Using Your Sketchbook to Jump-start Your Painting

I don't think it's unusual for artists to feel anxious when they begin a painting.  As Ann K. Lindsay, my teacher and mentor expressed it:  "Art is our heart coming right out of us onto the paper, into the world; no wonder we feel so vulnerable...."

Sometimes after I create a drawing for the painting and add the resist to protect desired white areas, I take a deep breath in preparation to begin...and I'm not ready to paint!

The hesitation can be a need to warm up and get rid of nervous jitters, a need to play a little before you get down to the business of painting on watercolor paper.  No one wants to mess up a carefully rendered drawing.  This particular painting, "Common Yellowthroat at Seven Islands" was a commissioned painting, as well.  The desire to please a customer can add a little more tension to the mix.

I also wanted to use Prussian Blue in this painting, a blue that is similar in hue to Cerulean but more transparent. I was not sure how the colors I most frequently use in my palette would mix with this shade of blue since I had not experimented, so, I got out my sketchbook.

Your sketchbook comes in handy as a wonderful tool in this situation.  Great for playing and loosening up. Great for color exploration.  And great for working out hesitations before you get started.  As you can see below in the squares and blended mixtures, I am comparing blues and adding yellow and red to check out the combined colors that result.  All the pigments you see listed are Winsor Newton paints except for DeVinci Permanent Rose.

You can create a reference for color blends and their shades by painting squares on a page that document what happens when you blend two colors in gradual steps.  The example below is an exploration of greens created by a friend of mine.  At each end of the row you will find the pure tube color; in between are the shades created by varying the amount of color added.  The square in the middle represents about equal parts of both colors.  As you move to the left the color becomes more yellow; to the right, the color shade becomes more blue.  This exercise is an excellent way to get acquainted with new colors in your palette and discover the variety of combinations that can be used to create green.  

Below you see another way to make a color study.  When making studies like the one above and below, I recommend using watercolor paper when possible.  Watercolor paper will give you a truer sense of how the colors will look in the actual painting.   

Below you see the Common Yellowthroat in my sketchbook surrounded by the trial of pigments I used in the painting:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Aureolin Yellow, Indian Yellow, Sepia (on the bird's face and in the twigs), Permanent Rose, and Winsor Violet.

Now I'm ready to paint!

To see more sketchbook practice visit:  Sketchbook as a map and Yellow Glow Behind the Robin

Watercolor cards for reference
Common Yellowthroat sketch in ink and watercolor
Cornell on Common Yellowthroat

Watercolor Cards for Handy Reference

It's always fun to try out new pigments.  I've had several in mind for a while that I've noticed in other artist's palettes.  Anytime you open an art book from your shelf or attend an art class, you will usually discover the author/artist's palette selection and a discussion of warm and cool colors.  Many artists have more than one grouping of colors they enjoy using, depending on the subject and the season.  Others use the same color wheel most of the time.  This is a matter of preference and what appeals to your eye.  
Having a palette already selected before you begin painting makes decisions easier while you work.  And trying out new pigments is a bit like holiday magic.  This week, I visited Jerry's Artarama and returned home with two new brushes and four new tubes of paint, all Winsor Newton.

Above, Winsor Newton squirrel mop for juicy washes (larger brush), and a round #3 sable for detail work.  Tube paints:  Perylene Maroon, Cobalt Turquoise, Antwerp blue, and Cadmium Yellow.

Though Winsor Newton tube paints are now marked with letters signifying their translucent characteristics, for example, "T" for translucent, O for Opaque and "S's" for those in between, such as SO (semi-opaque), I like to display my pigments on a handy card so I can see the pigment qualities in an instant.  Different brand pigments by the same pigment name can be very different in both brilliance and translucence.

Above you can clearly see the opaque characteristics of WN Lemon Yellow and WN Raw Sienna.  You can also see that Van Gogh Raw Sienna is a different shade of pigment when compared to the WN watercolor pigment by the same name.

The "cards" I use are simply the back side of a used piece of 140# coldpress watercolor paper torn into same-size strips.  On one side create a black permanent magic marker strip.  If you paint across this strip and the pigment allows you to see right through to the black, you have a very translucent pigment that will create wonderful glazes.  If the pigment is visible on top of the black strip, you get a sense of the granular quality and the opaqueness of your pigment, qualities that add texture and variety to your work.