Jason’s House

 

8/14/25 Los Angeles (photo reference)

When I visited my nephew Jason at his newish home in L.A. last April, I took photos with the intention of drawing the house as a gift. A beautiful Hacienda style house with classic white stucco walls and red clay roof tiles, it’s quintessential in southern California, yet rarely seen in these parts. I was looking forward to drawing it.

Strangely, I procrastinated for months. If I had spotted his house while out sketching on location, I would not have hesitated. Yet something about using a reference photo and with the intention of making a gift intimidated me. When I’m urban sketching, I give myself constant permission to be wonky because I’m just trying to capture the moment for myself. When I’m using a photo in the comfort of my studio, I feel like the result has to be more polished because I can tweak it all I want and have no excuse for wonkiness. How silly!

I was tired of having the project hanging over my head. After I finished the last of the commissioned dog portraits, I decided it was time to take on Jason’s house. And the way I psyched myself out was by pretending I was just out urban sketching.

Barely visible, here's the graphite block-in.

Of course, almost nothing I did was similar to my typical urban sketching process: First, I began by blocking in key architectural points with a graphite pencil. On location, I would have gone straight in with the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons, and if I made a mistake, I would have simply found a way to cover it up. I also used larger paper (10-by-7 inches) than my usual sketchbooks. At least one of the Neocolor techniques I used (description coming up) is something I doubt I’d use on location. Finally, with a comfy chair in a clean, organized studio, I happily spent more than a couple of hours on this sketch – something I would never do onsite.

Once I put myself in the urban sketching mind frame, I got over the barrier and enjoyed the process immensely. In fact, I am very pleased with the result – more so than I usually am with architectural subjects. (For example, I didn’t especially like the result of the house portrait I made for my niece and her husband seven years ago; it’s interesting to see how different my approach was then.) It feels good to give this as a gift.

Secondary triad palette in Neocolor II water-soluble crayons

Material and technique notes: The moment I looked at my reference photo, I realized it was shouting for a secondary triad! I dug through my Neocolor II crayons to look for a triad that wasn’t too garish or vibrant (not my nephew’s vibe) but also wouldn’t be too literal. I like the four colors I chose (I added a second green) so much that I immediately put them into my Neocolor case for field use (and used the same colors the next day at Third Place Commons).

In particular, I like Aubergine (099) as the violet. It’s the warmest and least saturated violet in the Neocolor palette, and unfortunately, not available in the Cd’A Museum Aquarelle pencil line, or I would have discovered it sooner. It is, however, available in the Cd’A Supracolor line. To avoid getting lost in picky details, I resisted using the Aubergine pencil too much. Some architectural details, however, seemed important to include, like the sconce next to the entryway and the subtle gridwork of tiny “windows” in the wall seen between the palms. Those were too small to capture easily with blunt crayons, so it was nice having a pencil in the same hue.

Detail of shadows made with watercolor painting method

I used a technique that I rarely, if ever, use on location: I applied dry Aubergine and Moss Green (225) onto the plastic “palette aquarelle” that came with my Cd’A Mixed Media Botanical Set. I used a waterbrush to blend the colors to the shade of purplish-brown I wanted. Then I applied it just like watercolors.

That technique is not too different from the “licked” technique I use frequently with watercolor pencils, but since I’m taking the color from the plastic palette instead of directly from the crayon, I have the opportunity to blend the colors.

I could have used real watercolors for this step, but a big benefit of using the same water-soluble crayons is that the color scheme remains fully cohesive compared to using many different media. I know using mixed media is cool, but I prefer keeping things simple.

Finally, a word on the paper I used: Derwent Inktense Paper. A counterpart to the Derwent Lightfast Paper that I’ve lately been using with colored pencil pet portraits, Inktense paper is intended for use with wet media, especially Inktense pencils. Like the Lightfast paper, I bought the pad of Inktense paper years ago but never got around to using it – it was still shrink-wrapped.

Its warm tone seemed just right for southern California stucco, and its strong tooth gives an organic texture to the foliage with soft Neocolors. It’s 100 percent cotton like the Hahnemühle sketchbooks that I’m used to, so I felt comfortable with its sizing right away. It’s too bad this paper is so expensive – I’d be tempted to stitch a few sheets into small signatures for more portable use. I’ll probably save it for gifts and commissions.