I am so happy to be chosen to be a
Da Vinci Watercolors Trio Artist!
Quinacridone Gold,  Alizarin Crimson and Sap Green
create Katie’s Monterey Trio.

Da Vinci Paint packages their NEW 8ml Vegan tubes to highlight great watercolors in packages with artists sharing their use of their Trio on the  brochure.  My watercolor art is typically made with ink sketches first, and some of these ink sketches are in colored inks, greys and purples — the latter are so pretty with my colors!  I chose my Monterey Trio colors with Autumn in mind!  My Trio contains two of my favorite pigments, Quinacridone
Gold and Sap Green.

I prefer transparent pigments.
I like them for layering, and I think they have
more sparkle or brilliance even when a dark color.

When I try a new paint brand, I always buy a Quinacridone Gold… a good test of the company!
Da Vinci paints (DV for short) are excellent; their Quin Gold drove me to buy many other pigments, until I gradually switched most of my palette to DV watercolors. DV Quin Gold’s Munsell* is PY150 and PR206 (Nickel Azo and Quinacridone). It is transparent, with no perceptible granulation and wonderfully creamy.  Quin Gold is useful in many mixes, including skin in the palest tones.

Sap Green is an old pigment.  Few greens can be used straight out of the tube for plant colors, but Sap Green paints many types of foliage, from forests to interior plants.  I always have Sap Green n my travel palette.  DV Sap Green’s Munsell* is PG7 and PY42 (Chlorinated Copper Phthalocyanine and Iron Oxide).  It is wonderfully transparent and slightly granulated.  Sap also moves into a lovely pale green for interior colors, and can take you into wonderful shadows.

Alizarin Crimson is a new color in my palette.   Alizarin Crimson’s is a single pigment paint.  The Munsell* is PV19 (Quinacridone Violet).  It is also transparent,
with no perceptible granulation.  While this pigment
goes pink and makes for a wonderful blush in skin tones when watered down, it also holds it own as a red for autumn, especially when mixed with my other trio colors.
It is a wonderfully complex pigment, a complete surprise.
I loved it so much I immediately bought Alizarin Gold.

These colors all come in the
15ml, and the giant 37ml sizes —
the latter being a wonderful money saving size!

*For more information about the Munsell system, see bottom of this post!
It keeps me from buying duplicate colors under various names.*

To begin, I needed to see the range of color available made by mixing my trio.  Mixing a 50-50% and two 75-25% mixes of each of the three colors, I came to my basic palette, above, with one addition: “Black.” Blacks are often made by mixing three primary colors together; without a blue pigment in my trio, mixing equal
parts of my Trio I created a deep Sepia color.
I am naming this black-brown Savitri, as
it is the color of our sweet Siamese cat.

I also pulled each mix out into its palest shade, and with this done
I could see my full palette with  my Trio.
I pre-mixed my basic palette, placing it into full pans for ease.

I rarely use blues in my painting except as sky; but I found it was difficult to create any landscape without a blue… so my trio presented a challenge for urban sketching!  Unfortunately, our summer skies were smokey.
After creating this urban sketch
on our way back to the studio
of the NW Portland sunset
(in Super5 Frankfurt grey ink),
I water-colored just the sky.
The skies were shockingly the colors of my Monterey Trio palette,
brown and orange and gold, above.

When I first considered my
palette and possibilities,
I considered apples, pears, mangos,
pineapple, sunflowers, tulips,
(okay, a trip to the farmers market!),
roasted chicken, Mexican food with all the peppers, Autumn leaves, all kinds of critters,
Victorian Rockers, Pacific Northwest forests, and the American Southwest landscape
(but with smokey skies at sunset!)

I began in our studio, with Mason Monterey…

I named my Trio after Mason Monterey furniture.  The furniture is created in the very shades of Quin Gold, Alizarin Red, Sap Green, and the various tones that the colors create.
This brightly colored antique furniture line is glazed with a paint called Smokey Maple.

I painted the Monterey A-Frame Chairs above with two colors, layered by
the “black” or deep brown mix I call Savitri used as a glaze,
in much the same manner of the actual Monterey chairs:
Sap Green plus and Alizarin Crimson, topped with the
“black” or sepia mixed from equal parts of all three Trio colors.
Other colors used in this sketch were Quin Gold
and two mixes of Alizarin Crimson/Quin Gold.

Da Vinci asked each of us about our bucket list and our favorite things in life.
Easy Peasy to answer,
harder to find the time to do:

1. To finish my book!  I am writing a book about creativity, diligently working on it while running our business, which slows me down a bit.  Still, my husband supports me and most mornings I write before I have to turn to our conservation studio where I restore historic finishes on furniture.
2. To teach art journaling courses, which will come about as part of the book launch.
3. To travel and paint with my husband!  An RV would be the best, because then our catz can come along!

They also asked about my favorite things in life:

1. Painting painting painting!  I sketch and paint daily, even if just
   for me.  I record our lives in my Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook!
2. Wandering and getting lost with Mitchell… Anywhere!  He is my bestest favorite exploring partner, always game to snoop around any shop or town or landscape.
3. Our CATZ, here in a blanket painted in a mixture of Alizarin Crimson and Quin Gold from the Trio!

I will post several Monterey Trio paintings this month!
Previous paintings, below,
all with trio colors over ink sketches.
Also, as an artist for Da Vinci Paints, they track my traffic.
If you are going to shop at Da Vinci,
please enter through my Affiliate link so that anyplace
you go on their site is accredited to me.

I buy my Da Vinci Paints directly from the company…
Best prices and they have the larger sized tubes plus the many Trio mixing sets!

Thank you also to Hahnemühle Paper.
All of the images here were done in Hahnemühle Nostalgie
or Hahnemühle Watercolour Journals.

If Da Vinci Paints or  Hahnemühle papers are
NOT carried by your art store, be sure to REQUEST them.
The more requests they get from customers,
the higher the chance they’ll stock these amazing products.
Thank you Da Vinci & Hahnemühle.

☾

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