Tip of the week time 🙂
Here is a quick but handy tip on your very first step when starting to paint with aquarelle (water-colors):
- find a rather thick piece of paper, like a post card for example, and get your fine artist’s water-color-set (make sure the paper is not yellowish or beige but really white)
- each water-color has an unique number you can find in/on the packaging; write all the numbers in the exact same order as the one your pans have on the paper and make sure to leave enough space between every number – this is going to be your color chart
- now you have to apply the corresponding colors in a way you get a nice color gradient; either make long lines giving you a natural gradient or you can fill out one side of a single color chart segment with a plenteous amount of water-color and apply some pure water on the other side, step-by-step connect in the center of the chart segment the water with the still wet water-color to get a nice flow
Now every time you paint you can look up how a certain color will look on paper (assuming you’re using similar paper) once it has dried before applying it. If the paper you’re painting on is really nothing like the one you used for the chart I would advise you to always try the color out on a piece of the same paper before applying it.
By the way, some water-color manufacturers include a color chart draft in their products. Here is how mine looks like:
color chart by “Schminke & Co. GmbH & Co. KG”