Watercolor Swatch Book

I finished another handmade sketchbook, this time out of Arches Watercolor paper and some really cute paisley fabric. I got lucky and was able to purchase a couple of 22"x30" sheets on sale at a local art supply store. I decided to use this one as a Swatch Book for one of my 24 color Palettes. 

I got the idea for the Zentangle Swatch Book from a YouTube Video from Notable Ink. I really liked the idea of having a handy mixing chart of your palette and practice your Zentangle doodles at the same time. If you don’t want to go through all the work of the Swatch Book and/or drawing the pages, I think you can buy the designs ready-made for download from her site. And yes, there were moments when I was considering just buying the pages myself, but I decided to stick with it and keep practicing. That’s why we doodle, right? To get better at it. 

I started with Phthalo Blue (green shade) and ended up with some really nice greens. I especially like the Burnt Sienna combination; it looks like a nice concrete color and the Indian Red mix looks like a very stormy blue, good for skies. Now I'm trying to decide which color to try next, I'm thinking either Quinacridone Rose or Quinacridone Burnt Orange.

Here is the finished First Page—not too bad I think. Dusty thinks so, too 😊 

I used a little of the E-Sumi Watercolor I just bought for a light shadow on the Tangles.

Here is a close-up for a better view

The colors in the Palette are all Daniel Smith. You can find the whole list with links on the Swatch Book Watercolors Page.

I'm still working on the next Page, but here is a Sneak Peek