Scratchin'

 

Scratchin'

watercolour on paper

 

I met my new friends during a break in my stewarding stint for the Birmingham Watercolour Society summer exhibition at Hanbury Hall yesterday. Luckily I had cream cheese in my roll and not chicken...

In for repairs

 

In for repairs

watercolour on paper

11.75 x 17.75 inches (18 x 24 " framed)

 

"In for repairs" currently hanging in the Birmingham Watercolour Society Summer Exhibition in the Long Gallery, Hanbury Hall, School Road, Hanbury, Droitwich, WR9 7EA  - a National Trust Property - until September 1st 2015

MaimeriBlu watercolours

 

 

MaimeriBlu Watercolours

 

As I was saying - I was recently asked by the SAA(society for all artists) to take part in trialling some pigments manufactured in Italy by MaimeriBlu.

 

The reason being that this range of artist's materials will be available through the SAA soon.

 

In my case I received a small sample pack of their "Superior Watercolours" as shown above.

 

Maimeri was founded nearly 100 years ago in 1923 by Italian artist Gianni Maimeri and his brother Carlo an industrial chemist. From the outset, we are told, their philosophy was to seek perfection and purity in their pigments using traditional mixing techniques which they still use today.

 

I received five 15ml tubes from their range of 73 watercolours to test their colour strength, handling consistency, ease of mixing, expected transparency or opaqueness and the overall experience of using the pigments.

 

The pigments they sent were Cadmium yellow deep, Cadmium red light, Burnt sienna, cobalt blue light, and Burnt umber.

 

At first I was a little disappointed that both cadmiums were, as expected, opaque, and the other three are described as semi-opaque, whereas I really prefer to use transparent pigments where possible.

However, the tubes are a lot easier to get into as they have a much more user-friendly cap which can be unscrewed without hurting one's fingers ! First good point !

 

 

I started by making a colour chart to familiarise myself with the pigments. Straight out of the tube they felt a little weak and scratchy, but after pushing them around the palette with my brush, they soon cheered up and showed  me their full potential. Some interesting mixes too, for example the yellow (Giallo di cadmio scuro) and blue (Blu di cobalto charo) gave some useful greens which I could make darker by the addition of a little Burnt umber (Terra d'ombra bruciata). The Umber is a little darker than I expected and mixed with the cobalt blue produced a lovely near-Indigo.

 

Both cadmiums are certainly rich in pigment and equally certainly opaque and together provide a vibrant orange.

 

Some good greys from the blue / red and blue/brown combinations

 

Of the five I thought the Burnt Sienna was the weakest, but a little of the Umber added to it gave it a bit more oomph.

 

On the whole, I was pleased with the intensity of hue and their ease in mixing given that mixing two or more opaque or semi-opaque pigments is never going to be the same / as interesting / as exciting / as beautiful as mixing transparents.

 

 

 

In this small sketch of Nectarines, I was happy with the handling of the pigments BUT found myself battling with their opacity and wishing I could have tried some of the other slightly romantic-sounding hues such as Arancio di Avignone (orange), Rosso primario - Magenta or a Violetto permanente bluastro ( permanent violet blueish) as seen on Maimeri's hand painted colour chart - another good point !

 

 

 

Small landscape with barn has an autumnal/wintery feel to it as I tried playing with greens and greys from the chosen selection

 

 

 

My final experiment, Field with poppies, has a brighter feel to it and the opacity of the Rosso di cadmio can easily be seen.

 

With the opaque/transparency issue in mind, I would say that MaimeriBlu Superior watercolours are easily comparable to other manufacturers which I have used, and the more I played with them the happier I became with their handling. I look forward to trying out some of their transparent colours as I have a feeling they may be even more exciting !

 

My thanks to SAA  (www.saa.co.uk) and Gemma for allowing me to play. Contact saa direct if you want to know when they will be available from their catalogue.

 

 

 

 

Sweet lavender

 

Sweet lavender

watercolour on paper

 

Early morning, overcast, but I wanted to try and find a view with some lavender. Painted this from the roadside looking slightly down towards the road leading to the farm.

MaimeriBlu

                                             MaimeriBlu
                                                  
                                                                 Superior watercolours

I have recently received a trial sample pack of watercolours manufactured by the Italian firm of Maimeri to try out. Looking forward to seeing what they can do. Watch this space!

 

 

 







Cherry ripe

 

Cherry ripe

Watercolour on paper

 

I drew this looking up into the tree. The reddest cherries were then picked as three large magpies were showing too much interest in them as well as worrying the smaller birds in the garden.

Cherries

 

Cherries from our tree

Watercolour

 

The cherries are ripening now and it will be a race between us and the birds to see who picks them first. These are not very nice to eat from the tree but make delicious jam !

Summer interrupted

 

Summer interrupted

watercolour on paper

 

Summer has been interrupted by thunderstorms and heavy rain and the normal smooth running of everyday life has been interrupted by the return of a bathroom leak which has been dribbling on and off for quite a few weeks now. Something to do with a faulty olive apparently. Just time on the way back from the plumbing shop to pull up in a lay-by to paint the grey day before exchanging paint brushes for wrenches...

Friday lunch

 

Friday lunch

watercolour on paper

6 x 8 inches (image)

 

After yesterday's rain the sun came back today to lull us into believing that it really is summer! At least it persuaded this threesome (and others) to adopt the leisurely holiday spirit. Having painted this sitting on the ground I realised my legs had gone to sleep and for a moment I wasn't sure if I'd be able to walk again...

Before the rain

 

Before the rain

watercolour on Arches block 5.9 x 11.8 inches

 

It feels strange to be able to see the ground again after weeks of threading ones way through tall grasses - or not being able to get through at all. Suddenly it is all compacted down into a handful of bales. I just finished this as the first drops of rain began to fall.

 

 

 

An hour later I was sitting by the river with a mug of tea and sketched this couple enjoying their lunch. The earlier rain didn't come to much at all.