Vandy Massey - Week # 2

Inspired by Olivia's sponge wash challenge, I decided to combine that with my examination of pigments this week.

I fell in love with Quinacridone Gold the first time I used it. It immediately became a cornerstone of my palette because of the range it covers - from pale gold when its quite dilute, to rich dark golden colour when its concentrated.

Last week I discovered that my local art supply shop now stocks Daniel Smith watercolours. Perfect! I now have a stock of glorious quinacridone colours I'll be trying over the next couple of weeks. Expect to see my whole treasure trove of quin colours.

Quinacridone colours are synthetic pigments. They are transparent, have excellent light fastness and are vibrant and punchy.

Arches watercolour journal entry for Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold, and Quinacridone Deep Gold

The first pair are Quinacridone Gold, and Quinacridone Deep Gold.  I was curious to see the difference given the fact that there is only one word difference between their names. As you can see from my journal entry, the Deep Gold has a red/brown tint that doesn't appear in the standard Quinacridone Gold. Both have good light fastness, low staining and both are beautifully transparent.

Sponged Quinacridone Gold on wet paper, followed by sponged Quinacridone Deep Gold on dry paper

Taking up Olivia's sponge trees challenge, I started with wet paper and sponged on Quinacridon Gold in three patches. When the paper had dried I added a second sponging of Quinacridone Deep Gold. Soft edges, overlaid with hard edges.

Spray water to activate the Quinacridone Deep Gold

I felt the hard edges of the Quinacridone Deep Gold were too harsh in contrast to the softness of the earlier sponge wash on wet paper. So I sprayed over the trees a couple of times from a distance of about 30cm to gently soften the edges.

Final painting after addition of Pthalo blue

After letting the paper dry again, I added a sponged wash of Pthalo Blue which I sprayed more strongly than before. Tilting the paper upside down let the blue bloom into a gentle haze above the top edges of the gold sponging.

Add some darker blue with a brush along the lower edge of the trees to create a heirarchy of light and shade, then add the trunks and and pale gold wash into which the tree roots can burrow. The final layer after drying is simply the addition of fine detail in Pthalo Blue.

I can't wait to try my other new quin colours, but it will have to wait until the weekend.