A Watercolour Pan Comparison & Review

I have been on a watercolour buzz recently and I am still riding that wave. I find the translucence and fluidity of watercolours really soothing and calming. I love the simplicity of sitting on the couch in the evening after work and unwinding by painting. Watercolours are also very forgiving which, for some reason, feels like less pressure than acrylics. I play odd mind games with myself, but I think most artists do.

I decided a few weeks back to order two of the watercolour pans that Alisa Burke uses in most of her "peek in my sketchbook" posts. One thing I've noticed in New Zealand is that unless you want to buy professional watercolours at about $11.00+ per 25ml tube from Art shops, there isn't much out there. I have tried the watercolour pans from the $2 shops and they were a complete waste of money. I don't understand how they were even sold as watercolours- they don't transfer any pigment. Anyway, I digress. I decided I would have to turn to Ebay if I wanted to find anything that was cheap but still decent. I ended up getting these two...

24 colour Washable Watercolours by Crayola
36 colour Simply Art Watercolour Cakes by Loew Cornell

After a few weeks of playing around with both there is a very clear winner for me- The Crayola paints.

The colours were bright yet soft, they mixed together beautifully and once dried still held their pigment  I found Simply Art ones are incredibly chalky, dull, and overall disappointing. The most irritating part though is that once the paint had dried, there is a fine layer of chalk dust that brushed off and dirtied up any part of the page that wasn't already painted- like my page of hearts below.

I will keep using them both until they are gone but I won't be replacing the Simply Art ones again.

Do you have any watercolours that you love (or hate)?

-Rhiannon

How-to: A Monthly blog planner

I am finally managing to cross things off my list~ wahooo! These visual reminders I made last month are working out perfectly.

Last week I decided it was time to tackle making a blog planner. It's something I know is going to help me immensely. It will mean regular posts on here but will also allow me to make sure I follow up on previous posts (something I admit needs much improvement)!

I had toyed with using my filofax to plan everything out but I wanted to be able to see the entire month laid out.  Instead I decided to use Kaylahs post-it note idea and create my own. I used a piece of thick A3 paper and roughly drew in columns that would fit my post-it notes (no ruler necessary). It's plain and simple, but effective. Maybe next month I will jazz it up a bit, but to be honest I like it being this easy to read.  This month I have written the dates on the post it notes but next month I will be writing the dates on the paper instead so its easier for me to switch them around if I decide to.

I would love to see variations of this idea.
How do you keep organised?

Rhiannon xxoxx

John Cleese on Creativity

I watched this video a while ago and forgot all about it until another blogger posted it on her blog. John Cleese is an amazing man and talks very well about creativity and the subconscious mind.