Watercolor Manufacture's Charts for Color Temp etc

QUESTION: Is there a list of colors(especially Daniel Smith) that show if the color are Warm or Cool, Transparent or opaque, staining or non staining. This would be so helpful. Thank You. Pam

SUSIE'S REPLY: Hi Pam!
Daniel Smith does have a printed color chart that gives you most of this information including lightfastness. While the chart doesn't list the tube colors as warm or cool it does arrange the little color swatches by their chroma starting with the cooler yellow hues moving to the warmer yellows, then the oranges and warm reds, then to the cool reds and purples, warmer blues hues then to the cooler blues before they show their earth colors.

I spoke with the nice folks at Daniel Smith today and they tell me if you call their customer service they will mail you a copy. You will need to call during business hours so you can talk to a real person. 1-800-426-7923 ( Tell them I said hello!)

The same chart can be found in their 2008-2009 reference catalog on pages 10-11. I'll try to add a link below to take you to it online. If it doesn't work go to http://www.danielsmith.com and look for the tab for their online catalog. Here is the link: Daniel Smith Paint Chart I hope that link works.

Also....If you go to the Daniel Smith website and click on the watercolor paints you will get a colored list of paints again starting with yellow. You can click on each color and get more information about that individual color that's not included on the printed color swatch chart.

Most manufacturers (Winsor Newton, Holbein, Rembrandt, etc) have printed materials with paint information available for artists. Try doing a search for these by manufacturer's name.

Another great watercolor resource is http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html
It's got so much information it can be overwhelming.
For paints: http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/waterfs.html
At the top of the page is a navigation bar arranged by color names.... have fun exploring!

SUSIE

Gum Arabic in Watercolor Paint

Great website - thank you for all the great tips. Please tell us the proper use of gum arabic. When do you use it and how much do you use. Thank you. Greg

SUSIE'S REPLY: Hi Greg!
Gum arabic is a water soluble binder made from the sap of the acacia trees. It's most commonly used in the manufacturing of artist's quality watercolor and gouache paints as well as pastels.
As a binder it helps the watercolor pigments stick to the watercolor paper. However it can be dissolved again in water, even after it has completely dried. This is why watercolors can be rewet after they have dried on the palette, or can be lifted from the paper when they are rewet.

Some artists add extra gum arabic to their watercolor paint to increase the body and flow of the paint. It is also used to add a glossy look to the paint, but you must be careful not to add too much as the paint may become brittle and may flake off.
In my watercolor experience I've found if I stick with professional quality brands of watercolor paints I don't need to make any adjustments to their formulas. The saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it!" applies.
I have added a few drops of gum arabic along with several drops of distilled water to rejuvenate the contents of a tube of rock hard dried watercolor paint. How much gum arabic do you use? I've read 3:1 or 4:1 ratio is a good formula. (Three or four drops of water to one drop of gum arabic.)

I hope that answers your question! Thanks for asking!
SUSIE

Make Your Own Color Chart for Watercolor Paints

The illustration above shows a basic color chart for my core palette colors or what I call the Essential 7. This is a great way to find out what combinations you can mix from these seven paint colors.

To create your own color mixing chart:

• Use a pencil to draw eight rows and columns as shown above.
• To show how transparent or opaque each pigment is, make a black line using a permanent marker before you apply the colors. When you paint over the black line if the color disappears it is transparent, if you can see the pigment sitting on top of the black line then it has opaque qualities.
• Each ROW is about the color/hue in that row and what the other colors in the palette do when mixed with the dominant row color.
• Each COLUMN contains the same colors placed in the same order as in the rows.
• Mix less of the column color and more of the row color for the best results.
• Leave a little white space on either side of the pencil lines (between the color squares) to visually separate the colors.
• NOTE: Each color will be mixed with itself during this process.
• This chart shows the secondary and tertiary color combinations that are possible by mixing only two tube colors.
• It's possible to create many more neutral hues by combining three or more tube colors in the basic split primary palette.
• When the chart was totally dry I erased the pencil lines.

Of course you can make as many rows and columns as you want but I've found that when I want to add new colors to my core palette all I really need to do is add a new row and show how they interact with my 7 core palette colors. If they work with these 7 then I have a color that I can use successfully. If the color isn't compatible with my core palette then I need to be more careful and selective as to how I choose to use that particular paint.

Green is Green is Green

QUESTION: Susie, I am having the hardest time painting leaves. Green is green is green. I never seem to get enough contrast and my leaves never come to "LIFE". Can you help? Do you have a video on painting flowers and LEAVES? Shirley

SUSIE'S REPLY: Shirley, the DVD titled Painting Sentimental Roses goes into painting leaves on the stem of a rose. And I do mention adding some variety to the green leaves by dropping in more blue or yellow into a wet area.
But let's just take a few minutes to talk about greens and how to alter them.
First of all don't let yourself get into a habit of relying on tube greens. That green hue (such as Sap Green) may be beautiful straight out of the tube but it can be so "boring." Instead of using tube greens, try mixing your greens using the blues and yellows on your palette. Each blue will make a different hue of green when you add it to each of your yellows.
Experiment by making a little color chart or grid of greens and see the variations you have available to you without dipping into a tube green.
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Then make another chart for each tube green and see how you can adjust the hue of the tube color by adding those same blues to the green from the tube and then another chart by adding the yellows to the tube green(s). WOW! And think of how many more you can make if you combined the tube greens with any number of mixed greens from your first chart of just blues and yellows. (Shown in my example are Sap and Viridian mixed with six colors of a split primary palette.)

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So far we've been thinking about mixing wet colors. Now let's think about glazing or layering blue over yellow or green over pink or green over orange. You can get an endless variety of greens that are alive and exciting.
Dropping wet color into another wet color is called "charging." When the blue and yellow are allowed to "mingle" on your paper rather than being premixed on your palette the color will often be more exciting and have more punch to it.

Thanks for asking a question that so many of us need to deal with. I hope you will find out that with some practice with mixing and mingling your greens will become your friend and not your enemy.

Happy Painting!
SUSIE

Palette layout

QUESTION: Susie, I took your landscape class and I'll be back for more. I want to set up my palette to let them dry. I checked your palette layout suggestion but I now have all of the two sets and some extras so I'm confused how to go about it. I have the same palette as yours. Thanks for any help. Sharon

SUSIE'S REPLY: Hi Sharon -- Try painting the swatches I mentioned in the previous post. As you start arranging your watercolor palette you may find you have more wells than you have paint. If that's the case, simple skip a well every so often to reserve a space to add a new color later. More often we have more watercolor paint than wells to hold them. In this case you will need to make a choice of which watercolor paints you want to include and which ones you will leave out. I do occasionally put two watercolors side by side in the same well if they are compatible won't hurt if I get a tiny smidgen of each when I load my brush. (Example: Ultramarine and French Ultramarine)

Remember you can always squeeze a dab of fresh paint if you decide need it for a painting.

TIP: For dry paint: When filling your palette, layering the paint and allowing it to dry between layers will keep it from cracking as it dries. I usually have 3 or 4 layers. It takes a little longer to add the layers but they do dry faster when the paint is spread thinner.

Good luck! Enjoy squeezing that paint!
SUSIE

Here is a suggested layout or arrangement for the Richeson Watercolor Palette
You are welcome to print a copy!

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Color Wheel Placements

QUESTION: Susie,
I have both the Susie Short basic 7 set of split primaries and the "intermediate" set from Daniel Smith. My question is how do I know where the intermediate set fits in on the color wheel--in other words, is there a way to tell if Quinacridone Coral is warm or cool? Do you have a handout that shows how those colors fit in?
Thanks --- Judi

SUSIE'S REPLY: Hi Judy, Thanks for your question. There is not a hand out for placement of the intermediate colors on a color wheel. I do have a recommended palette layout for watercolors on my website that includes most of my colors by Daniel Smith. (It's rotated for easy printing.)
One of the best ways to determine if a watercolor paint is warmer or cooler than it's neighbor is to paint a little postage stamp size swatch of each and compare them. If you still can't visually see the difference, try mixing a secondary color with it. For example: If you were testing a red (like Quinacridone Coral!) mix an orange. If you get a pretty clean orange instead of slightly dirty looking orange then the red doesn't contain blue and would be considered a warm red. For secondary colors you simply need to visually compare them to each other, no mixing required.
BTW: Quinacridone Coral is a nice warm red. Compare it to Quin Rose or Quin Pink which both have a touch of blue in them.
HINT: If you make swatches of all the colors you plan to put in your palette you can arrange these little color swatches in the order you want to place them in your palette. Its easy to make adjustments and rearrange them "before " you squeeze out the paints.

I hope that helps! Thanks again for your question!
SUSIE
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Palette & paint question...

QUESTION: Hi Susie, I'm confused. Some books say to only use dabs of fresh paint and others talk about keeping paints moist in their palette wells. But what do you do when they dry in the wells? Also, I am confused about what artists do once they finish a painting and move on to another. If I try to wash the paint off, the water gets in the wells and wastes the good paint. What do most artists do with the leftover paint in the mixing areas of their palette? Thank you. Mary

SUSIE'S REPLY: Mary - There are several answers to your paint and palette questions.

• Many artists prefer to squeeze out fresh watercolor paint for each new painting and simply discard unused and polluted colors when they finish.
• Others choose to squeeze a generous amount of paint into the wells and carefully wipe the mixing area with a sponge or paper towel being careful not to get extra water in the wells when cleaning their palette. They also try to keep the paint moist between painting sessions by misting them with water and/or placing a damp sponge in the mixing area before they cover the palette.
• I prefer to paint with dry paint (tube paint squeezed into the wells and allowed to dry hard) and I rejuvinate the colors with a wet brush as I need them. By allowing the paint to dry I have far less wasted and polluted paint washing down the drain.

My painting methods and techniques do differ from many of the watercolor books and instructors. I don't think there is a wrong method, if it works!

As for what to do with the left over paint in the mixing area. I prefer to discard it. Unless I'm painting a series using the same colors I'll want to start with fresh colors anyway. AND I don't clean my palette immediately (while the paint is damp) I like to wait until the next time I paint then wipe away the dried used paint with a damp paper towel or a sponge. This allows me to pick up any splashes of dried paint that may be sitting on top of another color in my palette with a dampened brush. I find I don't have as much waste this way. I only take my palette to the sink and rinse it when it is really full of messy polluted cross-overs. Even then I have very little paint loss.

I hope that helps. You should find what works best for you and your painting style... it just takes practice and LOTS of it!
Good luck and enjoy the process!
SUSIE
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