PART 3 - Blues: Color Swatches of EVERY Daniel Smith Watercolor

An opinionated artist's explorations of 200 watercolors made by Daniel Smith. In part three I make color swatches of the blue paints using the color sample dot cards. I also share interesting pigment tidbits and my thoughts about the colors as we go.
Hopefully, this is helpful if you are befuddled by all the color options (and how similar some of them are... spoiler alert, some are nearly identical), want to see how the colors look in action, or are looking for a relaxing half hour of color conversation.
What are your favorite Daniel Smith colors? Share in the comments!!
I got the dot cards on Amazon, and it was honestly some of the best hours of entertainment I've gotten from $23 in a long time. Here's the link for the dot sample sheets! amzn.to/3wTb9tL
Sketchbook: Strathmore 400 series hardbound book. I rarely use sketchbooks except for color and painting notes! This is my favorite I've found so far for color swatching, as the colors are quite true compared to how they appear on a cotton rag paper. amzn.to/3NyX1vg
Paintbrush: an old one from 15 years ago that is no longer manufactured. But it is a filbert shape, which I love for color swatching.
Music licensed from Artlist:
Birds Eye View // Steven Beddall

[@KaterinaGundar]

Hi, really liked the video ❤ I actually LOVE sleeping beauty turquoise genuine and manganese blue hue, as well as cobalt teal blue and cerulean blue. Use all four in my pallet, not straight out of the tube. And they reactivate quite nicely 🫶🏻

[@elaineg60]

This series is SO helpful, Thank you! There’s an artist on etsy that gets the “original” lapis and makes it the way it was made “in the olden days”..it’s QUITE a process and after reading the whole procedure, I can understand why he had a DOT pan for almost $30. He’s in the Netherlands and according to my best friend, (retired art professor), he’s the only one making it from “Fra Angelico” in the same way it was made by “Cennino Cennini”. The shop is Dirty Blue Shop. Liz said when her daughter goes to the Netherlands this Summer, she’s going to try and get some. I was just surprised at the process and wonder what all these others are selling and how they’re actually processing it. It’s MUCH more pigmented than DS.

[@artofhiking]

that is so cool that someone is keeping the traditional pigment alive!!

[@laurahale5774]

I just now found these, so I'm bingeing! Thank you Claire, they're really helpful.

[@artofhiking]

I'm so glad you are enjoying them Laura!! Thanks for watching. I had so much fun exploring all the colors, and love the few that I added after finishing the cards! (The colors I got were quinacridone violet, sodalite, perylene violet, jadeite, and transparent pyrrol orange. My two favorites that have gone into regular painting rotation are the quinacridone violet and the sodalite! The perylene violet also makes super lovely browns!