Playing with New Toys

One of the great things about this time of year is that I often have new toys to play with courtesy of the Christmas holiday. The other day I opened up my new Schminke watercolor set.

The set was actually a gift to myself - what we call in my house a "from me to me". I have been wanting to try the Schminke watercolor pans for some time and saw a great deal in December that suggested it was the right time to give them a whirl.

The set came with a list of included colors. The list has space for painting a swatch of each color. The paper the list is printed on is not a normal watercolor paper, so I had a difficult time getting the colors to bleed. But it was more than adequate for capturing a mid-value of the different hues.

The completed color chart is also useful because it lists the paints in the order the manufacturer placed them in the box. Since the pans are new to me, I cannot easily tell which blue is which just from how they appear in the pans. But with the chart, all I need to do is keep them in the order they came in. At least until I have all the paints memorized.

While I was playing with color, I decided to finally break out the color chart that I bought last year from Daniel Smith.

The chart I purchased contained samples of 238 of their "most popular" tube colors. Each sample is in the form of a "paint-able dot" of paint. And the paper used for the chart is actual watercolor paper.

To test the samples, I individually wet each dot and bled the color out trying to get a range of values. I also painted a single line of saturated color next to the dot.

In addition to the fun of trying the colors, I was pleased that each paint had it's common properties printed below the dot. This information included name, transparency, staining, granulation and light fastness. The only addition that I would suggest is the inclusion of the pigment number.

I currently have about 5 or 6 Daniel Smith tubes in my collection. Now that I have this visual tool I think that number will be going up.

What new art supplies have recently made their way into your studio? Are any of the additions something you would recommend to others? Please feel free to share your finds by leaving a comment.

The Space Between

sketch of gift

sepia ink in Moleskine cahier sketchbook

©2011 Stacy L. Rowan

I always enjoy the days between Christmas and New Year. The kids are off from school and on a break from all activities. My husband typically takes vacation so he can be home with us as well.

Although we often schedule time to visit with family or plan a fun activity or two, life during this week generally moves at a slower pace. It gives time for relaxing after the bustle of the holidays, for reflecting on the blessings of the current year and for planning for the year about to start.

During this time I tend to allow myself time off from studio work, but I do like to plop down with a sketchbook and have some fun.

As part of my review of the year, I counted how many sketches I had scanned into my computer files. Since the start of 2011 I have created and scanned 37 sketches. I have to say I am quite pleased with that number since one of my goals for the year was to sketch more frequently. I have already decided to make it a goal to improve on my number of sketches again in 2012.

My most recent sketch is shown above and is of one of my Christmas presents.

Do you have any presents that you receive every year?

I do. Every year my aunt gives me a glass ornament for my tree. Most of the times it is a glass icicle. And every year I look forward to this gift. It is always one of my favorites!

This year I received a beautiful purplish-pink twisted icicle. I only started adding colored icicles to my collection a few years ago (most of my icicles are made form clear glass) and now I wonder why I didn't do it sooner. They are fabulous!

So is there a gift that you receive every year? Is it something you look forward to or something you can't wait to re-gift to someone else? Or perhaps you give the same gift to someone on your list every year? Either way, I'd love to hear about it!

Happy New Year! I hope you are enjoying the last days of 2011 and looking forward to the start of 2012!

A Great Gift for an Artist

Being the nice person that I am, I am going to help those of you out there who are flummoxed over what to buy the artist in your life. Although the artist you love would probably be perfectly happy, maybe even thrilled, to receive some more blank paper or new paints, I understand that the average person gets bored giving the same gift over and over and wants to give something unique. So here's an idea for you.


This is a picture of a gift that I recently received from my sister-in-law and her family. (Thanks Sue!) It is beautiful, shell shaped sculpture that looks lovely on my studio shelves. Even better, the sculpture is made from graphite, which means it is more than just a pretty ornament - it actually writes too! The point is nice for drawing lines, whereas the smooth flat side is good for creating broad strokes. The graphite does not rub off onto my hands or onto the shelf where it sits. Cool, huh? I'm sure most artists would think so.

Although the shell works as a pencil, I don't know how regularly I will use it. The form is so graceful I would be sad to wear it down. But I can see myself using it to do some warm up exercises or to play around with when I need to beat back one of those nasty artist slumps. And I think just having it displayed in my studio, seeing it sitting there full of possibility, will bring me inspiration when I need it.

My wonderful shell was created by sculptor Agelio Batle. You can learn more about his products here.