Category: Chatter

Lilies

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  I am an impatient person, particularly when it comes to painting watercolor.  The look of spontaneous painting requires forethought and planning, even for the simplest of pictures.  I keep falling for that lie!  Therefore, in an effort to tame my monkey mind, I decided to work on negative painting, which is not an easy thing to do.  Looking through YouTube, I found a lovely example of negative painting by Krzysztof Kowalski, which you can view below.

This painting study requires the usage of masking fluid in addition to working up layers of colors.  My sketch came out fairly good, as you can see below, but the first layer of water over the masking fluid turned rather comical.

I didn’t dilute my dishwashing soap before dipping my brush in it, then the mask.  The result, when I began to wet the paper, was soap suds!  Okay, dilute it next time.  I think the density of the dish soap also may not allow the masking fluid to adhere properly – I’ll find this out when I begin to remove it.  I spent a few hours painting the layers; this is my afternoon’s work.

Squash

Today I have a lot to do, so I thought the best way to start the day would be to do another watercolor pencil drawing.  As I have little to no experience using them, the only way to learn is to use them.  I am making a pencil sketch in a sketch book, and then filling in layers of color before beginning to wet the colors laid down.  The idea is to replicate glazing to a degree.  When I reach a point I like, then I wet a brush, and move from light to dark, maybe moving the brush in a given direction, or not.  Then, more colors, more wetting, and so on.  Below is the final result.

I am not sure that by themselves watercolor pencils are capable of strong contrast.  It seems lines – ink lines – may be helpful.  Or, the pencils themselves can be used in conjunction with other water media, such as watercolors or acrylics or gouache.

Here is the series I scanned in as I moved along.  Click on the pencil drawing to start the series, beginning to end.

Morning Frog

I decided to do a quick watercolor pencil sketch before I got ready for work.

First the shape, then the laying down of colors.  The point of this was to be quick!  I just chose colors I thought would work – about 5 or 6 pencils.

Final result.  I used a small round, and worked the lightest areas and moved into darker.  Where I needed more contrast or detail, I used the pencil in the watery areas.

Total time:  about 20 minutes from beginning to end.  Below is each step.

Layered watercolor pencils
Final sketch