Artwork – Van Gogh Specialty watercolor and black paper.
This is another painting I did, playing around with the Royal Talens Van Gogh Specialty Palette set.
One of the problems with using only shiny colors is that it is difficult to control what the viewer sees. These colors are usually formulated to look different as the light changes, so the painting can look fine sometimes and confusing to the eye at others.
Simplicity and contrast is key. Here I was experimenting to see if I could get any contrast by layering the colors. I could – to the eye and in certain lights, but it is pretty much lost in the scan. It would have been better to just leave large areas of black and up the contrast.
Also, in the abstracts I did for yesterday’s post, there was a wonderful sense of texture because I only used one layer of thin paint and the weave of the paper showed through. With the layering I did in this landscape, I lost the texture.
Kind of what I expected, but it’s fun to confirm what you know. Makes you feel like you actually know something, lol.
Overall, I think these colors would be better used, in moderation, to add shine to other pigments, like the sheen on a bird’s wing.
Bekki Page reviewed the Van Gogh Speciality Palette & Van Gogh Black Watercolour A4 Pad at Doodlewash earlier this year.
Life Imitates Doodles 
Thanks, Sandra, for your apt description! It would be fun to use the Royal Talens interference paints if I didn’t already have W & N iridescent watercolor medium, to which I can add a color, or use, and, as you suggest, as a shimmering finish over bird wings, or other surface. A friend likes Royal Talens gouache, but that’s a reveiw for another time. 😉
I’m debating about investing in better gouache than my Miya set, but I think I’ll wait. Royal Talens considers their Van Gogh line an ‘artist’ grade, falling between student and professional, and most reviewers tend to agree with that assessment, including myself. The only advantage I can think of over the medium would be not having to figure out the paint/medium ratio.
I enjoy looking at this. What I like about it is that the blackness of the paper is useful without having to think, oh you used black paper.
Thank you, shaninge! I agree about the black paper. You immediately have a drama in the contrast. It’s entrancing as you paint, watching the color appearing on the paper, and you can get such stunning results. I want to play with the colors on other colors too.
This painting tells such a story….but we can only guess what! There’s a playfulness with ominous overtones, and I just want to know what’s going to happen. Those popcorn trees and the purple fingered bush lead me on….. 🙂
Thank you, Judy! It is one of the things I love about working on black paper. There is instant drama!