I was delighted to be asked to try M. Graham & Co. watercolours as I was aware that they use Northwest honey with gum arabic and water to help disperse their watercolour pigment beautifully. As I find the movement of watercolours mesmerising I was eager to try this for myself and see how their paints behave when used wet-in-wet dropped into water on a tilt.
WATCH
Click here to watch Catherine use the paints
I began by choosing M. Graham colours that were similar in name to those I already use so that I could observe any differences. The colours I tried included a mixture of transparent, semi-opaque and opaque pigments and were as follows: indigo, burnt umber, raw sienna, azo yellow, cadmium yellow light, quinacridone violet, quinacridone magenta, cobalt teal, phthalocyanine blue, sap green. As I squeezed the tubes into my damp ceramic daisy palette I could already see the sheen of wet tubed paint and several of them immediately ‘whooshed’ around their wells. They diluted very quickly as I added more water to wet them ready for the first test - to see how they reacted when dropped wet-in-wet into pre-wetted watercolour paper.
Playing with merging M Graham colour wet-in-wet)
Playing with merging M. Graham colour wet-in-wet
I wet a strip of Langton Prestige artboard by Daler-Rowney (this does not buckle like normal watercolour paper) and, working from darkest to lightest, I began dropping in wet paint. Indigo was first and immediately stretched out tendrils through the water. The Ultramarine also flowed quickly within the water and then the Phthalocyanine Blue (transparent) rushed right across the paper as if it is was alive! I did not expect the cobalt teal to move quickly as it is semi-transparent and shows up thickly on the paper. The sap green and quinacridone violet thoroughly mixed together into a deep neutral colour without needing encouragement from my brush.
Colourful slice of M Graham merged colours once dry
Merging M. Graham colours once dried
Watercolours naturally loose their sheen after drying and as a lover of rich colour this can be slightly disappointing to me. It can help to use neat pigment in places and to nit overly mix. These gently merging colours maintained their richness even after drying.
Finding watermarks in ultramarine blue (transparent). (Above: M. Graham Below: another professional ultramarine)
Finding watermarks
I chose to use hot pressed (smooth) Saunders Waterford watercolour board to encourage maximum flow. I wet it thoroughly and dropped diluted M. Graham ultramarine blue from the end of my mop brush. It immediately spread on contact and bloomed into a circle. I tried the same with the other ultramarine and was interested that it required encouragement to spread with a little pressure from my brush.
M. Graham & Co. pigment spreads to form a beautiful ‘eye’
I tried the same experiment but this time used M. Graham and another brand of phthalocyanine blue. The M. Graham swatch reached to the edges of the wetted area immediately when dropped in. However on leaving both swatches for ten minutes the M. Graham colour broke down into mottled pigment particles. I think I had overdiluted the solution. Diluted pigment looked fine in smaller strokes and in deeper concentrations. Revisiting my palette a day later I was interested that the raw sienna in my M. Graham palette was still glistening wet where as my usual paint in the same colour had dried out.
Trying out the pinks, an imagery flower design wet-in-wet
Trying out the pinks
I now turn to my quinacridone violet and quinacridone magenta to paint an imaginary flower design wet-in-wet. I mixed the two colours in a petal design on a sloping art board. They immediately blended together. I then stroked ultramarine blue into the petals to suggest shadow and the colours blended beautifully with gravity - they even travelled up hill within the wet area. I added azo yellow to the stalk of the flower and watched it do the same thing to softly join the flower. I tried lifting off some of the pink combination to suggest a lit petal and confirmed that the colours stained but they did allow me to lighten a little.
DEMONSTRATION
Bumblebee at the honeysuckle
As M. Graham Artists’ Watercolours contain honey to facilitate flow I thought it apt to use their pigments to paint a bee feeding at a honeysuckle flower to demonstrate the wonderful way the paint moves.
MATERIALS
Surface:
• A4 Langton Prestige watercolour artboard cold pressed (alternatively stretch 300gsm watercolour paper)
M. Graham & Co. Artists’ Watercolour paints:
• Indigo
• Burnt umber
• Raw sienna
• Azo yellow
• Cadmium yellow light
• Quinacridone violet
• Quinacridone rose
• Cobalt teal
• Phthalocyanine blue
• Sap green (all squeezed straight from their tubes and then wetted with water)
Brushes:
• Small mop
• Small flat
• Rigger (or fine)
Miscellanous:
• Daisy palette
• Drawing board
• 2B pencil and eraser
• Water jar
• Kitchen paper
• Brushes used: Small mop. Small flat; rigger (or fine) brush all by ProArte
Bumblebee body in blended paint
STAGE 1
Bumblebee body in blended paint: Colours merge easily together in water to form the bee’s body and wings, mixing in tendrils to create interesting texture in places.
Background flowers and foliage
STAGE 2
Background flowers and foliage: Blue, teal, yellow and brown were puddled easily together to form leaf shapes for background foliage.
Adding brightness back in
STAGE 3
Adding brightness back in: Once dry, indigo was lifted (washed) off to create glow on the bee’s head and lower body. Then contrasting hard edges were added in Indigo and Burnt umber with a fine rigger brush. I used a dab of cadmium yellow light straight from the tube to create pollen on the bee’s legs. The thick opaque colour glowed brightly on top of the surrounding dark background.
Completed painting Bumblebee at the honeysuckle
STAGE 4
The completed painting - Bumblebee at the honeysuckle, Langton Prestige watercolour artboard cold pressed, 8¼x12in (21x30cms)
Watch
You can watch Catherine using the watercolours in this video...
