A few weeks ago I received an exciting package from Maria at Art Toolkit: the new Explore Palette! The palette contains 6 Van Gogh® by Royal Talens watercolors: Transparent Yellow Medium, Permanent Red Light, Phthalo Blue, Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Rose, and Payne’s Grey, 2 large mixing pans, plus 6 extra Read more…
I spotted this Tumuarta sketchbook on Amazon and noticed that it was 25% cotton and just had to give it a try! Here’s my review now that I’ve finished filling it up. The Pros: That 25% cotton really does make a difference! I got great granulation in my washes, brighter Read more…
I’ve been on a quest the last few weeks to find my ultimate ultramarine blue and I wanted to share the results with you — but first, the backstory! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lisa Spangler (@sideoats) //www.instagram.com/embed.js The Backstory I’ve been using ultramarine blue from Read more…
I’m going to be teaching an in-person workshop near Houston and put together this palette for the students and had to share. It’s designed for ease of mixing out in the field and the colors of the Texas Gulf Coast Prairies, but I bet it would make a great everyday Read more…
Here are four ways to easily add cactus spines while working en plein air: White gouache – this is probably my favorite way to add cactus spines. I squeeze out some gouache into a little container with a snap-on lid and keep it in my pack. I prefer Winsor & Read more…
I’ve had Cobalt Teal Blue on my palette for years — it’s one of my favorites. I’ve found that not many people know about this glorious color and all the magic mixes you can make with it, so I decided to write this Ode to Cobalt Teal Blue. This is Read more…
Tomorrow is the first day of spring here in the northern hemisphere so I gave my palettes a good cleaning and I added 2 colors for spring: phthalo blue (green shade) and quinacridone coral! Just look at all these glorious colors that you can mix with those two: Check out Read more…
When I first started painting I went on a quest for the perfect red — little did I know that I could mix red from magenta and yellow — and I knew nothing about pigment numbers. Mixing Red Yes, everything I learned in school was wrong — red is not Read more…
I’ve had several people ask what colors are in my Art Toolkit palettes so I thought I’d do a post with a winter update. I like to switch up the colors seasonally. All colors are by Daniel Smith except for those marked with a WN for Winsor & Newton or Read more…
A minimal sketch kit I setup for doing value study thumbnail sketches on the go.