Ooh, Paint Porn!!

I know, don't all we artist love, just LOVE seeing the palette of other painters. I absolutely love it when my fellow artists swatch their new paint or show their new tools. I don't have new tools (I'm still coveting the Whiskey Painter's Master Palette and have for AGES but that's nothing new). I do however have new paint, some from Winsor & Newton and some from Daniel Smith. I can't help myself, I'm more addicted to color than I am hazelnut coffee, which is saying something!

About a year ago I saw Winsor & Newton's Twilight Series swatches and fell in love with the colors! Normally I tend to like Daniel Smith and Schmencke but sometimes W&N can have some spectacular colors. Their Limited Edition Twilight Series has six beautiful colors that are inspired by that special evening sky. I purchased mine from Jackson's Art Supply but Dick Blick is still carrying all the  5ml tube colors.

I purchased the Sanguine Red, Quin Violet and Aqua Green. I've been looking for that color red forever and the Quin Violet & aqua green are quite unique. Dick Blick has all of the Twilight colors in stock, here are the links for those of you who want them. (Sanguine Red, Smalt Blue, Quin Violet, Chromium Black, Cobalt Green Deep, Aqua Green). Here are a few pics to show the colors better.

(Click to Enlarge)

(Click to Enlarge)

The other color I've actually re-added into my palette is Opera Pink by Daniel Smith. I originally had Opera from Holbein when I first started painting years ago. I then took it out when I found out it was really fugitive, not stable in light. I found out recently from a good friend who's a fantastic painter that if you put a lightfast color over any fugitive color then it's much more stable. She says she's never seen any fading when using this technique so YAY I get my favorite color of all time back!!! HELLO OPERA PINK!

Title: "Six Minus One" (click to enlarge)

I decided to do a painting using all of the four new colors so I could get used to them. The Aqua green is used as the base for half of the greens and the darkest green, obviously it's a great mixing color. Actually, all four colors work beautifully as mixing colors but I was extra surprised to find that Opera also seems to brighten any orange-pink-red-maroon that you add it to. I found that my dark pinks were getting a little muddy so I slapped a glaze of opera over those sections to brighten them. Opera works just like pure yellow works over any green-blue-red that you glaze with it. That's a little trick my friend and guru Tracey taught me in her Delicious Paint class. Seriously great class by the way.

Another thing I did this week is add a new section to my sidebar. I'm collecting my favorite blogs to visit. I already keep a small place in the sidebar with links where I join challenges. This new section will be friend's and fellow artist's blogs that inspire me to do art and be a more prolific and better artist. I sure hope you go and look at these blogs as I know they will inspire you also and give you a smile when you most need one. So far I have Tracey Fletcher King, Sandra Busby and Nicola McLean (no relation, I don't think, lol).

And finally, here's a quote that I read on Brenda Swenson's Blog. It resonated with me just as much as it resonated with her so I thought I'd share it.

"I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed--you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great men, and, alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin--it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am a habit!"                                                                                               - John Di Lemme

Have a great day everyone, talk later, Eh? I'll be back with a new painting soon! 

Best,

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