Christmas Berries: Preclass
Welcome to the Preclass lesson for Christmas Berries! This is a level 3 class – intermediate – and that may mean you have most or all of the supplies needed to complete these lessons. Watch the video below, and see the reference list below that for more on the supplies and recommendations on where you can find them.
Paper
Arches Cold Press Pads: BLICK • AMZ
Paints
My House of Hoffman Palette is shown in the lessons – but nobody needs this crazy thing. But I do recommend a metal palette coated in white like this one. You need to be mixing on white, not silver metal, so you can see what color you’re creating.
- Daniel Smith Watercolors:
- Anthraquinoid Scarlet – any “Christmas” red”
- Green Gold – or mix one of your greens with a yellow
- Sap Green – a standard kind of green
- Cascade Green – also known as “Christmas tree green” if you have a tube of that; it’s the same paint but with a minty smell. You can also mix a bluish green from colors you have.
- Payne’s Blue Gray – Paynes Gray can work, but you may want to add a little bit of blue if your mix doesn’t come out as desired.
- Yellow Ochre – It’s basically a ‘dirty’ yellow, so if you don’t have this, add a little red and a tiny drop of green to it, or as shown in the video, mixing Green Gold with Anthraquinoid Scarlet can really make a comparable color.
- A purple will be helpful for tiny purple berries – I mixed Cobalt with Quin Rose.
- Browns for stems can be Burnt Sienna or Transparent Red Oxide – but we’ll also be mixing reds and greens for most of that.
Masking
Have an old yucky brush on hand, small enough to do berries. I put a little liquid dish soap in a dish so I can coat the brush in it, wipe it off on a baby wipe, then proceed with the masking fluid; it protects it at least a little.
Brushes
In this class I’ll be demonstrating using the Silver Round brushes – but with a gap, my #8 is found lacking and I need to get a new one! You don’t need all these sizes, but a small medium and large is recommended. Or use any comparable brushes you have.
- Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #2 BLICK • AMZ
- Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #4 BLICK • AMZ
- Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #6 BLICK • AMZ
- Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8: BLICK • AMZ
- Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #12: BLICK • AMZ
- Mottler Flat Wash 30, DaVinci Cosmotop Spin Brush: Blick – AMZ – the only one on Amazon is the size 20 but it’ll work.
Other
- I’m using a Koh-i-noor lead holder – but a regular pencil will be just fine!
- Spray bottle
- White artist tape, 3/4”
- Baby wipes (Costco’s Kirkland brand)
