[Tips] Making Radial Colour Charts

An idea hit me 2 days ago when I saw a pile of my leftover watercolour papers. What if I can turn them into a radial colour chart? After a little research on how to make a stack of papers rotatable, I made some for my self and I think it is a fun activity to share with my fellow botanical artists. The colour charts are really useful for our painting reference and, as we all know, we need to manage a load of colour charts, which keep growing over the time.

Tools: Cutter, ruler, hole punch plier, split brassed paper fastener.

Step by step:
1. I cut my favorite watercolour papers, Fabriano Artistico 140lb, into 2x6 cm pieces using a cutter and a ruler. I chose the form of small tags to make the best use of the leftovers :p
 
2. I made clean, 2.5 mm-sized holes with a punch plier (usually for leather belt) on the deckle-edged side of the paper.

3. I applied the paint on the other edge of the paper (to the very edge!) and write the colours' name soon, for fear of being buried in a pile of unnamed colour tags.

4. I arranged the colours by tone and fastened them with the split pin/brassed paper fastener. Since a cover would be a nice touch, I painted the cover with many colours to represent the content of the chart.

I have never made a colour chart before. Instead, I used to mixing and testing colours on an unused paper when I painted and throwing it after the painting was done. I also couldn't really use the common, tile-system colour chart because I couldn't make a side-by-side comparison between each of the colours and the object I painted. To me, the physical juxtaposition was important in finding the right colour. Yet, the tile-system colour charts did not help much in singling out the right colour. Then, I remembered the Pantone's colours chart and I thought that a radial watercolour chart was what I wanted all along.
 
Now, I really enjoy my radial watercolour chart! I can compare the colours side by side just by rotating them or put it side by side to the object of painting. I can add new colours or rearrange the stack easily because the split pin can unlock and lock without a sweat. I can also write additional note on the rear side. I can release the picked colour from the stack if I needed to. Well, am I easy to be satisfied or what? :p

*I made the blue, purple, yellow, and green colour chart as well and I will enjoy making the earth colour chart as well as any other colour in the future.

[Commission] Vinos del Paseante - CODORNÍU S.A.

Finally the wine set with my illustrations on them were launched this month. I will write about the process on other posts. To see the complete illustrations, please visit my Behance. Thank you, Miquel Capo and Xavier Bas for having me in this exicting project!

[Tips] Painting Furs Quickly with Comber Brushes

I worked on some illustrations for Codorníu S.A. under the direction of Miquel Capo of Xavier Bas Disseny, generally in 2 steps. First, I blocked all the designated spaces with wet washes. And, later, I built up the figure with many layers of fur and feathers, using a very dry brush strokes.

I painted them mostly in dry brush in order to imitate the paintings style of Mr Alexander Marshal, an English entomologist, gardener, and botanical artist from XVII century.

I was not used to work with dry brush. I did it by trial and error. When I worked on "El Pispa," the goldfinch bird illustration, I got quite frustrated with how long it took to build up the body of the bird with a small round brush. I even wore out my two favourite brushes. Fortunately, I bought 2 comber brushes from Rosemary afterward, which I used to work on the next illustration, "La Pelea." The brush has unique shape that can create many tiny strokes at once. It made the work of painting the furs much quicker and easier.

Some insight I gained in the process:
1. Adjust the dryness on a different paper to create separated fur at once.
2. Combine the round and comber brushes for natural variability. I used a comber brush for wide area and a round brush to put down some details or correct the stray lines made by the comber brush.
3. Follow the fur direction and control the pressure. I lifted the brush up at the end of the stroke to make pointy furs/hairlines.
4. Since I didn't use white paint, I started from light and moved to dark colour. The highlights were effected by making fewer strokes on the area while adding more layers on the shadows.

I know the illustrations was not a perfect sample of realistic painting but I believe these comber brushes can greatly help to make it happen.

And here is the scanned illustration of La Pelea for Codorníu S.A. Enjoy!

Japanese Chrysanthemum: Continuing an Unfinished Artwork.

More than a year ago, I found a lovely specimen of Japanese chrysanthemum. I made the sketch and painted most part of the flowers. I stopped working on it when I had too many things to do between our moving back from the UK to Indonesia and my pregnancy. Last week, I decided to finish this unfinished work. And these are some little insights during the process.

I found that the paper's characteristics somewhat changed. It was more absorbent and its surface was not as robust as I remembered. I realised it when I used the wet washes and lifting technique frequently. I wonder whether it changed since I brought it back to Yogyakarta and neglected it for about 7 months.

I am still wondering how to solve the humidity problem in the tropical Indonesia. The Japanese Chrysanthemum was not the only one that had been affected. I faced the same problem when working on the Paphiopedilum glaucophyllum orchids. Not to mention my shocking encounter with the massive mold attack on my other drawings when I left them on the hardboard for 4 days only (when I was in the hospital, giving birth to my baby). The weather was so humid, it seemed to pose the watercolour paper with many risks. Does anyone of my kind readers here have any idea as to how to solve the problem?

Back to the unfinished painting, I tried some new green mixing I learnt from artistnetwork. I bought Winsor & Newton Permanent Sap Green and I found it was easy to mix with my existing colours. But what made me happy was that the sap green mixing was not as staining as Winsor Blue (green shade) that I usually use. It made lifting the pigment easier both when the paint was still wet/damp and when it completely dried. I mixed sap green with French Ultramarine to get a dark green, or Cadmium Lemon/ Cadmium Yellow Pale to get the bright one. And a little touch of Alizarin Crimson, if needed.

Another new thing I tried was using kolinsky sable brushes as my main tool. I decided to invest in Raphael series 8404 no 2 and 4 after Billy Showell's demonstration. I found the natural brushes was very different from my existing synthetic one (mostly Pro Arte series 101). Here are my first impressions of using Raphael kolinsky sable brushes:

1. They are bigger than the synthetic ones with the same number size. The Raphael size 4 is even a bit bigger than my Pro Arte size 6.

2. They have much bigger capacity to hold water. It is good for glazing/washing big area, on the other hand, it requires more watercolour mixing prepared. [Tips] Use a cheap/discarded brush to pick up pigments and mix watercolour rather than using an expensive sable brush.

3. They release water/paints slower but more evenly. So they tend not to dump water/paints in a puddle.

4. The tuft/hair is softer and bend more easily (or somewhat a bit defenselessly for me).

5. The brushes' tip do not naturally point out when dry (whereas the synthetic do) and need to be reshaped when wet (whereas the synthetic needn't). I was aware of it since I saw Billy kept twirling her brushes' tip on a kitchen towel after she dipped them in water/paints.
[Tips] I reshape the brush by loading the brush with water, then shaking the excess vigorously with my elbow or tapping the brush handle with my other hand before I dip it in the watercolour mixing. I usually have the brush tip very pointed afterward without touching my finger on it.

The kolinsky sable brushes are not cheap, but at least now I know the difference between them and the synthetic ones. I need much more practise to feel more comfortable with them. However, as other people said: knowing how to best use what you have is more important than the "tool" itself. Cheers!

Another post about taking care watercolour brushes is here.

And here is the scanned illustration.
28 x 38 cm - 300 gsm traditional white HP Fabriano Artistico paper.

Anemone Flower

A little piece was done when my baby slept..