Day 68 - Those Daniel Smith Primatek Paints

Green Agatite

I think I am just in love with some of the Daniel Smith Primateks. Primateks are made of finely ground up stones- some semiprecious and quite pricey.  I LOVE the way they granulate..well at least for some things like trees...not so much for painting black labs!! I also love the way they stay transparent no matter how much color you slather on the page.

I hear you wondering WHAT is granulating?  Granulating means that the paint breaks up into granules.  The green agatite square is a really good example of this.

L-R Piemonite, Hematite, Green Agatite

on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press

 I own a tube of these three and just love them.  I use them ALOT.

L-R Hematite, Green Agatite, Burnt Tiger, Amethyst

 in Square Handprint Watercolor Journal

So what do I use them for???

So here are some things I like to paint with them...Trees!! Noses on dogs!  Eyes! Brindle fur!

Some things I don't like painting with them - washes that you want  a consistent color or black labs that you want a consistent black color.

Daniel Smith Primateks

According to the website the colors are actually darker, and you should use them with alot of water to let the color granulate and do its thing.  I was using the paper sample sheet of colors when I painted these.  Just little dabs of color.


Several of them are sparkly....the Kyanite, Fuchite and the Suglite.  Hmm do you think Daniel Smith would give me a set of them so I can experiment and report back to you?? A girl can hope right??!

The best deal is to buy a set direct from Daniel Smith but some of them are well priced on Amazon.  They are also widely available at fine art supply stores now.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 66 - Plein Air?

You decide!  I paint out my window in the cool ac. Essential in the humid south.

September 10 Out My Window

I seem to paint this three four times a week.  

Today I painted this in my new as in page 4 of my Handprint journal that looks like a Moleskine but the paper...well that paper.  It's not up to snuff...thinner. Doesn't lay flat when its dry.  And acts odd. I don't know how to explain it. Almost like hot press?  It just seems to repel the watercolor at times. 

The wash on the paper dried so fast the paper seemed to suck up the water...perfect one second DRY the next. I was amazed it dried so quickly!

 Took a while to get this one where I liked it.  The trees are already turning gold on the river. And I always love the gleam of the sycamore bark in the sunlight.  

The skies which had been full of puffy white clouds as I ran errands today of course were overcast with a little blue by the time I got home...hmm where did those lovely skies go?? And OF COURSE as soon as I got done painting a nice blue sky again with puffy clouds!! Darn!!  

Painted with cerulean and cobalt in the sky with yellow ochre and raw sienna  added for the greys.  The trees are Daniel Smith New gamboge, Green Apatite, Hematite, Indigo and touches of white gouache for the sycamore trunks.  

Really like the trees today.  I started with new gamboge then added the Green Apatite - Don't you love that name?  Then I darkened it with a bit of Hematite and alot of Indigo for the dark darks.  The way the paper drank the water I didnt have a chance to scratch in tree trunks so I painted them first with Indigo and then with some white gouache.

This is where I sit in front of the sliding doors in the den and paint out my back door.  Paints are on a large industrial sized cookie sheet. Includes the water and paper towels and other things like markers.  I use one of the  Fiesta Ware cups to keep the water in.  Don't want it to spill, since I am rarely where I should be painting...works great on the new sectional sofa! Don't tell anyone!!

Also great for clearing up your mess if the need arises...or moving your set up quickly!

My palette is a Holbein handheld palette that folds up from www.artexpress.com.  Expensive but I love it....not so heavy as those enamel butcher trays!! 

The stool is a folding stool that I picked up for $5 at Marshals...short people can NOT have enough stools...especially when you add a nice feather pillow to sit on while you paint!!

River Bend

Pretty soon this will be the view out the window.  Leaves are beginning to fall.  This is a pencil sketch on Bristol board I did out my window a few winters back...does that count as Plein Air?!  I do love Nekkid trees!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Day 52 - Tom posing

It occurred to me that my cat Tom is a specialist in 2-3 minute life poses.  Last nite and today he flopped himself down near me where I had a good view of him and continually shifted as he cleaned himself up ...loves to lick his paws endlessly.  His hind legs are now squeaky clean.  This morning he flopped down on the rag rug in the kitchen and started all over again.

Heres the black and white version in my moleskine.  Done with a random inkpen and my red and black red is Zig Wink of Stella pens...pearlescent brush pens.  I glued down a piece of the paper moleskines come with over a sketch that was a bust.

When I came home I decided Tom needed a little color...and I added more of the red Zig Wink of Stella as well as the Black Zig Wink of Stella brush pen.   Colors are the usual...cerulean and cobalt, cad yellow, ochre, Quinacridone sienna and Daniel Smith Primatek Piemonite.  I think Piemonite is such a useful color...it can be purple or a brown. It's transparent, makes great shadows or brindle on a pit bull.  

Today's Dr. Sketchys AntiArt School.  Guess what I will be posting tomorrow??! 7:00 tonite at Chat Noir!! Come join the fun!!