Today's post is a continuation from the two prior posts where I've discussed waterbrushes and pens to be used with watercolor. The swatches above are from my new Daniel Smith* paints. The top one is Isoindoline Yellow and it is pure bottled sunshine!! The color just radiates! It is clean and smooth with no granulation to it. When my Indian Yellow runs out on my studio palette, this will be the color that I will be putting into that well. It is glorious!

The next swatch is Fired Gold Ochre which I keep wanting to call fried okra. It is a brick red with a lot of granulation. By itself it is unimpressive, but it makes some lovely mixes with Ultramarine and Cobalt blues. The brochure for the pigment states that it "makes an exquisite range of skin tones." I can see that, but I'm not sure that will make it a keeper. More exploration is needed before I will add it to my palette permanently.

Last is Mayan Red. It's a strong red with rose undertones at full strength going down to a very sublime pink. Again, rather unimpressive by itself. It does well in mixes, staying clean and vibrant. More experimenting will be needed before I decide it gets to stay.

Above you can see all of the pigments in mixes (please ignore the lower corner - that was another exploration unrelated to this one). You can click on the image to get a better view of the granulations and colors. All of these colors are single pigment paints rather mixtures of two or more pigments. I find that by staying with single pigment colors (for the most part) I tend to avoid making mud. Or at the very least, I have to work harder to make it!

Daniel Smith currently has "dot cards" with these pigments, so if you're placing an order be sure to request one!


*I do not work for Daniel Smith and I receive no kickbacks from DS for endorsing their paints. However, I have to say that I've used DS since the early '90's and have always been thrilled with their pigments colors and the quality. Should you decide to try them out, I don't think you'll be sorry!