Verdigris

Verdigris

Reading Time: 4 minutesA long time ago I decided to try and make verdigris. Verdigris is the common and historical name to for a number of salts of copper and acetic acid, or more simply copper acetate. Salts which could be characterised as copper acetate have a number 

Rosa Watercolours

Rosa Watercolours

Reading Time: 4 minutesI have been meaning to try out Rosa Watercolours for a while, in my general quest/obsession to try every colour or preparation on the planet. Rosa are a Ukranian brand, with a good reputation. They are also very inexpensive, and lets face it buying Ukranian 

West End, Colourmen and The Turner Appreciation Society

West End, Colourmen and The Turner Appreciation Society

Reading Time: 4 minutesLondon, day 2. The general itinery seemed to split itself into West End, East End, and today we head off towards Covent Garden and the west end shops. I have enduring memories of visiting Covent Garden Market as a child, though my last quick visit 

Idyll

Idyll

Reading Time: 2 minutesidyll/ˈɪd(ɪ)l,ˈʌɪd(ɪ)l/nounnoun: idyll; plural noun: idylls;an extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque period or situation, typically an idealized or unsustainable one. I have been slowly developing a theme in some of my watercolour work. Talking to some of my musical and lyrical conceptualisation of Hiraeth, these are 

Small Florals

Small Florals

Reading Time: 2 minutesI have been playing around again with the thing that led to my resurgence in watercolour – You will recall a couple of years ago I purchased a small Cotman Florals Pocket Set – working with the simple method of small dots of paint which 

Snowy scenes

Snowy scenes

Reading Time: < 1 minuteI just thought I would post these as I am quite pleased with them and they are the beginning of a bit of a themed project over winter, These are sketches, based on mini-tutorials on https://watercolourlandscapes.co.uk/ on painting snow and mountains. Then I thought I 

Derwent Graphitint

Derwent Graphitint

Reading Time: 3 minutesWhile down in Norwich the other month, I could not of course resist the lure of Jarrolds art shop again. This is alternatively heaven, or a way to spend all the money you don’t have, if you are like me, with a mixture of high 

Trees on Foraged Grounds

Trees on Foraged Grounds

Reading Time: 2 minutesAs I have mentioned, when making watercolours there’s always some left over in the mortar and I like to use this to prepare grounds for future work. These are some recent earths, on the poundland paper which I use for cheap expreimenting. These were inspired 

Plant Pigment Watercolours

Plant Pigment Watercolours

Reading Time: 2 minutesWe are lucky nowadays to have a massive array of complex pigments and dyes at our disposal, both organic pigments such as Quinocridones, Pyrrols, Perylenes etc, and the increasing inoganic metal pigments still being developed – Sicopal Spinel pigments, Zirconium Vanadium pigments, the miraculous Yinmn 

Garden Sketching

Garden Sketching

Reading Time: 2 minutesI think we’vr had a marginally better summer this year, or at least subjectively, I have managed to experience more of it from somewhere otger than sat in the office. The other evening I took the new Mungyo colours out in the front garden in 

Mungyo “Passion for Masterpieces”

Mungyo “Passion for Masterpieces”

Reading Time: 9 minutesAfter picking up the Munyo “Nostalgia of Pastels” set a while ago I was interested to find a larger Mungyo set in The Range for £11.99. While I keep a large “professional standard” pallete it’s always nice to have a few more paints, and I 

Avocado Ink

Avocado Ink

Reading Time: 3 minutesPrompted by my continual playing with natural pigments in my paints, I made a batch of Avocado ink the other day. This is perhaps one of the better known vegetable dyes, creating a relatively stable and lightfast dusty pink colour. I’ve brewed up a couple