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Hello friends and fellow artists,

Today I would like to try a little something new! Through this blog I would like to take you all with me on my watercolor journey. This week, I had the privilege of trying out a few paints made by Michael Harding. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Kanuga Watermedia workshops in Montreat, NC. I purchased three tubes of his paint and thought I would give them a try. Additionally, I wanted to try out a watercolor paper that was new to me, Stonehenge Aqua Coldpress 300 lb. I decided to setup these walnut shells I have kept around for a while and here is the result.

Paint Review:

I used Orange Sunset, Amethyst, and Cobalt Blue Deep. I loved all three colors! 

I have been looking for a slightly warm orange biased towards the red that does not lose its vibrancy when dry. If you look at the color swatches this one really hits the mark.

The Amethyst provides a purple biased towards red. While I have often used Quinacridone Magenta to fill this need, but the Amethyst is not as blue in undertone which is also a plus for my pallet.

The Cobalt Blue Deep was quite a surprise. When I began the study, I assumed that I would be able to darken the orange with the blue. However, despite its name, this cobalt blue was very transparent with granulation similar to French Ultramarine. It also was more biased towards red than my usual cobalt blues.

In doing my study, I found it necessary to add some raw and burnt sienna to get the darks I had expected with the original mixes. However, I will be using this beautiful blue for transparent passages in the future.

Review of the Stonehenge 300lb. Cold Press Paper:

Conversely, the lifting of the paint, did allow dropping paint into the previous glaze if dampened lightly and the ability to lift paint, made corrections possible. The paper does not lend itself to scrubbing with anything stiffer than an eradicator. It tends to pill and fibers are roughed up easily.