No video or showtime either. We were too busy listening to our guest speaker, Johannah Silva, from Winsor & Newton's Artist Outreach Program. And while we didn't do much painting today either, we do have pictures of homework exercises and some paintings from early in the class. So stay tuned to learn more about paint, media and the history of watercolor. It's fascinating! Following that, you'll see our paintings and at the very end, we have a link for you.
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Johannah Silva, holding a painting done with cochineal beetles and Smalt
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What an educational and fun-filled day it was! We learned about pigments—from early days when it came from natural sources like minerals (lapis and ochres and earth) and plants and animals (madder trees, cochineal beetles and urine from mango-fed-cows)—all the way to modern times when pigments are scientifically developed (and harder to pronounce—try quinacridone, dioxazine and pthalocyanine). We actually saw Johannah grind up a spoonful of black cochineal beetles and produce a beautiful strawberry color.
We talked about transparency, lightfastness and hues, learned about binders, discussed media and saw them in action. We learned about surfactants like honey and glycerine—in fact, Winsor & Newton got its start when they replaced honey with glycerine, making a transparent, consistent watercolor paint. We saw what we could do with gum arabic, oxgall, granulation and iridescent medium, aquapasto and masking fluid. And as our heads were spinning and our fingers itching to put all our newfound knowledge to practical use, there was more! We saw paint charts and got to play with all kinds of brushes (both natural and synthetic in a variety of shapes and sizes). It was mind-boggling (but in a good way).
And as if that wasn't enough, there were gifts! Johannah brought each of us a tube of W&N Lemon Yellow Artists Quality paint and a bottle of granulation medium. We'll be experimenting with those in weeks to come. Just watch us and see!
Johannah, thanks so much! So many beautiful colors—so much to learn and try.
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Even the cochineal beetle paint water is beautiful!
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Following are some of our color wheels, color plaids and complimentary color swatches. And that's not Indiana Jones--it's Ellen rapelling (sp?) down some of the loveliest dry-brush rocks around. There are botanical drawings, grandchildren, rich abstract plaids on a base of gum arabic and a masking-fluidless swimmer. As you can see, we're already big fans of W&N products!
Wow! You've made it this far—we think you deserve something for your trouble. One of the gifts Johannah gave us was a W&N brochure chock full of history, paint swatches and information about W&N media and other products. You can find all that information and more on W&N's website. Click here to visit Winsor & Newton—see if you don't want to start painting too—or at least you'll develop a new appreciation for the artists and purveyors of fine watercolors.
See you next week with some inspired new paintings!
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