I'm Sandy, and I love helping all of us as papercrafters to understand that we are artists. And as such - we have more success (and less stress!) when we have good tools at our disposal. The watercolors from Daniel Smith are going to be a game-changer for some of us - including me! And I wanted to invite you to join me on a learning journey, if you're game.
How Daniel Smith Watercolors are Made
With the help of my friend Nolen Lee, he's a local artist friend, we prepared a little video to showcase how the Daniel Smith Extra-Fine™ Watercolors are manufactured. We weren't able to photograph or videotape our tour of the production facility, but with Nolen present and sketching throughout the tour, we were able to document the entire process - in panda bears!
LINK: Click HERE to watch the video in HD on our YouTube Channel and thanks for sharing your support with us!
If you're interested in purchasing a photo of the Punching Pandas Producing Paints - go to Nolen's website HERE.
What you need to get started
There are four basics you will need to get started in watercolor:
- Paint. The set of 6 Essentials from Daniel Smith is a great place to start. They're not expensive, and you get 6 colors that can make a CRAZY variety of colors. Like, all of them! From just 6 tubes of paint.
- Paper. I recommend a practice pad for beginners - but please don't feel like you're too new to try a pad of Arches as well. Cut it in 1/4 and you'll get 48 small paintings or card fronts from just one pad - so it's well worth it. Lots of folks have told me they wished they listened to me long ago, so do try out one of these:
- Arches Hot Press - a very smooth surface for detailed painting and stamping
- Arches Cold Press - a textured paper, 100% cotton. Cold Press is most common for watercolor.
- Arches Cold Press Rough - very textured paper, 100% cotton. For those crazy folks like me!
- Brushes. If you just want to get one brush, I recommend the Black Velvet Round #4.
- Practice. Honestly, without #4, the first three aren't going to do you much good!
In reality, you do need two other things you probably have around the house. You'll need 1) something to put water in (how about a mug?) and 2) something to mix your paint on (don't worry about a fancy palette if you're just getting started; just use a white plastic or ceramic plate for now).
The plan - let's learn together!
I'm learning right along with you - and have great plans to share what I'm discovering! This week on my blog, I'll be sharing a Paint-Along series - you can download a sketch, learn to transfer it to your own paper, and follow along as I mix paint and apply it in real-time, long-form videos. It's free and on YouTube! No need to sign up, just come join in the fun.
I'll also be sharing in the CLASSroom on a regular basis - starting on Sunday the 21st!! We'll learn terminology together, practice techniques, and complete a swatch book of all the techniques as we go. I'm so excited to keep growing as a papercrafter and artist along with you - and I hope you are too!
