“DANIEL SMITH is the only brand I’ve worked with that I know I can 100% rely upon for its perfect color transparency, which is critical to my award-winning works. I can truly create a final mix that is clear with very nice color. Other brands leave something behind, creating a color that’s more like looking through a dirty window. This 100% certainty made me fall in love with a newfound freedom.”

This is a true compliment from an artist who loves to try every brand on the global market. Michael Solovyev first discovered DANIEL SMITH when he moved to Canada, after having limited access to art supplies while living in Russia during a Communist regime. He happily tells the story of attending an artist festival where the town square was full of vendor tents, including Daniel Smith. Michael was very surprised that the gentleman working this tent was not a local salesperson, but rather the company owner. “This was amazing to me, that the man at the top of the brand was still engaged with the product and enthusiastically talking with artists. I knew that I was no longer in Russia,” he jokes. “On a serious note, I was very impressed that this was more than business to the owner, it was about innovation – and that stuck with me.”  The following year, Michael traveled to the Daniel Smith headquarters to meet with their team, see the operation and develop his own curated set of watercolors.

Michael’s palette usually holds nine colors, which is all he needs for 80% of his work. But for this new set, he chose ten colors with a balance of warm and cool hues that will allow artists to develop a robust color family.

Michael Solovyev’s Master Artist Set includes:

• India Yellow
• Quinacridone Deep Gold
• Quinacridone Sienna
• Alizarin Crimson
• Perylene Violet
• Moonglow
• Cobalt Blue
• Phthalo Blue (Green shade)
• Phthalo Green (Blue shade)
• Indigo

At night, all the cats are grey

This is a great artist tip from Michael – in other words, to further develop your painting skills, focus on painting shadows. Painting bright light is rather easy, but shadows require an understanding of grays, or rather a mix of grays with different undertones like yellow, orange or red. Knowing your grays will help you complete paintings more quickly as well, which is especially good for plein air work.

Michael suggests trying this technique:  Set up several objects for a study and create a palette of grays, use only three colors to create any one gray shade. For example, start with Quinacridone Sienna, Indigo, and Perylene Violet. By changing the balance of these three pigments, you can paint your shadows with a wide range of grays.

Experiment with your palette options in other ways, by mixing two colors from Michael’s set together, such as Indigo and India Yellow. This mix not only yields the perfect color for leaves, it can be altered to match any natural leaf color.

Be in the moment

Michael shares more advice for artists using his set. “If you enjoy the process, it doesn’t matter what you have in the end. Be in the moment, don’t focus on having something nice at the end of the experience. The process is where the life is, so enjoy it!”

He describes watercolor painting as a water game, where the object is to predict the result, while also recognizing that the painting can change every five minutes. This is what he loves most about watercolor, that it’s a “live medium,” always moving and changing. “Watercolor is like a cat – you can’t force it, you just need to make a deal with it. I think my patience with watercolor is due to my experience working in improvisational theatre, dealing with all the unpredictable changes in a scene and waiting for an outcome to form.”

Michael enjoys the personal growth and the opportunities to give back within his artist community. He usually attends as many as fourteen art festivals each year. “Spending time with other artists gives me life. We have become a tight-knit circle of friends who share openly and truly work to support each other. We talk about everything,” he says with a smile. In addition to teaching art daily to students of all levels, in person and online, Michael has been producing three video tutorials per week. “I love teaching – my brush is never dry,” he laughs.