FLINT GREY

Those of you who are familiar with Daniel Smith’s awesome range of watercolour paints will know that in the last year they brought out a new range of grey watercolour shades, most of which are named after very well known watercolour artists. I was quite excited about this new range of grey watercolours coming onto the market. There was (and still is) a definite gap in the market where grey watercolours are concerned; in many ranges of watercolours the choice of ready made grey’s is very limited. When these new grey colours arrived, lovely as they all are in their own way, I found that none of them quite matched up to what I was looking for. I am a bit picky with my colours…

This was the point where I decided that I’m just going to have to create my own “ready made” grey… ! Here it is – FLINT GREY…

Flint Grey ~ my own grey mixed from DS Ultramarine Blue + Yellow Ochre

Flint Grey is a mix of Daniel Smith’s Ultramarine Blue and Yellow Ochre. Both of these watercolour shades are transparent, granulating and have an excellent lightfastness rating. These colours, mixed in the correct proportions, make a soft, stunningly beautiful and totally neutral grey that is just what I was looking for.

In mass tone Flint Grey is a lovely charcoal grey and it will wash out to the most beautiful delicate light grey. It’s perfect for skies, landscapes, winter seascapes, soft shadows and shading. It’s uses are endless. It also mixes well with other colours to create lovely soft muted colours. To my Flint Grey, I can add a little more Ultramarine Blue to cool it down or add a little more Yellow Ochre to warm it up  if needed:

Flint Grey (middle) + more Ultramarine (left) & + more Yellow Ochre (right)

When I run clean water through a dark wash of Flint Grey I can get a subtle separation of colour and some lovely granulation:

Flint Grey – subtle colour separation & granulation

Flint Grey is named after myself (Flint being my surname) but also appropriately named because flint stone comes in lovely shades of grey, blue-grey and yellow ochre. Flint Grey is now going to be a permanent part of my palette. I will just mix more as I need it. I stored my first batch of Flint Grey in a large pan, which you can see in the first image. I’m so excited about this grey – it’s so beautiful!

There are so many different ways of mixing grey. Any mix of red, yellow and blue, in the correct proportions, will make some form of a grey. For example: a green (blue + yellow) mixed with a red (in the correct proportions) will make a grey; blue mixed with a little orange (red + yellow) will also make a shade of grey. Different primary colour combinations will make different shades of grey. Why not have a go at creating your own grey’s – it’s fun… !

THE LADY IN GREY

The Lady In Grey. It measures  19 cm x 28 cm and was painted on Saunders Waterford high white paper, 140 lb NOT. It was painted in watercolour without a preliminary sketch. But I did do a pencil sketch on a separate sheet of paper first just to get a feel for the shapes and lines. Here’s my pencil sketch:

Practicing my drawing in a separate sketchbook helps me to draw better with my paintbrush. The colours for the skin tones were: Buff Titanium, Naples Yellow, Quinacridone Coral and Burnt Sienna. The grey shawl was painted with a mix of Cobalt Blue and Buff Titanium to make a lovely soft blue/grey.

The Blue Ballet Shoes

The Blue Ballet Shoes

The Blue Ballet Shoes – a watercolour sketch on Saunders Waterford High White, 140 lb NOT paper. It’s 19 cm x 21 cm and was painted without a preliminary sketch. I deliberately chose pale, almost ethereal colours. For the skin tones I used Naples Yellow, Quinacridone Coral and Burnt Sienna; for the ballet shoes I used Winsor Blue Red Shade mixed with a little Titanium White; and I used a little yellow ochre with the blue for the shadow colour.

Above and below are a couple of related pencil sketches. Drawing practice is always an ongoing project of mine…

I enjoyed painting The Blue Ballet Shoes and doing the pencil sketches. They are a valuable parts of my watercolour journey and so I have added them to my website with the original post date.