Cathy Quiel Watercolor Newsletter - Late Spring/Summer 2011
Big and exciting news! ….My new fully illustrated children's book is published and in gorgeous color and print.
"Airplanes In The Garden - Monarchs Take Flight"
Watercolor Illustrations by Cathy Quiel - Written by Joan Calder
Books are available for purchase at www.cathyquiel - $16.95 plus shipping. Use paypal!
"Quiel's beautifully designed illustrations are fresh, vibrant, playful, and eye-catching—
perfect for capturing the imagination of children of all ages."
— Nita Leland, author of "Exploring Color" and "The New Creative Artist"
www.nitaleland.com
Click here to purchase - or Go to www.cathyquiel.com to purchase, and click on left column - AIRPLANES IN THE GARDEN
Workshops & Events
August 5-7, 2011 --- "Dazzling Color" --- Santa Barbara --- $290
Emphasis on increasing the creativity, uniqueness and award winning quality of your paintings through color, design and fun ideas. Color schemes, psychodrama, format, thinking outside the box and contrasts and other informative aspects will be discussed and demonstrated. Richeson Paints provided to enhance your palette.
$50 deposit to secure your space. PO Box 61353 Santa Barbara CA 93106
August 20, 2011 --- "Quick Draw" --- Los Olivos, CA
A local favorite, Quick Draw is an exciting event where talented local artists race against the clock to complete a drawing, painting or sculpture within 45 minutes! All artwork is then auctioned off, adding to the excitement created by artists' booths positioned throughout Los Olivos for visitors to stroll through and purchase. Don't miss experiencing this fast paced creative challenge!
The day will feature live music, a silent auction, and more Quick Draw artists' paintings offered for sale nearby at St. Mark's In The Valley Episcopal Church. The Los Olivos Rotary will be offering lunch for sale too!
www.losolivosca.com/event.html
October 28-30, 2011 --- Learning & Product Expo --- Pasadena, CA
Registration begins August 1, 2011!
More information here: www.learningproductexpo.com
Italy Watercolor Workshop– Umbria and Cinque Terre - May 9-19, 2012
Itinerary of this year's identical trip is posted at www.cathyquiel.com. Great painting, scenery, learning, eating and art companionship. Worth a repeat performance!!
Watercolor Article
Granulating Colors - Sedimentary & Flocculatin
Yes, I know, I exclusively use transparent, staining colors. Well, I've turned 60 and it's time to broaden my horizons, live a little more dangerously.
We have a material fee where I teach at Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education. This quarter I utilized that fee to purchase sets of 10 granulating colors from Daniel Smith Art Supplies. While I enjoyed experimenting with all of them, five really knocked my socks off: Cascade Green, Lunar Black, Goethite, Lunar Red Rock and Rose of Ultramarine.
Before I describe the merits of these five colors, allow me to describe the two categories of granulating colors: Sedimentary and Flocculating.
"Some pigments show a characteristic called granulation, where the way in which the pigment particles settle in the paper creates a mottled effect. For many artists, granulation is highly desirable because it adds visual texture to their paintings. Even within granulating colors, different effects are apparent when they are brushed out onto paper. Some fine pigments rush together in huddles, more commonly called "flocculation", whilst other heavy pigments fall into the hollows of the paper surface." (Sedimentary)
www.winsornewton.com
#1. Cascade Green – Daniel Smith
Cascade Green is magical. When left alone it morphs into new colors, textures and shapes……really. It starts out as a somewhat mundane middle value green. As it is diluted and sits, it turned into beautiful shades of turquoise with a curdling textural effect. It is absolutely gorgeous. So far, I
think it sings best alone. I overlaid it on other colors and mixed it with other pigments. Neither showed the dramatic effect as much as using it by itself.
#2. Lunar Black
I consider Lunar Black the royalty of all granulating colors. It has so many factors in its favor. One - It maintains its texture and strength when mixed with other colors or glazed on top of other colors. Second - It can be painted upon and not lift and move like other opaque and granulating colors.
Thirdly - It is just so cool looking… enhancing rough walls, rocks, dirt pathways, fabric texture, old buildings, facial wrinkles, volcanic ash etc. The end result of its granulating is a mottled rich blackish texture behind a very light beige foreground. I believe it could effectively and very attractively
texture any color.
#3. Goethite (Brown Ochre)
Goethite looks like a little mound of yellowish brown dirt, which it is. Did you know that Burnt Sienna of old, is dirt from Siena Italy that has been cooked? Raw Siena – uncooked. Back to 
Goethite…. It appears extremely opaque but when diluted it can glaze beautifully on any building in a painting and create a rough textural effect. It has rather larger particles than most granulating colors. It mixes well with other colors but one has to be careful the new combined colors do not get too thick and lose luminosity on the page.
Goethite - Yellow to brown mineral, consisting of hydrated iron oxide, geothite is usually present in the oxidized portions of iron ore deposits, and the commonest constituent of many forms of iron oxide.
www.naturalpigments.com
#4. Lunar Red Rock
Everything stated in Lunar Black applies with a few variations. The main base (a rich reddish brown) is quite opaque and flat when applied. It has to be diluted considerably to achieve granulation. Due to this fact it may not have the complete versatility of Lunar Black.
#5 Rose of Ultramarine
At first I thought Rose of Ultramarine was a lovely violet but not too interesting as a granulating color. My opinion changed when I noticed a puddle on one of my student's palette. She had 
stirred up some Rose of Ultramarine with water and forgot about it. While still wet, the pigments separated into rings of what looked like Opera and multiple shades of blue and violet. Beautiful. I went back to my desk and applied a generous
amount of water on my paper with a generous amount of Rose of Ultramarine and LEFT IT ALONE. Once again, neat things happened, an array of colors and shapes developed.
Granulating colors in painting can help denote age of objects, create mood and enhance visual interest. Plus they are a lot of fun. I foresee using them as a glaze on already painted surfaces due my style and staining palette. They have already enhanced several paintings from my Italian Watercolor Workshop May 2011
Granulating colors are marked in art catalogs and printed color charts with a "G" beneath the color displayed. Whether they are sedimentary or flocculating pigments is not listed. There is a terrific list of granulating colors at www.handprint.com and the Daniel Smith Art Supplies catalog online
www.danielsmith.com. Also listed at this site are some transparent pigments that if applied near full strength, produce a texturing effect that is, "caused by an unusually strong color contrast between different sized globules or clumps of paint."
Does the paper weight and texture make a difference? Yes. The deeper the valleys in your paper the more sediment particles can collect. However, I didn't find it to make a huge difference.
As with any medium or new pigment, one must try it on a variety of surfaces to recognize it's full potential and range. In addition, it is best to see how it plays with the colors already on your palette…do they play together well.