Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, my name is Joy. I'm a watercolor wildlife artist at a Nashville, Tennessee. And today we're going to set up a watercolor palette to do this and show you my original palette that I use for all the
classes I teach here. Winsor Newton watercolors. I think gifted this set
of Holbein watercolors by the Tennessee watercolor
society as a gift or an award for a painting
I just entered. And I thought this would
be a good opportunity to show you how to setup
a watercolor palette.
2. Class Supplies: And what you're going
to need is a set of watercolors, preferably
artist grade. But if you're starting
out student grade, just don't pick up a
set of cheap ones. As you can see from
my previous palette, what you will need
are some reds, both cool and warm. Shades of red, cool and
warm shades of blue, and cool and warm
shades of green, and a few neutrals. And I like to use white gouache for whiskers and things
like that in my paintings. The purpose in this is
that with red, blue, and yellow, you can mix pretty
much any color you need. And since we're
dealing with wildlife, your neutrals will
come in handy to. Now, for the purpose
of this video, I will be using the Holbein
Artists watercolors. It came in a set and
it was gifted to me. So I need to set up a new
palette to give them a try. So I'm going to use this one. You do not need
all these colors. I much prefer just
my 444 of my blue, red, and yellow, and
my couple of neutrals. This is perfect for
taking out with you. But for the purpose
of this video, we're going to use this set. I have picked up a
watercolor palette off the internet that
has enough pins in it for the watercolor
set that I received. I like I said, this is gonna
be for trial and error. I will also, you will
also need a piece of watercolor paper so that
we can create swatches or samples of the colors and where they are so that you do not forget
what you're using. Okay, next video, we
will get started.
3. Placing Paint: As you can see, I like
to use two paints, but I liked them dry. I do not like to use them wet. Now we're going to
start with the reds. I'm going to use similar to
this setup I have over here. I like the way I can mix my darks and my
lights and neutrals. So I'm going to start by
just squishing this tube. Here. You do not need
to squish it in there. Just enough to fill it up. We're going to
continue with my reds. Another red vermilion hue. That one sprite, right? That one's a bit of
an orange-ish red. Let's see. What is this one? I'm contains cadmium. These, this one is more of a
peach ish, reddish yellow. I'm going to move
it up there because I don't want my
reds getting in it. Even though it's a
red, yellow mix. See, we have yellow lemon,
permanent yellow lemon. I've never used whole bond, so this will be an experience. I merely used Winsor
and Newton watercolors and Winsor and Newton
gouache, yellow ocher here. Let's see. Yellow ocher. You can tell this one's a cool, this one's warm. Like here. Cool. Warm. Okay, we have
a permanent deep yellow. Very pretty. Okay. Now greens, I do not
usually use greens. Let's see here. I think I'm going
to put my this is a light red entrusting. This is a burnt umber. Burnt sienna probably should have put the light red up there. Then the name of it was
a bit deceiving here. All right. What do we have here? Hit yellow, hickory gray. Okay, let's start
with first neutrals. Let's go with
yellow hickory gray is actually more of a green. Then I'm going to use burnt sienna, burnt umber. Both of these I use. Those are usually
the two neutrals that I throw in here along with the yellow ocher, I go very well for
wildlife photos. What is this one? Burnt
sienna. I've already used it. Okay. One 38 is a black. I don't really paint with black. I mixed my blacks. So we're going to hold
off putting that in here. Okay, I have my blues, which I know I want down here. Let's see, Let's start
with mineral violet. Now. I'm thinking I'm going to
finish with mineral violet. Let's start with cobalt, very popular blue, and cerulean blue. It's a very pretty blue. And ultramarine, deep,
like ultra marine. What is this one? Compose blue. I don't know. We'll see. Looks like it's got a
hint of a turquoise, but it's still blue. Prussian blue. Okay. Prussian blue. I have a feeling it's going
to be my favorite. It's similar. It
looks similar to a Winsor and Newtons
underneath are in blue. We have the mineral violet. Just going to be a purple. Seems like it's a
very dark purple. Okay. Next up would be
the greens, 12345. So I guess that's where
our green to that one. I don't use green very much. I always mix it
that was Floridian. So this is going to
be inexperience. Cobalt green. That's interesting. Terre verte and trusting. So I'm not putting
as much of these. I don't think I'll be using
these much permanent green. Number one, mine. And permanent great number two. Interesting. Okay, for the
white, would it go? Don't normally use white, but we will give it a try. If I use white, It's usually Winsor and
Newtons designer wash. This was Chinese white. We will see how it goes. Then. Ivory black. And it's interesting
choice name there. Alright. Now what we do is we
wait two or 34 days. Let this dry completely. Now you can use it
as is if you like. I prefer to have them dried and reconstitute
them as needed. You can see from this one, also want to give you a tip. When you use a new palette. It's gonna be slippery
compared to this. And the paint will beat up
and not spread out like this. So it's gonna be a little bit
difficult to mix it first. That doesn't last too long. It will react just like
this in a little while. And I'll show you how to do
that or what that looks like, what it is and
later in the video. So we will come back in a
few days after this has dried and get create our swatch.
4. Mapping the Palette: Part 1: We've had in my area a lot of heat and
humidity the past week. So these have taken longer
to dry than I anticipated. I have noticed that when
the whole buying dries, they are a little
tacky to the touch, but not to work gets on you. Whereas these are the
Winsor and Newton are very dry and hard as a rock. So next step is to take a brush or any brush that you're
comfortable with. And we're going to create
a map for our watercolors. Creating the map
for watercolors. I'm going to start
with the first one. This one here is, I'm going to say John,
brilliant, brilliant. I'm not sure if that's
how you pronounce it. It's GAU and E. And I want to match the colors. I think I'm going
to paint first and then write down what
the colors are. Um, keep them in
the same positions. For be sure to really clean
your brush between each one. We don't want to mix colors. You want the colors
pure for this. You can create swatches
with gradients, whatever you would like. I do this just to keep the
card in my watercolor palette. Much like this one that I have created for my Winsor
and Newton Palette. That way I always know
where my watercolors. Okay, going to have
some greens here. See the transparency and
that one very clearly. Now if you prefer to do
the gradient swatches, so you already have a pre-made swatch card
of light to dark. That's easy. Just add water. I'll do a video on that
sometime just to show you how to swatch of colors out. But for today, we are. I do this wrong. No, I didn't. Okay. Now get these neutral
colors here on the end. One that's burnt umber and yellow ocher, but I'm not sure what they
call it and Winsor Newton, I mean, the whole buying. Okay, I'm going to go on
and swatch the white. This is Chinese white. Swatch the black. Let's go with these blues. I'm going to do. It's doesn't really take that long. Just makes sure that
you don't forget what color is your footwear
until you get it down. I like that one. It's pretty bright. Blue. See how our little
aqua turquoise. That's a pretty color. Not sure when I've
used that one, but we'll figure it out.
Oh, that's gorgeous. My favorite. That is close to the Winsor and Newton in an ether in blue, 12345, we have 12345. Let's go with this one.
This is a violent sketch. It just attach. Never had
a pre-purchase purple. So that will be interesting. Okay, what am I doing? We have four reds here. It's more of a neutral red. It's cross between
a brown neutral. And if I was painting clay pots, I would probably
use it. All right. Two more to go. Pinkish red. Orangeish
red. Pinkish red. Oh, that's pretty correct. Okay. Set that aside. Now. We need to write
the names on them.
5. Mapping the Palette: Part 2: Now we need to write
the names on them. Let's start with the
black eye free Black. Be careful these are still wet. Use just whatever pen
you have on hand. Chinese white. Print out to get these
reds on my hand. There we go. Alrighty. Now, let's see. We have yellow, gray. We have burnt sienna, burnt umber. Let's see. And further, I would like to put the light red up there
with that one too. So let's do okay. Then we have let's
go with our greens. Due to the permanent
green number two. Not what pay permanent
green number one. Like I said, this is just
trying out a new set of paints I was gifted are
awarded terre verte. And normally I would not go anywhere near
this many colors, but I would like to give
these paints a good try. So I'll probably still use
my other palette for my, most of my work. But if I liked the
way these perform, I will use these. And then when they're used up, I would consolidate down to a smaller palette like
my Winsor and Newton. Okay, viridian hue. I spend a lot of
time away from home. So the smaller palette tends
to work better for me. Stupid lose. Cobalt blue hue. These would make a good sky. Do do, do, do, do, do, do. I don't know if I'm putting
these back in order or not. So the blue, pulling them back just according to keeping groupings together, reds, blues, yellows, greens. That will make them easier
to find when I need to replenish my supply here. Ultra lying, deep,
nice ocean tiller. Compose, blue. Fun place to use them.
I liked the color. Not want it to go to waste. Prussian blue. This is my favorite one that's
so far out of the blues. Lot of birds will work
well with that car. Mineral file it the blues. It's popping some reds here. For a mill. In red. Blues, a little wet still there. Be very careful. Let's see, rose matter. Rows. Not sure I'm pronouncing
it correctly, but we will see Crimson Lake. Love that colored be
beautiful for flowers. With the rose madder. Do not know about the light
fastness of these colors. I'm still working on learning
about the whole burns. My tried and true Winsor
Newton, professional set. I know works very well for this. The yellows here, j, u, and E. Brilliant yellow. Actually, I'll put that
one over here with the permanent yellow, lemon. Kinda cool. Bright yellow. You get warmer here
with yellow ocher. Now, I have noticed that
when you change brands, just because yellow ocher in whole bond can be used
in certain situations, yellow ocher in Winsor, Newton or any other
brand, they all change. So you need to have the swatch to be able
to see what you're wanting or know your colors
in the brand you're using. Colors are not interchangeable. Just because they're
named the same. Mean they look the same. Okay. Now, I can put this in. We're good to go. I'll see you in the next video. I want to show you a little bit about how in a new
watercolor palette, because this is shiny and
slippery, it will be. I would also like to show you how to clean a
watercolor palette.
6. Tips and Conclusion: For this section, and teach you real quick how to
clean a watercolor palette. Now you can do this under a light water faucet,
Not too hard. Or you can use squirt
bottle like this. What it does it What's
everything down? And then you just use a
paper towel or a cloth to clean out the palette. Like this. One on my fingers. Now this is a very old palate, so it's not going to
come out perfect. But it is good every
once a while to clean your palette out because Dustin things get
in your paints. And this helps prevent that dust from transferring
into your paintings. So I will finish this. This like here. You just after you've
let it sit for a minute, you can get some
other color out. Also, running these under just a small dribble of
water to clean the desktop. The top of those from the water faucet is actually
easier than using these. But for this portion, I would use this. These. I normally run under
the faucet for just a second to get the
color, the discoloration off. Okay. That's it for cleaning
your palette. You just make sure you get all the different
nooks and crannies. And like I said, you have
to do this periodically or you end up with a lot
of dust in your palette. Even though I keep mine
closed when it's not in use. Just using creates
a lot of dust. If you're having
trouble getting it out, just like I said, rather than under
some water or let it soak after you've sprayed it. Again for a minute. This section here, I
really like to run under faucet water,
good and clean. Now you can see where I have. I tend to keep my
blacks and purples, my reds, yellows, my
neutrals, more reds. That's how I mix. And you'll see the stains
match where I normally mix. Okay, Now the next
thing I want to show you is how the new palettes. This one is shiny, whereas this one is not. So you can see how that's
shiny, I hope here. And how this one is
not because this one's when they
manufacture these, they're manufacturing
with a coating on it and it takes a little bit to get that coating
to use a brush. And I'm going to show you this. Okay, you're going to
see, Let's use this one. It's a nice dark color. See how that beads up and looks like there's hardly
any paint on there. Actually a lot of
paint right there. But it beads up because
of that coding. Time is all it's going
to take care of that. Let's see how that same
watercolor does over here. See actually the same amount of paint right here
as you do there. The difference is this is
beat it up into little beads. And this one is not, but it is the same
amount of paint. So just do not get discouraged. There's plenty of paint right
there when you're painting. And then time, it will
do more like this. It actually doesn't
take that long. Okay? I hope you have
enjoyed this class. This class is just the
basics of getting started. And it's the beginning
of a series that I'm doing to create basic watercolor techniques
and other little tips and tricks of watercolor
that you may not see elsewhere that
professionals use. Also one last quick side note. You can also use
watercolors in the tubes. This is how I prepare
mine for painting, and this is how they're
used in my classes. I'll see you in the next class, another watercolor basics class or even my nature
journaling classes. See you soon.
Joy Neasley, Watercolor Wildlife Artist
