- Inspiration
First Week of Direct Watercolor
Maria Coryell-Martin shares her first week of paintings to kick of the 7th annual watercolor challenge.
By The Art Toolkit Team & Maria Coryell-Martin
For the month of June, Maria Coryell-Martin is participating in the annual Direct Watercolor Challenge: an invitation to make 30 paintings in 30 days. Here’s a short reflection from Maria on her first week (starting a few days early to account for sharing time!) of this challenge:
My artist friend Tom Hoffman once told me that “big tools make big ideas.” I’m channeling this idea this year for the Direct Watercolor Challenge by using big brushes, a Folio Palette, and focusing on painting big shapes and bold values.
So far, it’s great fun! I’ve created a special Folio Palette for the month filled primarily with paint-filled Standard and Double Pans and including additional mixing space. For a brush, I’ve chosen the Rosemary & Co R3 Red Dot Size Large Mop, a size 10 brush, which can apply loose washes and has a point for detail. I’m working in a 100% Cotton Watercolor Book by Hahnemühle, which handles heavy washes beautifully. I’m painting around town every day and encouraging myself to be loose, embrace blooms and splatters, and, above all, play!
Watercolor sketches by Maria Coryell-Martin.
First Week of June
Maria is having so much fun with this challenge, even inviting friends like Office Manager Renée Baribault to do direct watercolor together on the beach!
Build Maria’s Palette
For this month’s challenge, Maria has filled a Folio Palette with some of our larger paint pans to easily accommodate her R3 Mop, a size 10 brush (back in stock soon!) She loves to swap paints out as she feels inspired to, but this is the line-up as of this week!
Row 1: Hansa Yellow Medium, Green Gold, Perylene Green
Row 2: Deep Scarlet, Pyrrol Scarlet, Quinacridone Gold, Yellow Ochre
Row 3: Quinacridone Rose, Cobalt Teal Blue, Manganese Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indanthrone Blue, Neutral Tint, Burnt Umber
To build this palette, you will need:
(1) XL Mixing Pan
(1) Large Mixing Pan
Are you doing the Direct Watercolor Challenge? We’d love to hear your experiences! Tag us @ArtToolkit on social media, and use the hashtag #30×30directwatercolor.
