos each week ❤
To reduce weight, replace the metal tray with a piece of foam core or corrugated plastic. Cover the form core with washi tape, then use poster putty to stick the pans to the foam core. I fill it in the space between rows of pans with rolled up paper towel. It gives me a quick way to blot excess water off my brush and keeps the pans a bit cleaner. I usually fill my pans in two passes, allowing the first layer of paint to dry before adding the second layer. It takes longer, but makes me more confident that my palette will travel safely without having the paint move around.
Oooh ok thanks Carol!! Love the idea of putting some rolled up paper towel in there too, what a good idea! I've noticed that the watercolour has really shrunk back and I thought I'd done something wrong! So that makes a lot of sense about the two passes, thank you for sharing 🥰
Little tip, if you push the metal prongs in, you can snap the watercolor pans in so they don’t slide around. If you want to take the pan out, just push back the prong. Hope that makes sense 😊
Thank you so much Danielle! Is that just to keep them extra safe and secure? They feel quite secure with just the magnets for now and I was thinking that allows me to have another row down the middle eventually too! 😆
Glad to see you exploring watercolor since it is what I love. For practice and sketching, if you aren't doing heavy wet washes, Canson Graduate sketchbooks are reasonably priced and more smooth (great for adding other media), as well as those wonderful Strathmore sketchbooks (400 and 500 series). For 100% cotton paper, like Ohn Mar, I love Hahnemuehle's 100% cotton sketchbooks, and Winsor & Newton have a spiral bound 100% cotton sketchbook in a 5x7 inch size that is great for travel. And the one many RUclipsrs are talking about, Baohong. Reasonable and cotton. Happy painting!
Thank you so much Paula! I've seen other artists use the Canson Graduate sketchbooks so it's good to know they're good with watercolour too! Thank you so much for sharing the other recs too, so helpful! 💜
The Hahnemuhle watercolor books are great and I really love watercolor in the Strathmore mixed media book that I found out about from you. The paper’s not as thick but it is 100% cotton. As far as cellulose paper, the Arteza Watercolor Book is very good. Looking forward to watching your watercolor journey!
Tap the watercolor pans several times against the table to get the air bubbles out. Otherwise you’ll get big air spaces in your pans. It’s like making macarons.
Really enjoyed your video Katie and I’m so excited to see one of my favourite artists using one of my favourite mediums!! Yay!! 😍 can’t wait to watch you on this watercolour adventure. For me, Arches watercolour paper is my absolute favourite. Especially the cold pressed it’s lovely to work on!
Good start Katie, as mentioned by Sonja-k paper can be the magic part in watercolor. Another quality paint brand with good prices (for the UK) is Rembrandt 💚Enjoy the journey 🎨🐾
I’m so excited to see you practice more watercolour! I’ve been using it for almost 20 years. I just started experimenting mixing watercolour with white gouache in my palette.
Thanks so much Deven! I think I'll take a white gouache with me when I'm using this palette and painting on location, it almost feels like a safety blanket to me 😅
Those look like great colors. I would just recommend adding a magenta or quin rose and a cooler blue so you can mix more colors using the CYM color palette. By adding a yellow with the pink/magenta you can get a red so you don't have to buy one if you don't want to buy having both cool and warm colors of both gives you more without having to mix everything. That was the biggest thing I think I saw missing. I took the rails off my palette by gently pulling and they just pop off and then you can use the flat surface a little easier than the uneven surface plus if you ever need more mixing space you can easily remove it quickly by the handles without taking each color out separately to use the wells on the bottom. Yes, kuretake are fun and very different than western watercolors. But, there are no rules as long as you are having fun.😂
Thank you so much for sharing, great advice! I'll look into a cooler blue and a magenta for sure. I thought the pyrrol orange would be more red toned but it was so different when swatched, so I think a cooler red is much needed. I've taken your advice (and a few other commenters who mentioned it!) and taken the railings off the metal piece, and used that for my base so the pans sit much more flush! Thanks again for sharing your tips, I totally agree about the just have fun rule 😄🙌🏻
Welcome to watercolor land! I’ve found that I get the best results on 100% cotton paper and I adore Arches cold press paper. However, I also love to use watercolors in my Art Creations sketchbooks, even with wet washes although if you work the paper too much it tends to pill which you probably already know ❤
I can’t wait to see what you create with watercolours Katie! The Daniel Smith Undersea green is my absolute favourite, I use that all the time. I’m also a big fan of the Roman Szmal watercolours as they are really cost effective and very pigmented. The best watercolour sketchbook I’ve found is just the Moleskine watercolour one, I just really love the paper for watercolours but not any other medium.
Thank you so much Holly! I'm super impressed with the one Roman Szmal I have so I'll definitely be looking into more of those when I want to expand my palette in the future! Thanks so much for sharing your recs! 💜
Oh my GOD a ‘dirty yellow’ and ‘clean yellow’ is absolutely GENIUS I can’t believe I’ve never thought of this! For my sort of contamination tip back (you may well do this already with other mediums but I know you like the paper palettes usually) I find baby wipes are the perfect way to quickly clean up some mixing space and can be bought in the travel size packs for plein air. If you haven’t tried it yet then although watercolour purists say don’t use white… lots of heathens use a bit of white gouache which will probably end up suiting your mixed media style more than sticking to ‘the rules’ anyway. The only real issue I have with watercolours, is that I love them most for the things you can do wet in wet, but I’ve found that the papers best for watercolour are the ones that feel the worst to me for most other mediums. The tooth on a cold press will chew up your pens quicker and totally change how coloured pencils feel/look etc. Plus, good watercolour paper is sufficiently expensive and sketchbooks come with substantially fewer sheets that it gives me the ‘this is precious, must save it for best’ art block. I’ve probably done about as much (non photography) exploratory art in the past 6 months than I did all throughout a photography degree where all facilities could be used, or all lockdowns combined, thanks to the discovery of royal talens sketchbooks and how low stakes they feel (probably from your channel because you were the first person that lead me to the discovery that ‘art RUclips’ was a thing!) …So I’m looking forward to your inevitable comparison video where you tell us which sketchbooks are the best option for people who want to include watercolour as part of their mixed media work and not have to compromise on anything 😅. I have wondered if DIYing a sketchbook from thinner gsm cellulose hot press maybe like the Aquafine jumbo pad might be the least compromises if keeping it low stakes pricing is high priority so feel free to try that out for us too 😂🙃. Sorry for the long comment. Love your vids and art!
It makes so much sense doesn't it! A big shout out to Liz for that one 😄 And no worries about the long comment at all, thank you so much for all the advice! I really appreciate it, so much helpful info. I use white so much with gouache that it feels weird not to have it, but I'm certainly not planning on being a watercolour purist myself so I don't know why I'm trying to stick to the 'rules'! I definitely echo your sentiment with the paper too - I found that just with my Kuretake paints and already can see these watercolours act so differently. I guess it justifies why I have to have many sketchbooks for all my art supplies and interests 🤣 So far I think the Strathmore mixed media sketchbook might be best but I'll of course keep you updated as I go! As you say, I'm sure there's a video in the future right there 🤗 Thanks again for all your wonderful advice, Amy! 💜
Etchr is very nice for watercolor. put the paint pans in with magnetic tape,It's not that thick as a magnet and still strong enough. My favorite colors are: olive green,ruby red,indanthrone blue and cadmium yellow,indian yellow. I love to see other artists creating paint palettes😊 I love these brands: Schmincke,A.Gallo,Lukas,Holbein,Jaxon 👍🏻😊 It's to hard to get daniel smith colors in Germany😢
Hahnemuhle Akademie Watercolour is my favorite sketchbook. There is some texture to paper, but it’s light, so it may be a nice middle ground for you since you prefer smooth paper.
Oooooh this might be exactly what I’ve been looking for thank you! Because I’ve found all the watercolour sketchbooks I have to just have too much tooth for working with mixed media (to be fair I haven’t tried hot press because I think that might be too smooth and result in a loss of some of the textures I like most about watercolour), and a 300gsm sketchbook feels so chunky but with fewer sheets and higher stakes, and the price point of decent watercolour paper means it just sits on my shelf saved ‘for best’! It’s still quite a bit more than a royal talens but I don’t think so expensive I’d feel totally unable to muck about in it so I might try one of these next!
Great selection of watercolors, Katie, I’m excited for you to dive into watercolors more. I’m a recent convert to the art toolkit palettes. They are incredibly lightweight and are helping me get into plein air painting. I love a few different watercolor sketchbooks including Hannemuhle; however, etchr makes some great sketchbooks, and I also love the strathmore 400 series mixed media sketchbooks (but I think you already have this one) for watercolors. If you decide to get more watercolors I highly recommend Daniel smith’s moon glow and Mayan blue, and m graham’s raw umber can’t be beat. Have fun and thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for your advice, Trinec! I've heard such good things about the art toolkit palettes, and I love how customisable they are with the pans too. I have the Strathmore 500 series, not the 400 so I'll look into the difference! Thanks for the shade recommendations too, no doubt there will be more in the future! 😄
Good luck on your journey! I love watercolor, even though I rarely have time to play with it so I'm a forever newbie :') You might consider adding to your palette more cool colors (like phtalo blue green/yellow shade or magenta) to expand your color mixes :) Some dark color (like payne's grey) might be helpful too. For potters pink don't be afraid to use more water, that's when the granulating colors shine! :'D And it adds the efect to the color you mix it with! I think it's good to try out sketchbooks with thicker paper (200-300gsm), but most recommended is paper 100% cotton (like Etchr). You can start out with cheaper one to make it less "precious" or buy paper with sheets (which costs less) and cut it to smaller pieces to try it out too! Have fun! :)
Thank you so much! Good idea with the cool colours, thank you for the advice! A cool blue would definitely be helpful I think, and a magetna. The pyrrol orange turned out so differently to what I expected when I swatched! Really appreciate your recs! 🥰
Such wonderful botanical illustrations 🤩 I'm also a Water Color novice & really Like to use it in Abstract Painting as it's so unpredictable Sometimes it helps me soooo much of let go 😊
Thanks for sharing! I’m going the opposite way as you from watercolor to gouache. Sine you love the cream color paper from Royal Talens you should try Stillman and Birn Delta series 😊
i've been painting with watercolours for years, but only just really trying to learn techniques and things! it's my intention for 2025 to learn about watercolour too 😁
To practice Canson aquarelle (A5 or A4) this is student grade paper or if you want to try Hahnemuhle the watercolorbook is also an option. Etchr also has terrific sketchbooks with 100% cotton paper, although a bit pricier and if you want to upgrade your paper there is an traveljournal sketchbook by the brand arches ❤
What you’re doing here with small wet on dry mixed media paper is fine. If you move onto wet in wet landscapes you’ll really be wanting cotton paper. I think you would love a B5 portrait Etchr everyday sketchbook
@@KatieMoodythe common line of thinking for ‘proper’ watercolour painting is using a quality (100% cotton) paper is more important than the quality of the paints (within reason I suppose) for a beginner, jf you’re thinking about what to prioritise. Whereas most people assume the other way round and buy nice paints they can’t emulate the results they want because cellulose paper responds quite differently and is a lot less forgiving.
I just wanted to come here and say that the magnets aren't necessary in a traditional palette like that one, the metal holds them in place quite well. I'm primarily a watercolour artist and have always had no trouble adding and removing colours
I wish I could post photo comments but if you're only using the magnets so you can add more colours, you can fit half pans in the middle row if you put them in landscape rather than portrait (I managed to make my 12 half pan sennelier palette hold 20 half pans, excessive I know but it fits in my pocket lol)
Thanks so much for sharing! I was surprised when it came with magnets so thought I'd use them 🤣 Love the idea of doing a mini plein air palette, though this one is pretty dinky so I'm going to test it on location soon as it is! Great tip about turning the half pans to be landscape instead too, I'll remember that when I no doubt add more colours 😄
Katie, with Skillshare, do you just pay a flat or monthly fee, with then free access to any and all classes? Or do you pay the registration fee and then also pay per class?
Looks like you are well on your way in the world of watercolor! I am new to watercolor as well. I have Sennelier, Windsor & Newton and just got my first Daniel Smith colors. I am taking Lindsay Weirich's (#thefrugalcrafter) watercolor classes to help me along. (She uses the basic Mei Liang set which I have for one of her classes which is great for newbies before making the professional watercolor dive!)Enjoy your week and your watercolor journey! Thanks for your video today. Really enjoyable. I haven't dove into my professional sets yet. Maybe this is the push I needed! They look beautiful on the page.
Lovely video Katie! I love watercolour and gouache and use them together as well. I normally love seeing the way you use your brushes but watching you scrub the watercolour when you were swatching was physically painful! Can I recommend watching the way Helen Cryer swatches ruclips.net/p/PLrRr-VPYuqzeQcRZOruZ9zVWxMGst_U1K Her touch is really lovely and delicate and shows how applying the paint evenly but softly lets the watercolour be itself - flowy or granulating or whatever that particular pigment wants to be. That way your swatch will really represent what the paint can be. I think you said some advice was ok? 😊 Really looking forward to watching your videos, as someone else already said you're painting beautifully with them already.
I didn't even think about swatching differently for a new paint, I just went for it like always! 🙈 I love Helen's videos and can definitely see what you mean about the difference, hers is much more calming 🤣 Thanks for the advice and so glad to hear you use watercolour and gouache together too!
3:52 potters ink was originally a pigment designed by Winsor & Newton, it’s quite delicate in tone & has low tinting strength. 🫶 (watercolour is my jam… it’s one of the first art mediums I picked up as an adult returning to art)
@@KatieMoodyI’m so excited for you to be learning. You’ll also find that each brand of ultramarine blue will have completely different levels of granulation & will create completely different textures depending on how much water you add. 😁😁 (I love granulation…!)
@ must admit, I did giggle when you said that you thought the 5ml tube was gonna fill the whole pan tho - you can fill those half pans multiple times with a single tube 😁 you’re going to have the best fun, honestly! If you’re looking for an affordable watercolour sketchbook I love the seawhite of Brighton watercolour travel journals but they aren’t cotton, they’re perfect in my opinion for learning though as you’ll not be afraid to use the paper if that makes sense?
The first 500 people to use my link will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare! Get started today! 💛 skl.sh/katiemoody01251
I love watching you and your Videos! Today’s was truly a pleasure! I’m in my 80’s and learn with every brush stroke! Listening to you today really made happy, I’m trying so many colors and am very grateful to watch you also investigate your art. Thank you for sharing your art journey with me.
Thank you so very much Karen! So happy to have you join me in these videos and for your lovely support 🥰
The texture on those paints is gorgeous, loving the granulation ☺
Thanks so much Chantelle 💜
I am just dabbling in watercolour. I started with Kuretake and love them. I also have some gouache. There is definitely a difference between them. Also have Reuben’s watercolours. I think for me Kuretake is a nice in between.
Totally agree, I still adore the opacity Kuretake can create! 🥰
Oooo, can't wait to see your journey with watercolour! And so proud to see a Polish brand on your video :-)
Thank you Karolina! I'm definitely going to get more Roman Szmal paints in the future 🥰
Hi Katie! Like you I decided to stick magnets to the pans. However, it bothered me that the palette base is not even, so I took the metal insert that originally was in the palette and got rid of the two railings from it. This way I had a flat metal surface for the pans to stick nicely to, besides whenever I want to wash the palette, I just get the insert out, with all the pans stuck on it. It works so convenient for me. :)
I believe that is what the magnets are for.
@@huricanekat5706 yes, they are for that, but since there are some wells on the bottom of the palette, the edges of those wells are sticking out and... I found it much more stable and secure to use the flat metal insert. Plus the extra benefit that you can take it out with all the pans at once and wash the palette. I hope I explained it well.
@@basenkaua it did!! Thank you for the reply! Have a good day 😊
@@huricanekat5706 Thank you so much! You too have a wonderful day! 😃
This is soooo helpful, thank you! I've done exactly that, and the pans stick so much better now it's smooth! And so helpful for when I wash the palette too, thank you so much for sharing 🥰
I've only just started with watercolour too so I have no advice! I had a really old W&N Cotman set which is finally getting used but I took some out to make my own custom palette. It's mainly a mix of warm primaries, cool primaries and a neutral grey. I'm really enjoying mixing colours - it's so satisfying when I get the colour I need 😁.
Oooh that sounds great Emma! I know I'm going to learn a lot about colour theory thanks to this palette too 😆
Hi Katie -- You are going to have such a fun year playing with watercolor! You're off to a great start. I'm happy you found Liz Steel. She does share soooo much information on her blog. Because of her, I've found I love Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbooks for urban sketching (and my comics). Although completely different, I also love Khadi log books when I just want to experiment with paint. I'm looking forward to following your journey. Enjoy!
Thank you so much Ina! She's fantastic, and she's just started a Patreon which I've joined too! I'm very tempted by the Alpha after seeing all her beautiful work in them! Thanks for sharing your recs too! 💜
I’m excited Katie to see & follow your w/c journey - this is where I started & I’m still relatively new at it! However I’ve become quite distracted of late with the whole “mixed media” world of art, which is probably how I stumbled across you & your lovely joyful videos! 😃
Lol ~ when you said that you would have 2x seperate pans of yellow - one (dirty) for mixes & one to keep pure/clean ~ I knew straight away where you got that great lil tip from before you even mentioned Liz’s name!! 👌🏼🤪
Some lovely colours you have chosen for your palette 😊 Although I would also recommend, as a few others have too - adding a cool blue such as Cerulean Blue Chromium, or a Phthalo Blue (Green Shade) ~ this one only use for mixing as it’s quite a garish/unnatural colour on its own! Plus a cool red such as a Quin Rose or Magenta ~ that way you’ll have a more complete split primary set 🙂 I can def see you using your Buff Titanium a lot like you use your White in gouache! 😃
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it to you before, but along with the fabulous Ohn Mar Win & Liz Steel - whose artist styles & advice I love, I’ve found that Jane Blundell is another fantastic WEALTH of information on all things w/c & is the “Queen” of colour mixing! 🎨 She has tried n tested almost every professional brand & colour of w/c out there, comparing them to each other & cataloguing them etc…
Jane B has also collaborated with DS paints in creating the ‘Ultimate Mixing Palette’ of colours from which you can create 100’s of other shades with just those few well chosen colours! She’s also done something similar with Roman Szmal… for those interested, she offers a very comprehensive self paced online course - “Mastering Watercolours” - that covers all the basics you need to know on the w/c medium & colour mixing (I’ve actually started doing this course a while back & plan to get back on tract with it very soon this year;)
I really feel that it would be well worth you looking her up too when you’re ready to do a deep dive in! Btw both Jane B & Liz S know each other & are friends in Sydney, here on this side of the globe, Australia! Not to overwhelm you, but I’ll try to attach some useful links for you to investigate at your leisure… 😊🎨😘👩🏻🎨
* Here’s a link to the main colour categories comparisons across several brands where you can then go further down different rabbit holes from there… 🐰🕳️🤪 janeblundellart.blogspot.com/search?q=Watercolour+Comparisons
* For example ~ an in-depth comparison of the blue hues: 🟦 janeblundellart.blogspot.com/2014/08/watercolour-comparisons-8-blues.html
* Here’s a bit about her DS ultimate mixing set I mentioned above & why she recommends it, as well as similar alternative colours in other brands that you could substitute with these Daniel Smith colours: 🎨www.janeblundellart.com/the-ultimate-mixing-palette-a-world-of-colours.html
* And here is where Jane B has painted out all of DS w/c, with a few of her personal comments on some included: janeblundellart.blogspot.com/2017/04/daniel-smith-watercolour-full-range.html
* An article on an array of different palettes & comparisons to store your w/c you may also find interesting: www.janeblundellart.com/palettes.html
* Plus you may find you prefer a lil palette tin with x3 mixing wells on the lid rather than the x2 on yours ~ as Liz Steel gives somewhere a good explanation/reasons why she prefers to use these ones like her original Schmincke tin she uses & how she designates each mixing area for certain colours. [see here: www.lizsteel.com/mixing-in-my-palette/ ] If you’re interested in getting one like that, then you can look up DERIVAN brand that makes them, although I see that Jackson’s also sells a similar one too: www.jacksonsart.com/en-au/jackson-s-empty-metal-watercolour-box-holds-12-half-pans-or-6-full-pans?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-aBoBF50GRWN7IFOnCaskOl-sVo&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItcr3pIepiwMVWRiDAx0VQjUOEAQYBCABEgJVLPD_BwE
There are probably so many more links I’d love to share with you, but for fear of already overwhelming you, I’ll stop here!! 🤯🥴🤭 Hope you enjoy all those articles & happy w/c painting! 🥰🎨💚
Aaah Fab you are always so generous with your knowledge and I so appreciate the time you spend in sharing it with me! The links are suuuuper helpful, I hadn't heard of Jane Blundell before but I can see I'll be learning so much from her! 🤩 I'm definitely going to add those cooler tones to my watercolour palette next time I make a paint order so thank you for your advice there too 🥰 I couldn't find the three pan watercolour set on the Jacksons UK site but I expect I'll be able to find something similar so will keep that in mind. This is all so useful, thank you again for this Fab! 💜
@ Awe bless ~ you’re very welcome Katie 😊💚 No doubt you are feeling a bit overwhelmed atm with the floodgates open to so many lovely suggestions from everyone, but I’m sure in time many of these will make sense & naturally fall into place as you wade through this ‘new to you’ media! 😉🤗
So exciting getting whole new paints!! Hope you enjoy them! I absolutely love mixing buff titanium for some nice muted earthy colours, so glad you added that to your palette
Thanks so much Finch, it is very exciting! The buff titanium has had lots of use already! 💛
I love to see you using watercolor! It’s my medium of choice and I hope you end up liking it! I definitely recommend getting 100% cotton paper sketchbooks, and the one from Hahnemuhle is one of my favorites.
Thank you so much 🥰 I'm excited to experiment! Thanks for the rec for the Hahnemuhle too, I think that will be the first one I'll try!
Oh, this is going to be fun! The DS undersea green is my all time favourite, I have it in every palette set up of mine. The Roman Szmal’s are gorgeous, though it took me a while to come round to them as they are VERY sticky! Can’t wait to see how you enjoy using these Katie. 😍
Thank you Eve! I can definitely see more Roman Szmal's in my future! This is a slippery slope for new art materials already 🤣
Hi Katie! I have the same metal palette, but larger. I personally find the bottom of the tin to be great for extra mixing space if needed. I removed the silver metal rails from that white tray insert, then used magnets to attach the pans to the white tray insert, and put it back in the palette. This way, I can remove the tray along with the pans if I need more space to mix on the very bottom of the palette (underneath the tray insert). This set up is also handy for cleaning the palette! Thanks for the lovely video, and good luck on your watercolour adventure!
Thank you so much Lisa! I've just done this and it's sooo much better for the pans to sit flush now too, so thank you for sharing! I love the idea of using the area underneath for more mixing space too! 🙌🏻
So great to see you starting on your watercolour journey, Katie! I'll be happy to follow your progress here and on your other channels. I've been using watercolour for years (in fact, watercolour and coloured pencils are my favourite mixed media combination and I've only started exploring other mixed media supplies more because of channels like yours). Watercolour sketchbooks are a science of their own, and deciding which ones are ideal for you or not depends so much on how you use your watercolours. If you do a lot of wet on wet techniques and mainly use them on their own I'd definitely reccomand 100% cotton paper, and in that regard the best budget option is probably finding a paper you love and binding your own sketchbook from loose sheets, because 100% cotton sketchbooks are hugely expensive. A ready made budget option I love for experiments is the Artway Indigo cotton rag sketchbook. The colours dull down a bit on this one and the paper is very delicate and doesn't allow for a lot of erasing and rubbing, but wet in wet techniques work really well on it. Hahnemühle cellulose watercolour sketchbooks are nice, but personally I'm always fighting with the backruns and cauliflowering on this paper. When I add other media on top, it doesn't matter so much, but you really have to be experienced in water control if you want to use it for watercolour only pieces.
Aah thank you so much Sonja, this is super helpful! There are so many watercolour sketchbooks out there, and lots of different brands being recommended so I can see why it's a personal preference and also a science to it all 🤣 I have a concertina Artway Indigo sketchbook from a previous project I was really impressed with, especially for the price here in the UK so maybe I'll test that out again! Thanks again for the advice 🥰
@@KatieMoody Yes, Katie you should definitely have another look at that concertina sketchbook for use with your watercolours if you've got it at home anyway.
Those colors are very fitting for you. I see that you figured out that adding buff titanium makes for a quick, slightly muted opaque pale color (on your brown). I call my Kuretakes watercolor because they are watercolor, just more opaque. But yes, generally speaking Western watercolor is more transparent. However, some colors (buff titanium and many of the mixed pastel colors) are almost as opaque as Kuretakes. Some people say to not use white watercolor, but Daniel Smith has just released about 3 new paints that are pastels made with white, in addition to their other pastel mixes. Of course you can make pastel-ey colors by just diluting the paint, but sometimes the pre-mixed pastels come in handy for things like layering. You can easily make your own pastel colors by mixing hardly any of your strong colors with white...you would literally need just a tiny dab of that Pyrrol orange with a bunch of white to make Daniel Smith's new "Coral reef". (which is definitely a color of your regular color palette). You can test this with your white gouache before going out and buying a tube of Titanium white if you get inspired by the test. Enjoy.
Thank you so much for your advice! Absolutely, the buff titanium almost felt like a gouache to me! Love your thoughts about the white watercolour too - it's habit for me to mix with white so I was struggling not having that in my palette! I think I'll test out the white gouache next time with it, I'm not a purist with mixed media anyway so why not 😄
Thankyou so much for sharing- more watercolour skills are on my wish list for this year too, thanks for introducing me to some new artists to learn from! ❤
My pleasure, so glad it's helpful for you too Sarah! Good luck with your watercolour journey!
hi Katie,
I also use the Hahnemühle watercolor book! It's really great for watercolor but a bit expensive.
If one day you want a beautiful, very grainy and quite dark green, I recommend Van Gogh's "dusk yellow" from Royal Talens. I wish you a lot of fun with watercolor.
Thank you so much for sharing Sab, noted!! That dusk yellow sounds lovely 😍
This is exciting!! I'm so happy that you are sharing your journey with us! Have fun!! 💚
Thank you so much! 🥰
Hi katie like you im starting my watercolour journey. My palette is filled with winsor and newton professional tubes. I also have a practice winsor and newton cotman watercolour set untill i get better. What i have learned is to start with a split primary and work out from their with a few convenience colours. There so many artists who work with watercolour to learn from. Enjoy.
Im beginning with swatches of mixing primaries of the split tones ie cold yellow with different reds both cold and warm to see the effect and also from pure colour then gradually adding more water. Im also doing drills. This way im learning colour and varying brush strokes before moving on to studies. Im also isung a jumbo pad of winsor and newton paper for this. Its not full cotton but has a nice tooth to it and i find im not scared to play. Ive also got a couple of small cheap watercolour sketchbooks for plain air when better weather comes in. Not decided if im going to get a good sketchbook yet or move on to cotton paper. Thinking the paper as i can tape it down or cut to size.
Natalie Martin on Skillshare has wonderful classes and Laura Horn on RUclips has some lovely sessions on RUclips with watercolour. 100% cotton sketchbooks are the best for watercolour. Absolutely love your videos each week ❤
Thank you so much! 💜 I love Laura's videos, and I'll have a look for Natalie on Skillshare!
You are already doing beautiful watercolor! Excited to see your journey, Katie!
Thank you so much Judit! 🥰
To reduce weight, replace the metal tray with a piece of foam core or corrugated plastic. Cover the form core with washi tape, then use poster putty to stick the pans to the foam core. I fill it in the space between rows of pans with rolled up paper towel. It gives me a quick way to blot excess water off my brush and keeps the pans a bit cleaner. I usually fill my pans in two passes, allowing the first layer of paint to dry before adding the second layer. It takes longer, but makes me more confident that my palette will travel safely without having the paint move around.
Oooh ok thanks Carol!! Love the idea of putting some rolled up paper towel in there too, what a good idea! I've noticed that the watercolour has really shrunk back and I thought I'd done something wrong! So that makes a lot of sense about the two passes, thank you for sharing 🥰
Little tip, if you push the metal prongs in, you can snap the watercolor pans in so they don’t slide around. If you want to take the pan out, just push back the prong. Hope that makes sense 😊
Thank you so much Danielle! Is that just to keep them extra safe and secure? They feel quite secure with just the magnets for now and I was thinking that allows me to have another row down the middle eventually too! 😆
I love the Hahnemuhle sketchbooks!!!
Lots of love for Hahnemuhle! 🧡
Glad to see you exploring watercolor since it is what I love. For practice and sketching, if you aren't doing heavy wet washes, Canson Graduate sketchbooks are reasonably priced and more smooth (great for adding other media), as well as those wonderful Strathmore sketchbooks (400 and 500 series). For 100% cotton paper, like Ohn Mar, I love Hahnemuehle's 100% cotton sketchbooks, and Winsor & Newton have a spiral bound 100% cotton sketchbook in a 5x7 inch size that is great for travel. And the one many RUclipsrs are talking about, Baohong. Reasonable and cotton. Happy painting!
Thank you so much Paula! I've seen other artists use the Canson Graduate sketchbooks so it's good to know they're good with watercolour too! Thank you so much for sharing the other recs too, so helpful! 💜
The Hahnemuhle watercolor books are great and I really love watercolor in the Strathmore mixed media book that I found out about from you. The paper’s not as thick but it is 100% cotton. As far as cellulose paper, the Arteza Watercolor Book is very good. Looking forward to watching your watercolor journey!
Thank you Cindy, I need to break in my new Strathmore with my new watercolours I think! 💜
Two yellows. So simple and yet so brilliant. I always dirty my yellows haha
Right!? As soon as I read that tip from Liz I knew how genius it was! It's already come in handy 😆
The Hahnemühle watercolour sketchbook is the best one I’ve used!
Thank you Jessica, I've heard such good things!!
great haul, thanks for sharing Katie
Thank you for watching! 🥰
Another vote for Hahnemühle 100% cotton sketchbooks that Ohn Mar uses - they’re lovely to work in. Looking forward to following your explorations!
,
Thank you Anne - definitely going to give Hahnemuhle a try!
Tap the watercolor pans several times against the table to get the air bubbles out. Otherwise you’ll get big air spaces in your pans. It’s like making macarons.
Thank you!! Hahaha I love the macaron analogy. I've noticed that some of the paints have already shrunk back a huge amount - is that why?
@ they should shrink about 50% regardless. The bubbles well turn into bigger cavities if you don’t clear them.
@ Thank you! 🙏
Really enjoyed your video Katie and I’m so excited to see one of my favourite artists using one of my favourite mediums!! Yay!! 😍 can’t wait to watch you on this watercolour adventure. For me, Arches watercolour paper is my absolute favourite. Especially the cold pressed it’s lovely to work on!
Yay thank you so much Amber! 🥰💜
Good start Katie, as mentioned by Sonja-k paper can be the magic part in watercolor.
Another quality paint brand with good prices (for the UK) is Rembrandt 💚Enjoy the journey 🎨🐾
Thank you so much Sabine, I'll check out Rembrandt! 💜
I love the Hahnemühle sketchbooks.
That's so good to know, thanks Cristina! Lots of love for Hahnemuhle in the comments! 💜
Excited to watch along on this journey Katie!
Thank you Karen! 💛
I’m so excited to see you practice more watercolour! I’ve been using it for almost 20 years. I just started experimenting mixing watercolour with white gouache in my palette.
Thanks so much Deven! I think I'll take a white gouache with me when I'm using this palette and painting on location, it almost feels like a safety blanket to me 😅
Those look like great colors. I would just recommend adding a magenta or quin rose and a cooler blue so you can mix more colors using the CYM color palette. By adding a yellow with the pink/magenta you can get a red so you don't have to buy one if you don't want to buy having both cool and warm colors of both gives you more without having to mix everything. That was the biggest thing I think I saw missing.
I took the rails off my palette by gently pulling and they just pop off and then you can use the flat surface a little easier than the uneven surface plus if you ever need more mixing space you can easily remove it quickly by the handles without taking each color out separately to use the wells on the bottom.
Yes, kuretake are fun and very different than western watercolors. But, there are no rules as long as you are having fun.😂
Thank you so much for sharing, great advice! I'll look into a cooler blue and a magenta for sure. I thought the pyrrol orange would be more red toned but it was so different when swatched, so I think a cooler red is much needed. I've taken your advice (and a few other commenters who mentioned it!) and taken the railings off the metal piece, and used that for my base so the pans sit much more flush! Thanks again for sharing your tips, I totally agree about the just have fun rule 😄🙌🏻
Welcome to watercolor land! I’ve found that I get the best results on 100% cotton paper and I adore Arches cold press paper. However, I also love to use watercolors in my Art Creations sketchbooks, even with wet washes although if you work the paper too much it tends to pill which you probably already know ❤
Yay thank you! I'm excited to really get my teeth into watercolour and get experimenting! I still feel like I'm being tentative with it at the moment!
I can’t wait to see what you create with watercolours Katie! The Daniel Smith Undersea green is my absolute favourite, I use that all the time. I’m also a big fan of the Roman Szmal watercolours as they are really cost effective and very pigmented. The best watercolour sketchbook I’ve found is just the Moleskine watercolour one, I just really love the paper for watercolours but not any other medium.
Thank you so much Holly! I'm super impressed with the one Roman Szmal I have so I'll definitely be looking into more of those when I want to expand my palette in the future! Thanks so much for sharing your recs! 💜
16:36 (This one of the very few occasions where my inner nationalist comes out) HAHNEMÜHLE! HAHNEMÜHLE! HAHNEMÜHLE!
Noted!! 🤣
Oh my GOD a ‘dirty yellow’ and ‘clean yellow’ is absolutely GENIUS I can’t believe I’ve never thought of this! For my sort of contamination tip back (you may well do this already with other mediums but I know you like the paper palettes usually) I find baby wipes are the perfect way to quickly clean up some mixing space and can be bought in the travel size packs for plein air.
If you haven’t tried it yet then although watercolour purists say don’t use white… lots of heathens use a bit of white gouache which will probably end up suiting your mixed media style more than sticking to ‘the rules’ anyway.
The only real issue I have with watercolours, is that I love them most for the things you can do wet in wet, but I’ve found that the papers best for watercolour are the ones that feel the worst to me for most other mediums. The tooth on a cold press will chew up your pens quicker and totally change how coloured pencils feel/look etc. Plus, good watercolour paper is sufficiently expensive and sketchbooks come with substantially fewer sheets that it gives me the ‘this is precious, must save it for best’ art block. I’ve probably done about as much (non photography) exploratory art in the past 6 months than I did all throughout a photography degree where all facilities could be used, or all lockdowns combined, thanks to the discovery of royal talens sketchbooks and how low stakes they feel (probably from your channel because you were the first person that lead me to the discovery that ‘art RUclips’ was a thing!)
…So I’m looking forward to your inevitable comparison video where you tell us which sketchbooks are the best option for people who want to include watercolour as part of their mixed media work and not have to compromise on anything 😅. I have wondered if DIYing a sketchbook from thinner gsm cellulose hot press maybe like the Aquafine jumbo pad might be the least compromises if keeping it low stakes pricing is high priority so feel free to try that out for us too 😂🙃.
Sorry for the long comment. Love your vids and art!
It makes so much sense doesn't it! A big shout out to Liz for that one 😄 And no worries about the long comment at all, thank you so much for all the advice! I really appreciate it, so much helpful info. I use white so much with gouache that it feels weird not to have it, but I'm certainly not planning on being a watercolour purist myself so I don't know why I'm trying to stick to the 'rules'! I definitely echo your sentiment with the paper too - I found that just with my Kuretake paints and already can see these watercolours act so differently. I guess it justifies why I have to have many sketchbooks for all my art supplies and interests 🤣 So far I think the Strathmore mixed media sketchbook might be best but I'll of course keep you updated as I go! As you say, I'm sure there's a video in the future right there 🤗 Thanks again for all your wonderful advice, Amy! 💜
Etchr is very nice for watercolor.
put the paint pans in with magnetic tape,It's not that thick as a magnet and still strong enough.
My favorite colors are: olive green,ruby red,indanthrone blue and cadmium yellow,indian yellow.
I love to see other artists creating paint palettes😊
I love these brands: Schmincke,A.Gallo,Lukas,Holbein,Jaxon 👍🏻😊
It's to hard to get daniel smith colors in Germany😢
Thank you so much Alina, such helpful advice! 💜
I’m learning watercolor too. It’s challenging but so much fun!
Totally agree Bonnie! It's such a different medium to play with 😄
Hahnemuhle Akademie Watercolour is my favorite sketchbook. There is some texture to paper, but it’s light, so it may be a nice middle ground for you since you prefer smooth paper.
Oooooh this might be exactly what I’ve been looking for thank you! Because I’ve found all the watercolour sketchbooks I have to just have too much tooth for working with mixed media (to be fair I haven’t tried hot press because I think that might be too smooth and result in a loss of some of the textures I like most about watercolour), and a 300gsm sketchbook feels so chunky but with fewer sheets and higher stakes, and the price point of decent watercolour paper means it just sits on my shelf saved ‘for best’! It’s still quite a bit more than a royal talens but I don’t think so expensive I’d feel totally unable to muck about in it so I might try one of these next!
Thank you for the recommendation Tricia, that sounds fantastic!
Great selection of watercolors, Katie, I’m excited for you to dive into watercolors more. I’m a recent convert to the art toolkit palettes. They are incredibly lightweight and are helping me get into plein air painting. I love a few different watercolor sketchbooks including Hannemuhle; however, etchr makes some great sketchbooks, and I also love the strathmore 400 series mixed media sketchbooks (but I think you already have this one) for watercolors. If you decide to get more watercolors I highly recommend Daniel smith’s moon glow and Mayan blue, and m graham’s raw umber can’t be beat. Have fun and thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for your advice, Trinec! I've heard such good things about the art toolkit palettes, and I love how customisable they are with the pans too. I have the Strathmore 500 series, not the 400 so I'll look into the difference! Thanks for the shade recommendations too, no doubt there will be more in the future! 😄
Good luck on your journey! I love watercolor, even though I rarely have time to play with it so I'm a forever newbie :')
You might consider adding to your palette more cool colors (like phtalo blue green/yellow shade or magenta) to expand your color mixes :) Some dark color (like payne's grey) might be helpful too. For potters pink don't be afraid to use more water, that's when the granulating colors shine! :'D And it adds the efect to the color you mix it with!
I think it's good to try out sketchbooks with thicker paper (200-300gsm), but most recommended is paper 100% cotton (like Etchr). You can start out with cheaper one to make it less "precious" or buy paper with sheets (which costs less) and cut it to smaller pieces to try it out too! Have fun! :)
Thank you so much! Good idea with the cool colours, thank you for the advice! A cool blue would definitely be helpful I think, and a magetna. The pyrrol orange turned out so differently to what I expected when I swatched! Really appreciate your recs! 🥰
Exciting!
Very! Lots to learn and explore! 😄
Such wonderful botanical illustrations 🤩 I'm also a Water Color novice & really Like to use it in Abstract Painting as it's so unpredictable Sometimes it helps me soooo much of let go 😊
Thank you Kristin! 🤗 Oooh how fun, I bet it's great for abstract work! 😍
Thanks for sharing! I’m going the opposite way as you from watercolor to gouache. Sine you love the cream color paper from Royal Talens you should try Stillman and Birn Delta series 😊
Thank you so much Payal, I'll look into it! 🧡 Have fun with gouache! 😄
@ thanks Katie! 😊 I’d love to know what you think about the Delta series 😊 Good luck with your watercolor journey!
i've been painting with watercolours for years, but only just really trying to learn techniques and things! it's my intention for 2025 to learn about watercolour too 😁
Aah that's so lovely to hear you're on a watercolour journey too! Here's to 2025 being our year of watercolour! 🙌🏻
To practice Canson aquarelle (A5 or A4) this is student grade paper or if you want to try Hahnemuhle the watercolorbook is also an option. Etchr also has terrific sketchbooks with 100% cotton paper, although a bit pricier and if you want to upgrade your paper there is an traveljournal sketchbook by the brand arches ❤
Thank you so much Marilou, this is so helpful! Appreciate your insights and recommendations 🧡
If you take the insert out of the empty pallet, you can fit more pans inside of it.
Thank you so much for this tip - I've just done that and it works great! Now I can buy more colours right?! 🤣
Very lovely video
Thank you so much!
What you’re doing here with small wet on dry mixed media paper is fine. If you move onto wet in wet landscapes you’ll really be wanting cotton paper. I think you would love a B5 portrait Etchr everyday sketchbook
Thank you so much for the recommendation, I'll definitely look into cotton paper and that sketchbook too!
@@KatieMoodythe common line of thinking for ‘proper’ watercolour painting is using a quality (100% cotton) paper is more important than the quality of the paints (within reason I suppose) for a beginner, jf you’re thinking about what to prioritise. Whereas most people assume the other way round and buy nice paints they can’t emulate the results they want because cellulose paper responds quite differently and is a lot less forgiving.
What size and brand of brushes did you use? Thank you!
The larger one is a size 10 soft grip round brush by Royal, and the smaller one is a size 6 Studio round brush by The Pigeon Letters 🤗
@KatieMoody , thank you!
I just wanted to come here and say that the magnets aren't necessary in a traditional palette like that one, the metal holds them in place quite well. I'm primarily a watercolour artist and have always had no trouble adding and removing colours
I wish I could post photo comments but if you're only using the magnets so you can add more colours, you can fit half pans in the middle row if you put them in landscape rather than portrait (I managed to make my 12 half pan sennelier palette hold 20 half pans, excessive I know but it fits in my pocket lol)
Thanks so much for sharing! I was surprised when it came with magnets so thought I'd use them 🤣 Love the idea of doing a mini plein air palette, though this one is pretty dinky so I'm going to test it on location soon as it is! Great tip about turning the half pans to be landscape instead too, I'll remember that when I no doubt add more colours 😄
@KatieMoody no worries at all! I've genuinely never known palettes or pans to come with magnets, it's really cool honestly! ♥️♥️
Katie, with Skillshare, do you just pay a flat or monthly fee, with then free access to any and all classes? Or do you pay the registration fee and then also pay per class?
Just a flat monthly fee, and all classes are included within that 😊💛
Looks like you are well on your way in the world of watercolor! I am new to watercolor as well. I have Sennelier, Windsor & Newton and just got my first Daniel Smith colors. I am taking Lindsay Weirich's (#thefrugalcrafter) watercolor classes to help me along. (She uses the basic Mei Liang set which I have for one of her classes which is great for newbies before making the professional watercolor dive!)Enjoy your week and your watercolor journey! Thanks for your video today. Really enjoyable. I haven't dove into my professional sets yet. Maybe this is the push I needed! They look beautiful on the page.
Thank you so much Crystal! I'll have a look at Lindsay's classes, I love her videos! Hope you're able to dive into your professional sets soon! 😄💜
Lovely video Katie! I love watercolour and gouache and use them together as well. I normally love seeing the way you use your brushes but watching you scrub the watercolour when you were swatching was physically painful! Can I recommend watching the way Helen Cryer swatches ruclips.net/p/PLrRr-VPYuqzeQcRZOruZ9zVWxMGst_U1K Her touch is really lovely and delicate and shows how applying the paint evenly but softly lets the watercolour be itself - flowy or granulating or whatever that particular pigment wants to be. That way your swatch will really represent what the paint can be. I think you said some advice was ok? 😊 Really looking forward to watching your videos, as someone else already said you're painting beautifully with them already.
I didn't even think about swatching differently for a new paint, I just went for it like always! 🙈 I love Helen's videos and can definitely see what you mean about the difference, hers is much more calming 🤣 Thanks for the advice and so glad to hear you use watercolour and gouache together too!
3:52 potters ink was originally a pigment designed by Winsor & Newton, it’s quite delicate in tone & has low tinting strength. 🫶 (watercolour is my jam… it’s one of the first art mediums I picked up as an adult returning to art)
Aaah ok thanks so much Colzo!! I have so much to learn 😆 but I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes me!
@@KatieMoodyI’m so excited for you to be learning. You’ll also find that each brand of ultramarine blue will have completely different levels of granulation & will create completely different textures depending on how much water you add. 😁😁 (I love granulation…!)
@@ColzoArt It's a whole new world!!! 🙈 So fascinating to me how much things can vary with the different brands!
@ must admit, I did giggle when you said that you thought the 5ml tube was gonna fill the whole pan tho - you can fill those half pans multiple times with a single tube 😁 you’re going to have the best fun, honestly! If you’re looking for an affordable watercolour sketchbook I love the seawhite of Brighton watercolour travel journals but they aren’t cotton, they’re perfect in my opinion for learning though as you’ll not be afraid to use the paper if that makes sense?