Spring color palette with grey
I am impatiently waiting for spring, and while it is still cold, windy and cold with snow covering most of the soil outdoors, I paint spring. I paint spring using my spring color palette which is pretty much always the same. My spring color palette includes different grey tones, as well, but camera cannot keep up with my soft color transitions and frequently sees grey as blue. I hope, the spring color palette can be perceived as you look at my paintings on your device. As we well know, any device has its own settings, thus, impacting heavily what one sees.
Color palette also changes
I have had many favorite color stretches over many decades while painting. I have had totally grey phases, and very blue, very green and bright multicolor painting periods also. As an artist, I never stay the same because everything changes and our hate-love relationship with colors changes, as well. I love balanced color palette and use it whenever possible. Phone camera wasn’t designed to get things look real, but rather enhance everything. It also destroys correct perspective regardless of how you adjust it.
Imagination at work
Spring color palette is vivid and rebirth-affirming. I’m very sure if you live in different climates, your color palette is quite distinctive from mine. I don’t paint mountains or oceans, just because I don’t see them here. I also don’t rely on photos, but rather on imagination and visual memory. That makes things easier for me. Simplicity which excites is a good term to describe these paintings.
Saturated colors
The old house was painted in 2018. Apparently, watercolor works much better on thick Arches watercolor paper. Layering colors is easier and the entire painting has more saturated values. Pictures which I took with iPhone back then, are rather dark and some look even blurry. I should get new pictures of all paintings which I still have, but that’s too much of work and too much of re-posting and editing. I did, however, take new pictures of the old rural house.
Old house watercolor painting in spring colors, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm
Still grey and Road into distance paintings
Still grey with birch tree and the Road into distance are new watercolor paintings. They are created using the same color palette, but I couldn’t get a good image of the large one, the Road into distance painting, It’s a fantastic, large size watercolor with beautiful color transitions. I would say, it has gentle and soft spring colors and all values are simply perfect. If you ever happen to be in Ajax, Ontario, you could stop by and see with your own eyes how no picture can ever match the original painting.
Road into distance, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm watercolor painting
If you just started painting with watercolor
If you just started using watercolor, always test your colors. Nowadays, the color name alone doesn’t mean much. I have 3 Payne’s grey paints from different manufacturers, and they range from rather blue to very black color. The same goes for Sap green and Green gold. Burnt sienna and Raw sienna are very different colors from different manufacturers. All blue colors can be anything. Yellow is usually quite weak color from the student grade sets.
Still gre, spring landscape painting with birch, watercolor
What you can do on your watercolor paper
You should also test watercolor paper. It’s not advisable using anything lighter than 140 lb for watercolor painting. Non-cotton paper generally buckles, warps and doesn’t absorb neither water, nor pigment. Therefore, you cannot expect watercolor wash to be perfect, adjust it with paper towel. If there’s too much water on such paper, it settles down at the lowest point due to gravity and you see the “blooms” which look good in abstract art, but wrong in improper area. It’s very easy to lift paint from non-cotton paper. It’s easier for beginners because you can correct many aspects of your painting.
Don’t expect the same outcome
Cotton paper, like Arches allows achieving fantastic washes. It absorbs paint and pigment, therefore, one needs to plan painting. You can stretch and soak it before painting or use water on it before you start painting. I didn’t use Arches this time, but Strathmore 400 series paper. Getting paint on it is more difficult than lifting it. The number of layers is limited. If you use Arches (at least 140 lb. paper), number of layers is quite unlimited. Arches 300 lb. paper doesn’t buckle at all. It’s like wood, thick, firm and allows using and creating great effects. It’s very expensive at the moment, though.
Thanks, talk to you later in spring again! This post is different, thanks for reading!
I love your spring colour pallet. The blues really stand out. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much!
I used Payne’s grey for these recent paintings, it’s something between blue and black and the diluted version looks nice. But, yes, it seems more blue on photos.
I appreciate your nice comment.
I hope your week has started off just right.
I like your spring color palette, too. Here in my area, there would be the soft grey green of the numerous lichen encrusting tree branches. The trees, especially older ones, are full of them. From a distance, they can almost look like new spring growth.
Thanks Lavinia!
The actual outdoors is actually completely grey yet with tiny green islets of the first sprouts. Paintings allow picturing anything we want or like, no problem.
You probably have a large garden. My garden is tiny, the one which I tried to start last year. However, my private park in the middle of town is huge. It has numerous trees and quite inspiring views.
All the best!
There are many small gardens around the place here in addition to the vineyard and main fenced-in garden. Weather is wet and cold at the moment, a few warm spring-like days. Today feels more like winter.
WordPress seems to have changed something yesterday with the Reader, and I cannot “like” a number of posts or comments through the reader. Some I can through email, but not all. Your art blog is one of them. I have a ticket open in the forums. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.
Lots of work, but lots of good things coming from garden, as well.
I know, I was wondering, too, what happened with WordPress again. They always change around something, and quite often it doesn’t work at all. They also have made any feature which is a bit better than bare basics, “Upgrade” and pay.
This art website is hosted in different spot, with Bluehost, so it’s better and different.
I agree, I couldn’t do anything from Reader yesterday, too. Very annoying. I can look at websites and blogs which I know are safe, but there are numerous sites which will plant spyware and malware if you click on them, so Reader is necessary. Yet not working at the moment. Let’s hope they receive so many complaints they have to switch back the comment and like features on Reader.
When spring takes its sweet time arriving, at least we can dream and write of it–and paint it (at least some of us can). 😊
Thanks!
It’s about time for spring to become more serious. We had a week-long nice weather, but it turned back to cold. It’s usually a long wait, it seems this year won;t be any exception.
I hope you’re enjoying turn of the seasons where you are!
Thank you. It seems that our patience this year is being taxed more than usual. Let’s hope that we will still get to experience a spring filled with warmth and beauty.
That happens. Here in Ontario, even May can be cold. I remember one year, 2005, when summer started very early. Patience is a virtue, and we need it frequently these times.
Have a good weekend!
Thank you, Inese. I wish you the same.
Always a pleasure to have a visitor to my art blog! I will stop by at your blog when I more or less get done the outside chores. It’s not raining today, have to do some work.
All the best!
Thank you, Inese.
Best wishes,
Tanja