Yay for colour

I am getting so much out of my drawing classes.  I think this is going to be my new obsession.

Our class is very fortunate to have Jenny Phillips as teacher.  Jenny doesn't normally take beginners classes, and hasn't done for years.  Through circumstances though, Jenny is taking us through the basics, so we are benefitting from her great talent and passion for the art. 

This week we started playing with colour.  Using only 6 watercolours, we are creating these colour cards, which will become our reference for matching colour to our plant specimens in the future.  While we were mixing and painting Jenny told us about her tour of the paper mill in an old building in France, and how they make the paper we were painting on - the same method they have used for centuries.

All that wonderful information makes for a much richer learning experience.  Jenny has shown us images of different brands of paper under a microscope so we can better understand how the paint bonds to the paper. 

She has described the fibres of the sable brushes we are using and the way the scales on the individual hairs hold the paint, and why you get a finer point on a sable brush than a synthetic brush.  It's all fascinating.  I never pursued art at school or university so this is all new to me.  I have no idea how to work with paint so I'm lapping up every morsel of information.

My paint palette, with the six colours I will need to create all other colours.  There are two blues, two yellows, and two reds - a cool and warm of each.

Comments

[Jordana Castro]

Hola... I love your blog, and your botanical drawings, this is my favorite!!! good work.

Jordana