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David Howell PPRSMA


WORKING METHODS - WATERCOLOUR


I’m always amazed at the range of colours that most paint manufacturers produce, because you don’t actually need many.  I work with around 12 – 15 tried and tested pigments that I know will work anywhere and with any subject. They consist of the primary colours in warm and cool versions and a selection of earth colours.


PRIMARY COLOURS

COOL   WARM


Cobalt Blue  Ultramarine Blue

Alizarin Crimson Cadmium Red

Cadmium Lemon Cadmium Yellow


There are less expensive alternatives, especially for the cadmium colours but I love the strength of them.


EARTH COLOURS


Yellow Ochre : Raw Sienna : Light Red : Raw Umber : Burnt Sienna : Burnt Umber


That’s a basic 12 colour palette that gives me any colour or tone that I need. There are no greens because a whole selection of natural greens can be made from using the primary colours.  I occasionally add one or two others  –  Cerulean blue is lovely for colder skies and water, whilst Brown Madder is a softer alternative to Alizarin.  Prussian Blue occasionally gets an outing but as a very strong staining pigment, needs care and Sepia comes in handy for dark accents.  I use ‘Artists Quality’ paint in both pans and tubes from various sources but predominately Winsor & Newton, Old Holland, Sennelier and Daniel Smith.  


PRIMARY COLOURS

COOL                        WARM


Cobalt Blue                Ultramarine Blue

Alizarin Crimson         Cadmium Red

Cadmium Lemon        Cadmium Yellow




EARTH COLOURS


Yellow Ochre : Raw Sienna : Raw Umber : Burnt Sienna  Burnt Umber : Light Red

That’s a basic 12 colour palette that gives me any colour or tone that I need. There are no greens because a whole selection of natural greens can be made from using the primary colours.  I occasionally add one or two others  – Cerulean Blue is lovely for colder skies and water, whilst Brown Madder is a softer alternative to Alizarin.  Prussian Blue occasionally gets an outing but as a very strong staining pigment, needs care and Sepia comes in handy for dark accents.  I use ‘Artists Quality’ paint in both pans and tubes from various sources but predominately Winsor & Newton, Old Holland, Sennelier and Daniel Smith.  



PAINT BOXES


I have a collection of paint boxes, ranging from the ultimate portability of my little 12 half pan Winsor & Newton Bottle Box and Frazer Price travel box to considerably more substantial Craig Young handmade brass boxes, which tend to be used more in a studio setting. I also have a couple of Holbein palette boxes - not so grand as the handmade brass boxes but a lot lighter for outside use.


 BRUSHES


I tend to use large brushes.  Squirrel hair mops, either in flat or Petit Gris form, for initial washes – they get paint on to the paper quickly and then generally I will switch to sables with their ability to control the amount of paint released.  I tend not to use anything smaller than a size 12 most of the time, although something finer like a rigger is needed for things like mooring ropes and telegraph wires.  Most of my sables come from Rosemary Brushes – www.rosemaryandco.com   

W & N Bottle box

Craig Young palette box

BRUSHES


I have always tended to use large brushes with either in flat squirrel hair mops or petit-gris form for initial washes.  They get paint on to the paper quickly and are a great way to get a watercolour started and then I would switch to sables for their ability to control the amount of paint and pigment released.  I still do but I freely admit as a painter who has been somewhat sceptical about synthetic brushes in the past, I have had to have re-think.  I started using Pro-Arte’s Connoisseur brushes a few years ago.  They are reasonably priced, and even the big sizes point well to do a lot of detailed work when required and they hold a lot of paint.  More recently I acquired a size 20 sable blend Series 401 from Rosemary Brushes and this has very quickly become a favourite because of its versatility.  Both of these brushes are a synthetic and natural hair mix but then Rosemary Brushes gave me some of their Red Dot 100% synthetics to try.  I’ve been using them for the last 18 months and frankly their performance is as good as sable.


PAPER


I use a variety of papers, all of them 100% cotton apart from the occasional sketch on cartridge paper in a sketchbook.  Apart from sketchbooks, for outside work I frequently use ¼ sheets of paper - mostly Khadi 320 gsm.  I don’t bother to stretch these and it does tend to cockle but having my head thinking it’s only a sketch results in nice loose painterly small watercolours.  I also use blocks, which are handy to carry – usually Arches but more often than not I will cut 640 gsm weight paper into ¼ sheets, which are substantial enough to be worked on en plein air without stretching and a few of them tucked in the rucksack weigh a lot less than a block.  


For general use in the studio I use sheets and the paper is invariably soaked and stretched on a board to ensure that it is flat to work on.  Arches is always a reliable paper but my favourite again is the Indian hand-made Khadi.  Strangely in recent times their quality has varied somewhat on the standard sheets but they also offer cut sheet packs, which seem to be more reliable. www.khadi.com   In general, Khadi hand-made paper it is somewhat more unpredictable than a regular mould made paper but the colour reproduction and the way it works, in particular with wet in wet areas is brilliant.  I also use Two Rivers, again hand-made - I prefer their 140 lb weight paper to the heavier 200 lb - and Saunders Waterford puts in an appearance from time to time.


My book ‘Painting with Watercolour’ covers the subject in much more detail and is available directly from the publisher at www.crowood.com or on Amazon both in Europe and the USA and from other online art material suppliers.

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