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| The fistful of colored pencils that went with me to Joshua Tree -- and that go with me everywhere. |
Given the brevity (five days) of my recent trip to southern
California, I made no changes at all to my sketch kit and hardly gave it a
thought. I carried everything I always carry day to day, nothing more. One
notable omission, however, was watercolors: This was the first time I traveled
since I took up sketching that I brought no watercolors at all.
Ever since I returned from the UK in August, I’ve been committed to giving colored pencils a try as my only coloring medium (except for a couple of waterbrushes filled with inks), so I took the
watercolors completely out of my bag. I haven’t missed them at all, and I’ve
been enjoying experimenting with colored pencils in various ways to become
faster at using them. Whenever I travel, though, I start second-guessing major sketch
kit decisions (looking for watercolors in the Mojave Desert would be
time-consuming at best). But after all, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s
not as if the lack of watercolors would keep me from sketching. So I resisted
the urge to put the watercolors back in.
A couple of times when I was using my landscape-format
sketchbook, I missed the speed of making a swish of color across the page
spread, but since I always carry a waterbrush of blue ink, I could at least
take care of the sky with liquid ease.
The really significant benefit of colored pencils over
watercolors is how easy they are to use while standing, which was almost the
entire time I was in the desert. (Given the warnings about scorpions and
snakes, I wasn’t interested in sitting on the ground or on rocks!) Whether I
was using my regular sketchbook signatures or my Stillman & Birn landscape
Beta, I felt completely unencumbered using colored pencils. Later in the car, I
sometimes used a waterbrush to activate colors or darken shadows with a few
more layers of pencil, but often I finished while still standing. While
watercolors can be faster, colored pencils are giving me more mobility and
options, such as staying on my feet. (I did wonder how watercolor painters
manage painting in the desert; every time I used a sprayer or waterbrush, every
drop of moisture evaporated immediately!)
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| 11/16/16 Hidden Valley, Joshua Tree National Park |
The colored pencils were a good option for the desert. I painted and sketched in Sedona once and the paint dried before I got it on the paper. lol I think you get a nice intensity of color with the pencils. Standing up to sketch isn't the easiest thing to do...you have to be so good at balancing things, but better than sitting down with the scorpions.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you'd ever tried painting in the desert! Must've been quite the challenge!
Delete- Tina
Really love the fude pen that I read about on your blog! It is by far one of my favorite pens to use!
ReplyDeleteI am just starting out with watercolor pencils due to your inspiration, would you let me know what colors are best for sketching? Thanks!
Glad to hear you have been inspired to try watercolor pencils! The colors to use are really determined by what you like to sketch and what your typical urban sketching landscape looks like. I recommend just taking a small palette of a dozen or so pencils out in the field, and after using them for a month or so, you'll probably start to see which colors you are always wishing you had. So you can add those in. You'll also start to see which colors you never use. That's really the best way to figure out your own personal palette. Have fun!
Delete-- Tina