Friday 12 October 2018

Watercolour Dot Cards

A few years ago Daniel Smith introduced these dot cards. At least I think they were the first. Since then they have proliferated. Winsor & Newton then offered  a few, I think with some special edition sets and also a basic primary colour set with currently a six dot card from Jacksons at 20p. Schmincke now offer the whole range or - like Daniel Smith - a reduced number at a lower price. There may now be some other dot cards from other makers but I have no current details.






Daniel Smith



Daniel Smith



Schmincke




This is how Jane Blundell paints out the dot cards. I think her method is best.

Prior to this the options were and still are printed colour charts which are usually free or hand painted charts, often hard to find and quite expensive.

Prices of the dot cards vary. With Daniel Smiths huge range the full 238 set costs £21.00 at current jacksons prices. They also do a 66 one for £7.50. The full 140 colour Schmincke costs £14.60 and the 80 one £9.10.


Daler Rowney Hand Painted Chart



Holbein Hand Painted Chart



Maimeri Hand Painted Chart

I also have a Winsor & Newton hand painted chart. What do I think of them? They are undoubtedly useful, especially if you major on one brand. The snag I find is that the paints are applied very evenly. This may seem an odd thing to say but with my - admittedly - less than perfect methods getting a similar result is very difficult and do you actually want them to be this bland? Jacksons also list hand-painted charts from Rembrandt - no current price. Shin Han at £34.00 and - surprisingly - Cotman at £11.20. I  believe Old Holland also do one but no details.

All makers tend to offer printed colour charts for free. My preference would be for these charts followed by the dot cards. You may feel differently.








Monday 1 October 2018

Watercolour Paintings 47

Here are the latest batch for October. I've tried to mix them up even more this month.


D Joy McFadden (?)
What colour! Love this.



Edward Wesson



Lars Eje Larsson
The more I see of this artists work the more I like it.



Aine Devine
This Scottish lady is an amazing artist.



John Yardley
One of the greats in the modern era of British Watercolour



Ivelina Vladimirova



Kate Osborne



Viktoria Prischedko



Fabio Cembranelli



Cornelius Dragan



Winslow Homer
Am American great.



Michal Jasiewicz



Chien Chung-Wei - Thought it was probably him. Wonderful Chinese artist.



Milind Mullick



Giulio Boscaine



Yuko Nagayama


Michele Clamp

 Ted Nuttal


Catherine Rey



 Annemiek Groenhout



Aine Devine



Karl Martens

Some terrific artists here I hope most will agree. We all have our different tastes but good painting is universal. How I wish I could paint like many of those above.