Triad Template + Palette Collab with Art Toolkit and Letter Sparrow

Dreams do come true. (Plus an update on our adVANtures!)

Hello, hello! I’m so excited to finally get to share something that’s been in the works for a few years now: a Triad Template and Palette Collaboration with Art Toolkit and Letter Sparrow! (Find a coupon code below!)

Note: if you’re here for van and hiking updates please feel free to skip to the bottom :)

The Backstory

Here’s the backstory: I started playing with triads about 4 years ago while searching for colors to use in the desert in Far West Texas — especially desert greens — and skies! Trying to get the hang of color mixing, I did tons of research looking for advice in books and online but just couldn’t find much out there about what colors to use for this region. Around this time Jason got a 3D printer, so I asked him if he could print me a triad template. He said sure — we worked on it together, and the triad template was born!

Early videos and triads using the 3D printed template.

Using the Triad Template to explore a CMYK palette. It still amazes me that yellow + magenta = red, and magenta + cyan = blue! It’s like magic.

I started using it in videos and so many people asked me where I got the template. I actually had to stop posting with it because so many people asked me where I got it!

Then Maria Coryell-Martin, founder of Art Toolkit, asked me about collaborating with them to make the template — a dream come true! Then the collab got even better: I worked with Kelly Hollstrom from Letter Sparrow to create a Triad Palette with her beautiful handmade paints.

The Triad Palette and Triad Template

Here’s a look at the collaboration:

The Triad Palette and Triad Template. The palette comes with 4 mixing areas for mixing the secondary colors (orange, purple and green) plus one for neutrals. It comes in a sweet drawstring bag with and an info card. Photo courtesy of Art Toolkit.

I worked with Maria on choosing the case color and finally decided on this beautiful teal blue. It looks even more amazing in real life! Maria’s husband Darin came up with the front art, reminiscent of the triads. I think it looks so classy!

Just love this teal blue color so much y’all! Random fact: I created my signature for the back while camping at Big Bend National Park. Photo by Art Toolkit.

I have a code to share with you: Use code LISAFAN10 for 10% off your purchase of an toolkit, palette, or mixing pans, including the Triad Palette!

About the Colors

I spent most of last summer choosing the colors. It was so hard to narrow things down as Kelly makes the most gorgeous paints! She sent me so many samples to play with. Many many MANY swatch sessions later I finally narrowed it down to these four triads, one for each of the seasons:

Spring to me is bright fresh new greens, wildflowers and Texas redbud trees — I swear they should be called “pinkbuds”, not redbuds!

Spring:

• LS Primrose yellow/Hansa yellow light (PY3), Quinacridone rose (PV19), cerulean blue (PB36 version)

• This makes the most glorious spring greens, lovely granulating purples and a subtle grey.

• Mixing in a touch of rose will tone down those unreal greens

• The oranges aren't as vibrant since primrose yellow has a hint of green in it/cool yellow.

I had to paint a cactus for summer — of course! :)

Summer:

• Hansa yellow PY97, Quinacridone magenta (PR122), phthalo blue (PB16)

• The colors in this triad mix that rich summer green, bruised plum purples and a muted orange. You can also get a great red for tomatoes!

• When I first got into exploring colors/triads I always wondered about rose vs magenta -- now you can try both!

• Cerulean and phthalo look a little similar but cerulean is granulating and more opaque.

Fall: 

• LS Sunflower yellow/Hansa yellow deep (PY65), LS Coral/Pyrrole Red (PR255), ultramarine blue (PB29)

• Olive greens, moody purples and the most glorious oranges and reds for fall leaves! The neutral mix is another one that's almost black.

• The warm ultramarine blue makes more olive toned greens.

• These warm reds mixed with warm yellows make the best oranges.

• Swap your triads around with rose or magenta to make even better purples.

Winter:

• LS Gamboge yellow/Nickel Azo Yellow  (PY150), LS black currant (PR101), PB60 indanthrone blue

• This makes really dark evergreen greens, moody purples, and lovely browns and yellows for winter grasses. The neutral mix is a velvety dark mix!

• The black current is similar to DS Venetian red, one of my faves!

And there you have it — the Triad Palette and template!

Special thanks to Maria, Kelly, Darin and the whole Art Tookit team for making my triad dreams come true!

Three ways to use the template.

Live Demo with Art Toolkit

Join Maria and me Wednesday, June 19th at noon Pacific on YouTube for a live video with Triad Template Tips. Whether you’ve purchased the palette or not, we’ll have lots of info to share! A recording will be available afterwards, so no worries if you can’t make it.

This will be my first live demo from the van, and as I type this I’m not even sure where we’ll be, except that it will be somewhere in New Mexico. Pretty exciting!

Van Life Update

As I write this, it’s been 2 weeks and 2 days since we sold the house to travel full time in our converted camper van, and I still can’t believe it’s real.

We’ve been staying at Dog Canyon campground in Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO for short!) for the past week. It’s a really remote area, with 6 tent sites and 4 “RV sites” — which don’t have any RV amenities but are near the horse corral. We’re currently the only ones here. It’s just so quiet and peaceful.

Scenes from Dog Canyon at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas.

Some highlights:

• While Dog Canyon is in Texas, GUMO is on the border with New Mexico — so we can hike down the road a bit and say we hiked to New Mexico and back! :)

• We’ve had really good weather so far — it’s been in the 90s during the day, but as soon as the sun drops behind the mountain it starts cooling off. Nights have been in the 60s. It has been really windy tho so we haven’t been able to put the awning out, and I’ve been a little worried about a fire starting, especially since the park is in Stage 2 (Elevated) fire restrictions. So far so good.

• We’ve loved seeing the turkeys and deer go through the campground. So far we’ve seen 11 deer at once and 5 turkeys, all right outside the van!

• I made a dhal with black eyed peas and spices that a dear friend gave me back in Austin — so good! BTW, if you don’t have an Instant Pot you need one in your life!

• We hiked the Tejas and Bush Mountain Trails and I took shade breaks to do some sketches. It was so cool seeing the Big Tooth maple samaras (seed pods) — had never been here before when they were still red!

• When we hiked Bush Mountain, a thunderstorm popped up out of nowhere. It was pretty scary with the lightening and thunder so close — all the hairs on my left arm stood up — but only the left! There were big fat drops of cold rain — it felt good after being in the 90s but also super cold! We booked it back down the trail as fast as we safely could! We made it back to camp before the storm.

After the storm! Everything smelled so good, and I was glad to make it down the mountain without incident!

Well, that’s it for this week — my next update will be from New Mexico, The Land of Enchantment. Thank you for following along on our adventures! And keep dreaming your dreams — you never know when they’ll come true! — Lisa