Winsor & Newton Watercolour Markers and Watercolour Sticks

 Winsor &Newton Watercolour Markers and Watercolour Sticks

This morning a package arrived containing some great products from Winsor & Newton. Now here I will put my hand up and explain I am a huge fan of watercolour tubes. Everyone knows I am. I prefer the joy of squeezing huge juicy amounts of colour into my palette from a tube rather than working with any other form of watercolour.  But do you ever get the feeling you are getting stuck in a rut with the products you use?  As a professional artist I have been offered so many products to try over the years but I often find myself in a difficult position of having to explain to the company why I don't want to promote them. This afteroon was quite the opposite. I have had so much fun! Now I am finding it very hard to stop experimenting which is maybe just what I needed on an extremely hot  summers afternoon when working has been really hard. The sun has beckoned all day.

I have been given samples of the W&N watercolour markers and watercolour sticks and they arrived this morning in the post. I tried really hard to wait until I had completed todays list of things I had to do but there they sat. Waiting for my attention and they got it. I have been fascinated with painting bees recently. Well, to be fair I have been painting flowers and became side tracked with painting the bees that surround them.

I loved the small box the watercolour sticks are held in and realised they could be extremely handy for travelling and quick sketches.The markers are a great idea too. My mind made up to " play",  I took a painting I had already started and decided to put these new products to the test. 

 I selected the watercolour marker shades that I felt would be most suitable for my painting.

  I added yellow to the body of each bee to start with.  By touching the initial "watercolour stick"  marks with a small amount of wtaer my little insects took on the fuzzy appearance I was looking for. Perfect!

Next I decided to work on a negative edge with the darker watercolour stick. Apart from being easy to handle I found it enjoyable creating shapes where I could later add water. These products are great if you like more control when it comes to adding definition. Bearing in mind I never use a pencil to  make preliminary sketches, these are a great product to follow my loose style but still have your guidelines in place in colour before you start working or adding to a composition.

 Adding a negative edge with the darker watercolour stick.

Once the defined negative edge had been added I could easily work away from it with a water laden brush. This is where I considered mixing shades on paper as I do with my usual tubes of watercolour. So I applied touches of yellow from my yellow watercolour stick to the new wet green section and loved the instant interaction.  I also loved the original  negative edge as it was, which I found I could blend with my finger to soften it. So there are quite a few options of ways to work with this new watercolour range. I am certain I will find many more!

Adding yellow to the already  softened negative edge by the dark watercolour stick.

Now I am already imagining so many other ways I could put these products to use, in my work. And sitting on my computer to talk about them isn't appealing as I want to keep working with them. But I really did want to share  the amount of  fun I have been having rather than keep it to myself!

Definitely a great watercolour idea.

You can read more about these products via this link

 https://www.facebook.com/WinsorNewton?sk=app_208195102528120&ref=woobox

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