顔彩耽美...

or Kuretake Gansai Tambi.

In 2019 when I started painting again, I bought a mini set of Japanese metallic watercolours as I'd seen them on a You Tube tutorial and thought they looked fun.  They are, and I've used them a few times, mainly on Christmas cards or specific Chookie Birdies that I need to glam up a little.

Fast forward a couple of years and I've been following an artist on Insta who's work I really love and when I asked him a few weeks ago what paint he uses, he surprised me by saying Japanese watercolour paint (the stock answer is usually Winsor & Newton, Daniel Smith, Sennelier or Schmincke)

I did some research into the brand and my interest was piqued.  They are much cheaper than the brands mentioned above, so before we left to go on holiday, I ordered the set of 36 (they do smaller and larger palettes) so I had something to cheer me up upon return from being away.

Today I had a little window of opportunity to play with them for the first time.  The underside of the lid provides a very handy template to swatch the colours.  They are different to western watercolour paint in that the are much creamier and it's much easier to use them in an opaque form.  The colours are beautiful though and they melt into water beautifully.  They also dry to a shinier finish than western watercolours.

Painting time was short but I couldn't resist having a quick play with them to test them out. The result is not my usual style at all but I fancied painting something a bit frivolous and quirky, almost like being a child again with new paints, which is just as well as David's reaction to the finished result was to try his best to suppress his laugher whilst muttering it was "interesting"  before I pointed out I was expressing my inner child.  "Ah" he said, in all seriousness, "that explains why it looks like a five year old painted it."   I've stuck the result of my inner child in extras!  :-))

Hahahahahahaha....it may not earn me any money but I had fun and I can't wait to have some proper, focused time with these deliciously lush paints.

In other news, I had a well overdue haircut.  Yay!  :-))

Cartoon Father's Day