During the school holidays it can be tricky for me to find time to create. With this in mind, I aim to create an occasional ‘Mix It Up’ post. These posts might highlight a certain style or technique drawing on previous projects to illustrate, or link to a few interesting articles I’ve discovered on my blog surfing, or equally a bit of therapeutic shopping links.

My first pick is watercoloring. Watercoloring has been a massive trend and shows no signs of slowing down. We’ve all loved pulling out our old watercolour sets, discovering the rich pigmentation of Gansai Tambi paints and the ease and colour pop of the Zig Clean Color Brush Markers. Here’s a few examples I’ve created with the different types of watercolour media.

Traditional watercolour tubes

When the watercolour trend first got going I dug out my old tubes of watercolor paint and created this card.

Winsor & Newton half pans

As the tubes I was using were quite old I quickly bought a set of Winsor & Newton half pans. I love how easy it is to get softly blended colours with type of watercolour.

Clockwise from top left: here, here, here and here

Gansai Tambi

Then the Gansai Tambi watercolours hit my radar and I was in love with the rich pigmented colours! You can really pack a vibrant punch with these watercolours but looking bottom right at that elephant tag, you can still go soft and subtle too.

Clockwise from top left: here, here, here and here

Zig Clean Color Brush Markers

Finally, my most recent purchase were some of the Zig Clean Color Brush Markers. These markers make it so easy to get into the nooks of an image with the fine paint brush which comes as part of the marker and they blend beautifully too; the flowers top right – I used just four colours!

Clockwise from top left: here, here, here and here

 Well, that’s a quick look at the different watercolour media I’ve experimented with, but there are many more options available too. What’s your favourite? Whatever you have available or choose to buy I hope you get out your paints this summer and indulge in the joy of watercoloring even if it is a snatched moment in between running the kids around!

Supplies

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or wording to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support.

USA UK Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi All Kuretake Zig Clean Color at SSS