Prismacolor Rain Tests

 

10/16/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood (Prismacolors, Hahnemuhle sketchbook, drizzle)

10/15/23 Ballard neighborhood.
(Prismacolors, Hahnemuhle sketchbook, full-on rain)

Since my V-8 moment a couple of weeks ago, I’ve actually been looking forward to an opportunity to test my idea about using non-soluble colored pencils to sketch in the rain. (The pencils I am calling “non-soluble” are, in fact, soluble with solvents and other substances but not soluble with water. But “non-water-soluble” is such a clumsy mouthful.)

My first opportunity was last Sunday when USk Seattle sketched the troll in Ballard. After finishing the troll sketch in drizzle and making a second sketch under the protection of a shallow doorway, I stepped out into the rain to look for a quick and easy composition (I’m curious but not masochistic). By then it was not drizzling or spitting or sprinkling – it was full-on rain. Using my usual Hahnemühle sketchbook and three Prismacolor pencils, I discovered that if it’s raining hard enough, even non-soluble Prismacolors will become slightly soluble (at right).

The next day it rained even harder and more continuously. When the downpour had slowed by early afternoon, I took the opportunity for a walk and looked forward to another opportunity for a rain test. Ironically, in a bizarre twist of Murphy’s Laws of Urban Sketching No. 2, the rain slowed to a gentle drizzle just as I pulled out my sketchbook! (Corollary to No. 2: When you want to test media in the rain, the rain will stop.) My page was damp enough, though, to qualify as a legitimate test as I sketched a street of Japanese maples (top of post).

Hardcore sketcher.

Without the additional intensity of water activation, the colors aren’t as vibrant as I would like, but they aren’t too bad, either. I’m going to try pencils in my collection even softer than Prismacolors, which might enable me to pile on the pigment faster. More field testing ahead (it’s good to have an objective during these otherwise wet, dreary months ahead).

I wouldn’t typically use paper with as much tooth as Hahnemühle’s with soft pencils, but I don’t want a separate book just for rainy sketches. I like the toothy texture; the pairing is working out better than expected.