Homage to Museum Aquarelle

 

12/14/23 Museum Aquarelles on Strathmore 100% cotton postcard. Only a few select spots were activated to retain the soft, fluffy texture of this mostly white pup (reference photo by Jeff Chin).

I thought for sure this would be the year: finally an expansion of the Museum Aquarelle line. In the 10 years that I have been using Caran d’Ache’s premium watercolor pencils, it has only ever had 76 colors, which is certainly a respectable range – yet it has some significant holes that should be filled. When the Swiss company expanded the color range of Luminance, its artist quality, non-water-soluble line, from 76 to 100 colors in 2020, it seemed only a matter of time before Museum’s turn would come.

12/14/23 Museum Aquarelles in Hahnemuhle Akademie 
sketchbook. Although I used my usual hard-slamming, urban sketching
technique in this sketch, ironically, it was done from a photo that I
took on one of our golden hour walks last fall. I would have liked to
have done it from life, but that low sun was dropping fast, and
I knew I'd soon lose the lovely gold light on those buildings. With this
approach, I get all the color down dry as heavily as I need for the final result,
then activate, with no additional layers applied.

Its 10^th anniversary was the ideal occasion for the big release! I waited patiently all year . . . but Caran d’Ache’s fairly low-key birthday announcement in October didn’t bode well. And then came the “celebration”: partnering with artist Sophia Clara “to guide you through a step-by-step tutorial and learn how to create a fall-inspired collage using autumnal colors, all beautifully enhanced by the watercolor Museum Aquarelle pencils.”

That’s it? You call that a “celebration” of your premier product’s 10^th birthday? We want more colors, and we want them now!

Sigh.

12/14/23 Museum Aqurelles in Hahnemuhle 100% cotton sketchbook. This poinsettia still life feels a bit overworked and heavy-handed, I'm afraid. Waffling between a tighter, realistic approach and a looser, painterly style, I achieved neither. This was probably made with the most traditional watercolor pencil method -- multiple layers, each activated and fully dried before the next layer is applied.

In lieu of an ecstatic reveal of the non-existent new colors, this post is an homage to Museum Aquarelle in observance (not “celebration” – I need new colors for that) of this milestone year. I decided to make a sketch in each of the ways I typically use these versatile pencils: with minimal activation in the portrait of Niko; with my slam-it-down-hard, on-location method; with a multi-layer, full-activation still life; with spot color in a “coloring book” style line drawing (more technique commentary in the cutlines).

12/15/23 Uni Pin brush pen and Museum Aquarelles in Hahnemuhle
100% cotton sketchbook. This is what I call my "coloring book" method of
making a line drawing and then applying color selectively. Nothing is as fast and 
simple as colored pencils for this hasty method, which serves me so well in 
fast-acting situations, like this urban sketch in Maple Leaf.

Since this is an anniversary homage, I also took a retrospective angle by digging up one of my earliest urban sketches that includes Museum Aquarelles (of Café Bambino in 2014), below.

6/10/14 Various media including Museum Aquarelles on Canson XL 140-pound watercolor paper. Ten years ago, I was using as many mixed media as I could carry in my bag. I think the only use of Museum here is in the background tree, and it doesn't look like I activated it much. I still had much to learn about making use of these amazing pencils.

Happy 10^th birthday, Museum Aquarelles! You remain my favorite watercolor pencils, even if Caran d’Ache never expands your color range. But that does not stop the whining.

Ten years young and standing tall!