Exploring an interesting colour triad for Toulouse buildings and street scenes. The Manganese Blue Hue provides a bright and vivid contrast to the opaque mixes created by the Indian Red and Buff Titanium.

Day 142 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. Experimenting with using a bright and a desaturated green from Manganese Blue Hue, to create some colour harmony in my cafe sketches.

Experimenting with a new Colour Triad of Burnt Sienna Light, Manganese Blue Hue, and Quin Gold, to see if this will work for the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse in July.

Daniel Smith published their suggestions for painting Toulouse street scenes during the Urban Sketches Symposium. So I experimented with how to mix these from the colours I already have in my watercolour palette.

A quick reference page of different colour wheel combinations organised by shade of yellow, to asses the colours created when choosing a colour triad for your watercolour sketches.

We look at creating a colour wheel using a bright colour triad with cool primary colours, and see the impact analogous colours have on the mood of your sketches. Discover the power of a complimentary colour to create a focal point.

A quick reference page of different colour wheel combinations organised by shade of pink and red, to asses the colours created when choosing a colour triad for your watercolour sketches.

A quick reference page of different colour wheel combinations organised by Earth Tone colours, to asses the combinations created when choosing a colour triad for your watercolour sketches.

A quick reference page of different colour wheel combinations organised by shade of blue, to asses the colours created when choosing a colour triad for your watercolour sketches.

A quick people sketch at the cafe, and swatching a muted shade of green, that morphed into a beautiful skin tone shade using natural sienna, cobalt turquoise light, and opera pink. I also ruminate on how I sketch people and how they see themselves, and how those are two very different things when I sketch my version of reality.

Despite finalising my urban sketching watercolour palette in 2025, and vowing not to change it. I needed a replacement for New Gamboge, and did a pigment assessment of the other yellows I have on hand, to see if one of them would be a good replacement. Turns out Permanent Yellow Deep is a much better warm yellow to have in my palette, and here’s why.

Despite finalising my urban sketching watercolour palette in 2025, and vowing not to change it. I’m getting rid of my Phthalo Green and replacing it with a premixed green. But I wanted to make sure I could still create the beautiful bright turquoise that I love when mixing Phthalo Green and Phthalo Blue.

On Day Nine of the #Kick365 sketching challenge, I focused on a portrait from the Drawing Earthsworld Challenge. I used a triad of Opera Rose, Indian Red, and Cobalt Turquoise Light for skin tones. The outcome was a range of subtle colours with pleasing granulation

My very paired-down urban sketching art kit for our 4 week trip to Turkey. Traveling Light with just split primaries, one brush, one pen, and a watercolour book.

Here’s how I experimented to reduce the greens in my travel palette from 3 to 1.

A recap of my first urban sketching event with the Algarve group at the Tavira Market, where we were sketching scenes to be used at the Mediterranean Diet Festival later in the year. I also did some colour mixing to create a complimentary and cohesive colour to depict Tavira stone on the local buildings.