Friday 15 September 2017

Mahogany Brown _ Schmincke PBr33

I recently bought a tube of the new Schmincke  Mahogany Brown which is PBr33 - Pigment Brown 33. This is Zinc Iron Oxide and is described by the Pigment Database as "Dark; brown to reddish Brown". Handprint say it is a very lightfast, very opaque, staining, very dark valued dull brown but then says ..."a handsome blackish brown'.....an interesting pigment" The only source of this pigment was previouy 'Schmincke' who called it Walnut Brown. This new colour replaces Walnut Brown and I have no idea what the differences are although, presumably, there are some. I have also included the 'new' Transparent Brown previously called 'Translucent Brown' which is PBr41. Again I've no idea what the differences are if any.



Mahogany Brown is top left with Transparent Brown 3rd from the left. I now use this instead of Burnt Sienna, although as I have stocks of the latter .....! Handprint says it works well with Ultramarine Blue so I've done some swatches with the colours side by side and others where I've mixed them together. The one of the bottom right granulates nicely and looks interesting. These samples are rough and ready so don't take them as gospel.

I gave a small blob of the Mahogany Brown to Yvonne Harry, the co-leader of Avon Valley Artists -  a superb artist particularly of flowers, her speciality,  and showed her the following work in progress of a young indian girl. Her immediate reaction was it looked like a useful shadow colour.


The brown areas are Mahogany Brown heavily diluted except for above the eyes, with Ultramarine added to create the darks.

Current price for both these colours from Jacksons is £9.50p for 15ml. I would like to do more reviews but as I get no free samples - I tell a lie I did get copies of Judy Whittons Venice book and Gerard Hendriks DVD due to their generosity- but thats all!


Sunday 3 September 2017

My Latest Paintings

I make the usual proviso. These are my paintings which I don't claim are good - just mine. I've painted them over the last two or three weeks, mainly at AVA sessions, usually doing the drawings the day previous in my 'studio'at home.



George Armstrong Custer - from a photograph taken around 1863
 16" x 12" Waterford High White not

I was quite pleased with it and still am - but realised afterwards I'd made his epaulettes too large, I look at these paintings in the following days and see things - usually faults - I didn't notice at the time it was painted! The actual painting looks better then the reproduction, which seems to happen often.



This is my original Custer drawing


Indian Woman in captivity c 1870s - 16" x 12" Waterford High White

The guide photo shows a very dejected woman and it is really dark and gloomy. I wanted to capture her dejection.



Original drawing for the above.


Black Prairie Chicken c1900 (?)

!6' x 12" Waterford High White

His name appealed to me but in reality he's quite colourful.



A Young Navaho Man - c1900 
16" x 12" Waterford High White

This one looks like a 'dandy' in the original photo. One of my painting friends thought it was a female!



A young Inuit child 16" x 12" Waterford High White C1900 (?)

Probably better known as of 'Eskimo' origin. She actually looks older in my painting than in the original. She was wearing this amazing fur hat which I pondered awhile how to depict. In the end I wasn't too unhappy with the result.


Pink Phlox -16" x 12" Waterford High White

A loose painting of flowers for a change. I haven't done many of these and hope to do more ' in a loose manner.





Friday 1 September 2017

Waytercolour Paintings 34

Here are the latest batch to start September. Another mix of different styles from a variety of artists, some well-known others less so.




Gerard Hendriks

Another of Gerards flower studies full of colour.





N B Gurung




Ewa Ludwiczak




Dianne Benoit
Slightly unusual subject for Dianne.




Olga Kharchenko




Aparah Towinh Cyrille (?)

I love this one - simple but colourful.



Alvaro Castagnet
The workshop King. Contrast this with the one below.



Jonathan Kwegyir Aggrey
This young African artist has made a name for himself in the last few years



Richard Stevens

Lovely use of colour by this talented American.




Nicole Zeimet




Marco Boer

Too detailed for me but an amazing painting.



Jonathan Kwegyir Aggrey




Genevieve Buchanan





Charles Reid



Milind Mulick




Kitipong Ti via Maria Christina




Ewa Ludwiczak again - Robert Diniro in the film 'Taxi Driver'




Anders Andersson

Thats it folks hope you like them.