I’ve been in bed mostly for months now and haven’t been able to paint because of it. But, my friend Patti thought maybe I could use pastels and paint with them in bed. I love pastels, but they can be quite messy. I decided to bring out my watercolor pencils and give them a try. I am working on a drawing/painting of a red sunflower. It won’t be a masterpiece by any means, but at least I am creating. I’m not sure about watercolor pencils. They are ok, but they are not like using my watercolor paints. I’m laying down the color as a pencil and will use a brush on them later. It is interesting to try a different medium. But, I still love my watercolors.

Right now in my John Pike palette I have mostly Daniel Smith watercolors. I have to say that Daniel Smith knows what they are doing when making watercolors. One of the prerequisites for me with a watercolor is that it will dry nicely in the palette. I hate it when they break up and crumble, and many brands do just that. I have had good luck with Daniel Smith with the paint drying nicely and re-wetting well. Daniel Smith also has a large choice of colors. Right now I have both of “Susie Short’s” choices plus two Maimeri Blu colors, both violet one reddish and one more blue. Maimeri Blu also has nice watercolors that are a good price, and they dry and re-wet well on the palette. I love these violets. The bluish one is my favorite. Speaking of favorite colors, my favorite red at the moment is Daniel Smiths Quinicrindone coral. I love this color. One of my paintings is done with this color and lots of it. It is the gladiola painting. Titled “Karen’s Gladiola’s”. This red can be quite bright and is on the warm side. But if used in a diluted wash it has a wonderful peachy pink tone. It is gorgeous! My favorite yellow is Daniel Smiths “New Gamboge” The first time I tried the color New Gamboge was with a Winsor and Newton tube. The color was wonderful. The problem is that Winsor and Newtons watercolors do not dry nicely on the palette. They tend to crumble and flake. They have wonderful colors and many artists use them as their standards, but I just hate that flaking on the palette! I was pleased when I found Daniel Smiths New Gamboge. It is a must have for any palette in my opinion. My favorite blue is of course Daniel Smiths French Ultramarine Blue. I like the regular Ultramarine Blue as well. I do love Quinicrindone Rose for a cooler red, and Hansa Yellow medium for a cool yellow and I like cobalt blue and pthalo blue for the cooler blues. All of these from Daniel Smith watercolors. I always have sap green in my palette as well (DS) and I also like pthalo green(DS). I have yet to try the Primatek colors made from natural earth and stones. I think I need a new palette just for those.

Speaking of palettes, currently I am using the original John Pike Palette. Many artists use this one and so I thought I would give it a try. I like that it is a strong plastic. It isn’t likely to break easily or to crack like some of the other ones on the market. What I don’t like though is that the wells only have tiny “lip” facing the middle section that is used for mixing washes. Frequently the wash colors find their way into colors on the palette. I have to say, I would much rather have a small wall there so this can’t happen. It drives me nuts. I guess I must use surfaces that are not quite level, because I find the washes moving towards the colors depending on the way I have the palette laid out. I often paint and then leave the palette with the wash color in the middle to use later. Well, even if I don’t move the palette on purpose it tends to get in the other colors and makes a big muddy mess. This means that I have to clean all this up and make a new wash when I want to get started again. Not my favorite thing to do! I think I will try a new palette soon. I’m not sure which one to try though. I have a few here that I like, but what I want is one with enough wells for my standard palette. One that has four sides to the wells, and a nice middle area to mix in. I’m thinking this area could be separated into two areas. It should be made of a strong plastic that won’t break or crack easily and it should have a good cover that stays on nicely and doesn’t let anything spill out. (That is one nice thing about the John Pike Palette). It would be nice to have some big wells for bigger brushes as well. I have a Zoltan Szabo palette that I like. But, it isn’t big enough really and the cover isn’t very sturdy. Still it is a nice palette with a different layout. Right now it has mostly blues and purples in it. I can’t remember what painting I was using it for when I put those colors on it. It was a long time ago. I bought it in 2004 when we were living in Silver City New Mexico for the winter. It came with a 1&1/2 inch slanted brush for washes and the techniques that Zoltan Szabo uses in his books. I have used the Jones palette and liked it but it has a cracked and broken cover. The plastic is not very sturdy on that cover either. I also have a color wheel one from Jones. I have never been very fond of the color wheel palettes. That is just my preference.

My favorite brushes are of course kolinsky sable brushes. They hold a lot of color so you don’t have to recharge your brush as often as with synthetic brushes, and they keep their shape nicely too. I have some synthetic brushes, but they just do not perform like the kolinsky sable ones. I do have some sable and synthetic mixed brushes that I like pretty well too. They can hold a good amount of paint in them and they keep their shape very well and they cost a whole lot less than the Kolinsky sable brushes. These would be my recommendations for anyone who wants a good brush at a good price. You can find them at any good art store or art store online. Cheap Joe’s has their version of this as well as Windsor and Newton(which I own) and several other brands. I use a 1/2 inch flat wash synthetic brush to mix washes with. It is just a good size for this. I’m not sure why I started to use this one brush for this, but it has become solely my mixing brush. I have some goat hair brushes that work well for large area washes. I have a big oval one and two larger flat wash brushes for this. They are also good for glazing. I do have a small 1″ bristle brush from Zoltan Szabo. I have yet to really put it to good use. I do intend to work on some of his techniques in the upcoming months and would be happy to report on how well this brush works for that.

Well, that is it for my choices at this time. As I use more tools, I will talk about them here and give my critique. I am not employed by Daniel Smith or any other brand that I like and use. I do not get any kind of monetary reimbursement either. These are just my opinions and my favorite supplies to use.