Aug 23, 2011

Berne, Switzerland


There are alot of fountains in this style at Berne.

And statues
And clock towers

And murals
It's a beautiful city located in the Swiss-German region.

Yes, It's a pretty cool fountain.





There's a bear park!
Papa bear

Baby and Mama bear


The other Baby bear

The Paul Klee Museum

 Love the architecture! Sadly no photos allowed in the exhibitions.

Aug 16, 2011

My color palette updated!

So I have over 40 watercolor tubes (you can buy them by the bunch via Ebay, just be aware that you may buy discontinued colors.) When working I always take the longest when choosing my colors because I have way too many choices and I can't make up my mind, it drives me a little crazy. So I decided to reduce my amount of colors from 40 to 12 and the way I did it was by doing watercolor charts. That way I got to see what colors came out when mixing them and I got to choose the colors I liked the best. I ended up with 10 charts!


Here are some of the photos, I'm not uploading all just a few to give you an idea:






So I reduced my palette form 40 to 12 colors!! This no only means I will get to decide on colors faster, meaning I'll get to work a bit faster, but I will get to know how this colors work and I can now feel comfortable buying bigger tubes. Also I will feel more comfortable from when I switch from Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolors to the Artist watercolors. Now don't get me wrong, if I see a color that I like that I haven't tried I will not put it off, I will definitely try it!. Anyway Here is the final chart:


If you are wondering why the hands look weird,
 is because my hand-puncher due to all the punching broke!

Hence the alien hands.

Every chart after I was done labeling and gluing I covered them with clear duct tape, so that way they won't fall off. I just took the picture before, that way the tape wouldn't reflect the light. 

The 12 finalist colors are:
  • Lemon Yellow Nickle Titanate
  • Cadmium Yellow Hue
  • Raw Sienna
  • Cadmium Orange
  • Cadmiun Red
  • Alizarin Crimson Hue
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Burnt Umber
  • Prussian Blue
  • Cobalt Blue
  • Sap Green
  • Viridian

Aug 15, 2011

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage and the quest for the Color of Desire.




While on the subject on reading about colors,here is another great read about the color RED. 
"A Perfect Red: Empire, espionage and the Quest for the Color of Desire" by Amy Butler Greenfield.
The book is about the Cochineal or Grana Cochinilla as it's said in spanish.If the word seems familiar to you it may be because I have experimented and talked about such pigment HERE.

Cochineal is a small insect that lives and feeds off cacti and is the source for the dye carmine. It is mostly found in southern mexico and in certain countries of South America. Like the cover of the book says, who knew that behind such a small insect lay stories of an empire, espionage and a quest on discovering the source of the perfect color red.

The book begins with an introduction on the importance of colors to the dyers and to society, and how the most desired color was red, and even more when the carmine red of the cochineal arrived as the brightest red everyone has ever seen. It is from the discovery of the cochineal by the conquistadores that the true amazing journey of the cochineal in the old world begins, it covers all from its beginning, to the growth of that empire, and how that red empire met its biggest challenge and how it affected its future. If you are fan of history, adventure, espionage, conspiracies, secrecy,colors and science this book has it all. 

Another great book that I plan to add to my favorites.

The author has a website, visit it at: http://www.amybutlergreenfield.com

You can buy the book at AMAZON

Good read to all!





Aug 13, 2011

Littleture: The What?



Aw some of the kodak awkward moments in my life,
due to  my hearing loss. Yes, my most used word is “What?