Last month we were focusing on the theme of Red inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon.

There were a few reasons why I chose this for our monthly theme…

Obviously, it is a seasonal colour during December but it’s also my least-used hue!  So I was looking forward to incorporating more red into my every day sketching. 

In addition I’ve been meaning to spend a little time looking into the change to Transparent Pyrrol Orange (TPO) and reviewing whether I should be using a different warm red in my palette. Something has changed in the manufacturing of TPO in recent years and it’s no longer a dark orange but more of a middle orange. It therefore isn’t as useful as a warm red.

The first step in my Red month was  to document all the reds I currently have in my kit (above) and to explore how far I could stretch red into adjacent hues (pinks, browns, maroons).

And then I started testing TPO (old and new) and some alternatives. 

If you are a member of my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon there are a few update videos (here, here, and here) explaining what all these swatches mean.

At the same time as I was doing these serious watercolour tests, I was also using red in every one of my morning sketches. (I set myself a goal of using red in every single double page spread in my sketchbook during December).

The resultant sketches were quite different from what I expected – they were generally more muted than usual!

This is because I was mixing red into every wash I created. (Once again more about this technique can be found inside my community).

Here are a few examples…

I made the decision to start using DS Pyrrol Scarlet as my warm red so in the second half of December  I was getting to know how it works on its own (how to overcome its drying shift) and how it works in washes. Here are three sketches that I did while on a video call with my friend Francoise.

I also wanted to do some mixed media and explore some fun colour palettes with bright red. This is one of the quirky combos I used. 

And here is another mixed media sketch (neocolor, tempera sticks, marker, distress crayon) this time with more pink hues done during a fun sketching session on the 25th with Chris Haldane.

The last example used a limited palette of coloured pencils and markers (Tombows).

I really enjoyed our Red month and loved seeing everyone else’s work inside the community as well. Just a reminder that the Red videos (plus the entire library of posts) are available to anyone who joins the community – whether for one month or for a yearly subscription (BTW you get two months free when you sign up to the yearly subscription).