David Bellamy introduces his favourite Daniel Smith colours and demonstrates how to make the most of their granulating effects.
Experimenting with new colours is always an exciting time for the watercolourist, and when the new Daniel Smith 5ml tubes arrived it seemed like Christmas had arrived early.
There were so many new colours, some with exotic names and some familiar ones.
Top tips for trying new colours
1. Start with a few
When trying out new colours, I always advise students to take on just a few at a time and get to know them properly before expanding the range further, but with so many colours it was difficult knowing where to start.
2. Make a colour chart
It always pays to produce charts showing all the colours, preferably in various strengths of tone as their characteristics can change dramatically at times between a weak application and a really strong one. This, I found, was an especially exciting characteristic of the Daniel Smith range.
About Daniel Smith Watercolours
It would take a large volume to cover the various properties of this huge range so this article aims to give you some ideas on making a start and also to encourage you to experiment further.
ORDER YOUR DANIEL SMITH WATERCOLOURS HERE
The colours
Curiously, a few colours look rather dull and uninteresting, but mix them with the right colours and they positively explode with visual energy.
One or two, such as the excitingly enigmatic lunar blue (see below), seem to have a mind of their own, reacting unpredictably at times in the best traditions of watercolour.
Lunar blue graduated wash
Here the slightly graduated wash of lunar blue reveals not just granulation, but much darker speckling in places.
Top technique
Try dropping blobs of water into a damp wash of this colour; the result can be unpredictable and sometimes providing the most gorgeous runbacks.
Naturally this colour is not for the faint-hearted, but even if you hate runbacks you may well be pleasantly surprised.
Explore the granulating effects of Daniel Smith watercolours
Textures on pine trees. Here the granulations of the green apatite genuine give an impression of textural detail, especially where I have added sodalite genuine while the green wash was still wet. This effectively means you hardly need to add any foliage detail into a summer tree, making life considerably easier.
A great many of the colours granulate, often with spectacular results, and this is one of the main reasons I am really hooked on these colours.
Zoisite genuine, for example, is a dull dark greeny-grey that produces powerful granulations, as well as varying enormously when applied in different strengths.
Granulations are those ‘spotty’ effects caused by pigment settling in the hollows of watercolour paper, and are most striking when used on Rough paper.
With most of the Daniel Smith paints that exhibit this feature they create a textural wash, which can suggest roughness as on rough ground, rock surfaces, walls and foliage, without the need to render any detail.
When I experimented with a wash of strong green apatite genuine (see the pine trees, above) it took my breath away, both for the lovely richness of the green and its striking granulations. My policy on rarely using tube greens will need serious revision.
Top tip
For maximum effect you need to keep the painting almost flat. Shaking it sideways will also increase its granulation.
Colour mixing
Colour mixing is often the bete noire of the inexperienced painter.
With Daniel Smith colours a new dimension is opened up with regard this problem, as you have the option to mix colours with the sole objective of creating a more granular wash if you desire, or conversely, to reduce powerful granulations by introducing a non-granulating colour into the mix.
If you are not especially concerned about achieving a particular green, for example, but are more interested in achieving strong granulations, you could mix lemon yellow with zoisite genuine, or try other examples.
A weak neutral yellow is extremely useful for landscapes, and for this I invariably use Naples yellow, although it’s a poor mixer. However, the nickel titanate yellow in the Daniel Smith range has great potential in this respect, as it is transparent, mixes well and, although it is a cool yellow, it can easily be warmed up with a weak addition of permanent alizarin crimson.
Mixing on the paper
One of the most exciting watercolour techniques is that of mixing colours on the paper rather than on the palette.
This can be done in one of three ways:
- Allow two different coloured washes to touch then flow into one another.
- Lay one colour on the paper then immediately brush a different colour into it, pushing the new colour some way into the first wash as desired.
- Drop in a few blobs of colour into a wet or damp wash.
With the Daniel Smith colours these methods can create really stunning effects, such as in variegated foliage of trees or plants, and one colour I found outstanding for this technique is the quinacridone deep gold.
Be aware, of course, that when introducing the second colour, too much water on the brush will encourage runbacks to form.
Also, try to avoid too much vigorous brushing of the second colour into the first, as this holds a strong risk of creating mud.
Daniel Smith 5ml tubes
With the recent advent of the 5ml tubes, these paints are now less costly to buy, and with the two six-tube sets of Essential Colours and Primatek Colours you get quite a discount while they are on offer.
Many in the 88-colour range are the traditional watercolour pigments you will no doubt already be familiar with, and most of the Essentials Set is made up of these, while the Primatek colours are vibrant, exciting paints made from minerals such as amethyst, hematite and jadeite. Nearly all these have outstanding granulating properties.
Apart from alizarin crimson and opera pink, all the colours in the 5ml range are listed as having excellent or very good lightfastness ratings so, if you like using the former, choose permanent alizarin crimson.
Daniel Smith Watercolours come in 15ml and 5ml tubes as well as half pans
Final thoughts:
I urge you to try out these amazing colours for yourself, especially the exciting Primatek range.
By adding a few at a time to your existing set you can experiment and get to know their characteristics while testing out various mixtures.
Finally, make sure you put them on your wish list – you will not be disappointed!
Jean Haines also loves using Daniel Smith Watercolours
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