Magnolias and magenta
Posted: April 27, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 13 CommentsThis week magnolia trees are in their prime in Montreal, but I don’t have one so I sketched one in my neighbourhood. Every year it’s the same tree because it’s huge, laden with blooms, and fairly close to the road, so I can paint it unobtrusively from my car. The pink on saucer magnolias is kind of a muted colour and I’m never sure what pigment to use. Today I tried Permanent Magenta, since I have that on my palette at the moment.
Last year when I filled my travel palette I left a few spots for colours that I might want to try out, and those are the ones on the far left. A year later they are still there, so I guess they’re staying. At the top is Chromium Black from Winsor & Newton. It’s a black that is not too granulating, and it’s warm, which is nice for greys in urban scenes. In the middle is Cobalt Green — a very opaque pigment that is perfect for accents of colour in sketches with lots of people in them, or for painting glacier-fed lakes or tropical seas. And the third in the row is Permanent Magenta, which I use often for florals, and which came in very handy today with these magnolias.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
So so pretty…you are so talented….
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Thanks so much Pegret.
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A beautiful tree beautifully captured!
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Thanks Tony. It certainly is one of my favourite trees.
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Hi Shari
I’m intrigued by the Chromium Black – I can’t find it on UK store websites or the Winsor & Newton site. Is it W&N or a different brand?
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Hi Christopher,
Chromium Black was a limited edition colour from Winsor & Newton, from a few years ago. I tried it and liked it so I bought a few tubes. It might not be available anymore. Here is some info from Jackson’s: https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2016/09/15/winsor-newton-limited-edition-colours/
Shari
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Shari, your pallette always looks so “fresh” – like you’ve just squeezed in the paints. How do you keep them from drying out? Is it just the effect of spritzing them with water?
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HI Jane,
I was teaching a workshop online this past weekend, so my palette is freshly filled, for the most part. But when the colours are good quality pigment they stay fresh for a long time in that palette, and yes, I do spritz them before I go out.
Shari
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Hi Shari, Beautifully created!! Love all the color! Do you have the list of colors in the palette shown somewhere? I am always interested to see who uses what color combos in their palettes and see how they’re used. Many thanks~
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HI Tami,
Thanks so much for having a look. The whole list is here: https://learn.shariblaukopf.com/p/my-favourite-plein-air-sketching-tools/
You’ll see it as a download that comes with the video.
Shari
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Excellent painting of a Magnolia Tree, I heard some of them froze off in the snow last week. The ones around here look fine, but I do not see a whole lot of these trees since it takes a fairly good gardener to grow them in our climate.
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Love the painting and even your palette is lovely. Where I live many magnolia’s were damaged by the snow and didn’t bloom out fully. But then they’re not meant to grow in parts of Canada – too cold.
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Good Evening dear friend Shari,
The branches and flowers look very beautiful with yellow blue background.
Blessings
Uma
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