Sketching to Test New Paints

I nabbed three colors of VanGogh watercolors paints from the clearance bin at a local art store the other day.   I wanted to test them out, but I didn't feel like doing swatches.

So, I decided to sketch what was on the table in front of me--with no worries about realistic color.

I used only my three new colors--Van Gogh permanent red violet, permanent blue violet, and permanent orange--along with my trusty Daniel Smith indanthrone blue (which I consider a magic color because it makes anything look good).

Here are my experiments.

This was a lot more fun that the usual color swatching, which is, of course useful, and I'll probably do those eventually.

But the scribbles of random objects took very little time, got my daily observations in, helped me learn about the values and behaviors of the new paints, and was fun.