 Hi guys before I get started on today's video I want to let you know it's watercolor weekend and over at Ellen Hudson There's a video of me painting these trees so you can learn how to do that and there's also a possibility of getting my dot card In the mail with your order while supplies last if you order some Daniel Smith paints or other Daniel Smith supplies Then you might get a dot card in the mail so you can try out my colors and I'm also going to try I'm going to try and try try try try to do a live broadcast here on YouTube tomorrow I've never done that gonna see if it works, and if it doesn't work Don't hate me, but the details of time and everything will be over on my blog So check that out in the link down below and now let's get started on the normal video for today Hi there, I'm Sandy all knock artist and paper crafter here on YouTube And I want to share two things that I think are kind of fun One is that I have a dot card with Daniel Smith now Which is kind of crazy, and I want to share the watercolor palette that I set up with my dot card. I Had to choose my favorite 18 colors Which was like choosing between children because I love them all This is my favorite 18 you can see them all on my blog With links to them if you would like to try one out for your palette and this shminkie palette I want to show you how I set up the colors and set up the grid sheet if you would like to have a palette to use with your Watercolors now. I haven't shown you a palette before because I've been testing out a bunch I have some expensive palettes from Italy that are just too pricey I couldn't recommend them because they just cost so much, but this one is reasonable and I've made a palette set up Hand out that is on my blog. You can download this and I've got this little grid This is going to fit inside that lid if you have a different palette Obviously, you have to get different measurements to make a grid for yourself for a little swatch sheet to put inside of the palette Once you've used your colors a lot You'll know pretty instinctively what the colors will look like on the paper So you'll be able to do it without the cheat sheet But it often helps to have this when you're getting to know the colors And I have one of these inside each one of the palettes that I have because I don't know all my colors Really well, so it's it's a really good thing to have Whatever paper you use for the cheat sheet make sure it's the kind of paper you typically paint on because if it's too white Or too cream or something compared with what you're painting on it won't look the same when you actually make your painting So you want to make sure it's the same or similar to what you typically use And I'm just going to follow along the lines with just a number two pencil doesn't have to be anything fancy And I'm doing it very lightly. You can erase the lines in between after you're done But I don't find that I really necessarily need to do that I've taken the colors that I'm going to put in here and made just little little things on scraps of watercolor paper so I could get them in a rough order and Transfer them on to the handout and that's going to be my master so I can really set up the whole palette nicely Those first six colors that you see in the palette are from the Daniel Smith essential set There's cools on the left and warms on the right and when I keep them together like that They're just in a group so I don't have to remember which ones go with which even though you can use them interchangeably You can mix and match but it's nice to just have them in a group and then I know that those are the colors from the essential set The rest of them. I'm labeling of course. I've labeled those other colors I'm labeling them on the side because if I decide I'm going to swap out a color at some point Or if you end up buying a second palette because you bought too many paints and now you need another palette You want to divide your colors differently? You'll at least know what was in that pan. You don't have to guess at what color it was So it's helpful to have that you can put other information on them as well if you're mixing brands I would recommend writing down the brands so you keep them Kind of separate it out because different brands the same color can look very different or react very different Than it does with the Daniel Smith. I'm doing all Daniel Smith watercolors in mine And then I'm going to pop them into the palette itself And they snap into that little channel and the little bar on the right-hand side just holds them in place now You can do either 24 like I'm doing because I have my 18 Favorite dot card colors plus my six from the essential set or you can do 12 colors or you can do mix and match of both And then I'm putting the paint colors in them following along with the same cheat sheet now The reason that I'm doing this is because I have put my thumb into a pan of paint way too many times I've been trying to load a palette this happens and Doing it this way in this order tends to help keep myself organized So I I can just go through and systematically set up the palette instead of worrying about Shoving my my thumb or my finger into a pan as I'm getting it put into the palette And a few of mine are about out. So I'm using my last you can see me Squeezing them like a toothpaste tube so you can roll them from the bottom To try to get every last bit of paint out of them. Looks like I will be doing some shopping soon for some of these colors So now everything is in the palette and I'm left with the next step of Painting the swatches and I'm painting a heavier swatch on the left hand side of each box So that I I see a little more of what the full pigment will be like and then a little bit lighter on the right hand side by adding water to it and Using water to move the color across the rectangle now don't worry about being exact and getting absolutely every shade of Color from one side to the other. You don't really need to be too careful about it You just want a rough representation So if you're trying to find a good blue that looks like you can use it for a sky then you can tell what each one of these blues looks like when it's light and It's just going to help you in the long run to be able to choose your colors wisely Now the six essentials at the top there are a few colors that I picked in my 18 that are similar You can see that fourth blue on the left hand side looks very much like the third blue on the left hand side It's because one is phthalo blue Blue shade and one is phthalo blue green shade or red shade and blue shade I can't remember off the top of my head. We'll see in a moment when I start putting the colors down but the reason that there are a few similar colors in there is because I Don't know whether somebody wants to just follow my 18 and if I'm ever going to use just my 18 colors I want to have one of those phthalo blues in there because I adore phthalo blues I've also picked some colors in here that are going to be granulated colors and some that are not and almost everything here that I've chosen though. These are mostly Transparent colors. I like transparent colors I don't like them when they get kind of chalky and cloudy because they are semi transparent or opaque So that tends to be one of the things that I like in watercolors and Day of Smith has great options for people who like all different kinds of combinations So you can see here that I've developed sort of a rainbow-ish going down the card. I tried to keep my blues together since I wanted those phthalo's next to each other But you can do them in any order that you want. You can have all your reds in a column rather than across from each other Whatever suits you in the way that you would like to paint And then I'm going to get down here to the end to the black and To the pearlescent shimmer that one on the right hand side that bottom corner is pearlescent shimmer That you can mix with any of the colors to make them all metallic So now I'm transferring the color names over onto my sheet and Just doing that with a sharpie pen and my paper is good and dry So I can write on it well And then I'm going to take the Daniel Smith brochure and add some of the markings to it Some of the things that are important for me when I'm painting and the two that I'm marking on here is the transparency Which is that circle the open circle is fully Transparent the half circle is semi-transparent and then the full circle is opaque And then I'm putting the why are the end and that is a yes It granulates or no it does not granulate and I have some colors that granulate some that do not and That's helpful for me in making my choices so that I can tell that lunar black there You can really see the granulation very well there. That's what granulation is it has that sort of texture to it And then the pearlescent shimmer it just kind of you can mix it with other paints To give them that that shimmer or you can just add it as a final glaze on top Now to finish this off. I've put some packing tape over it. Yes, not very fancy You can Laminate it or something if you want to get crazy with it But I'm just going to use packing tape and put two sheets of it so that I really fully cover that front cover and It's all going to be sealed in with plastic And then peel it off of my surface and then fold it over the back Just to make sure I don't if I get it wet or anything I don't want any that seeping underneath you could put Another piece on the back if you wish I'll cut off the two ends and Then I'll be able to add it to inside. I'm going to use some Be creative tape. This is super super sticky tape But you can use whatever adhesive works really well But it needs a stick to metal and since it's going to be in a palette that might have some moisture in it Just make sure it's something good and sticky And I'm going to trim off two corners just because I have a rounded corners in this palette You can trim them off if it fits better and then stick it in here And now I have a palette that I can see all my colors on and I can mix on the in the wells on the right hand side and rinse that and clean that really well one of the things I like about this palette is that it has that that whole side that I can use for mixing and Then it all folds up nice and tidy So if you'd like to see more on each of the individual colors the list and everything is over on my blog More information on all that stuff and I will see you guys another time have an awesome day Hit the subscribe button if you haven't already I put out several videos a week and would be happy to have you come and share in those There's also an exploring watercolor class on my blog if you'd like to check that out There's a link in the description down below I'll see you guys next time. Take care. Bye