Switching Out Swatch Cards

I love watercolors. I don’t even have to paint anything recognizable  – I just love the way they feel when I add water and put the pigments on the page. I like swishing them around, dropping bits onto wet paper and watching them spread and granulate – if they are so inclined. Mixing pigments on paper is most exciting when the colors mix in a way that I don’t expect. One of the most helpful tools for my journaling are the swatch cards I create for each of my paints. I got the idea from Susan Chiang who guided me through the critical questions regarding pigments: are they transparent, do they stain, are they granulating, and how lightfast are they? Making Swatch Cards will help you become a better watercolor painter and they are just fun to make!The big card on the bottom is kept in my travel kit for reference and are my current colors. The individual cards record the range of colors as more water is added, the level of staining (some colors are easier to lift than others), and transparency (can I still see the black line when it is covered with pigment?). On the back of the cards I add information from the Daniel Smith website regarding the advantages of each color.

I have come a long way from thinking that purple was a primary color.