What’s in the basket?
Posted: August 6, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized 12 CommentsEvery summer I participate in a CSA basket program from a local farmer. This week the basket was so plentiful I had to sketch it. Doesn’t seem like that much on the sketchbook page, but there were so many tomatoes, cucumbers and squash that I couldn’t draw them all.
This was a quick sketch because I was hungry and wanted to turn some of this into a salad. I worked directly in watercolour (no pen or pencil) with a small Sennelier set I have been experimenting with lately. It’s a tiny box of eight pans that showed up in my goodie bag at the Urban Sketchers symposium in Amsterdam.
I’ve never really used Sennelier paints but I am really loving these vivid pigments. From a quick read on their website, I can see that they contain honey, which makes the half-pans very creamy. Tomorrow I’ll post some of the other direct watercolours that I painted with these pigments.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Shari….a word of caution. Because the Sennelier paints contain honey, they absolutely draw BEES when you’re using them outdoors! They are lovely, creamy paints. I was out with a sketching group last year with a small set like you’ve just described, and of the entire group, I was the only one bothered by the bees. Turned out I was the only one using Sennelier.
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Rita, thanks for the tip. I have the same problem with M. Graham paints which are also honey based. I do a lot of swatting but I really like these so I will try them outdoors and see what happens. I used them in Amsterdam and did notice a bit of buzzing around my palette!
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Wow…they really ARE vivid and yummy looking pigments! I actually went to the Senellier shop on the Loire River in Paris years ago. It was a magical experience, like stepping back in time, to the point that I was incapable of purchasing a thing….drawers of PIGMENTS!
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I have been there too Kathy. Many years ago. But who could forget all of those pigments. My first Petit Gris brushes were from there and I still have them and USE them!
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Truly delicious!
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Yes, my salad certainly was. Of course nothing can match your tomatoes, but this is a good second.
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Great color and I’m sure a great salad…..best way to get really fresh stuff is with a CSA unless you live next to the farm stand. So these paints don’t get hard because of the honey?
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Donna, I have only had the paints for a few weeks but from what I read they stay creamy and rewet really well. Only time will tell. As for the CSA basket, it is the best way to get fresh stuff. I have been a customer for at least ten years. It’s nice to see them succeed in their business, get married, have kids, etc. We are like a family.
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What a delightful little sketch- light and v bright!
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Thanks Hareitte!
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Love these freehand paintings. (You called them sketches. ) So fresh. I have that little set of Senneliers and I liked them so much, I bought a larger set.
I haven’t used these outside yet but I did have a problem with a persistent bee with Graham paints.
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I think both of these brands are a problem when you use them outdoors. I seem to do a lot of swatting when I’m using M. Graham colours, and I think I have been stung in the past. We’ll see what happens with these.
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