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Monday, December 18, 2023

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 10th 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 10th 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 10th 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!

5 comments:

  1. Sorry there weren't any new colors to liven up the 10th anniversary celebration! I enjoyed seeing a bit of your recent sketches and sketches from the past.

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  2. Whine away! It's the only way to get companies off their duff sometimes. ;-) Just love the sketch of Niko. Makes me want to reach right through the screen and scratch that furry head between the ears.

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  3. I just gotta ask :) What colours should they add?

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    Replies
    1. Definitely a couple more dark violets, a cool and a warm (these are more difficult pigments, I know, when the range must be lightfast), and I can always use more natural greens. And a magenta that's closer to Prismacolor's "process red" (probably also a lightfast issue). And ultramarine! No excuses there! These are just off the top of my head, but now that you've asked, I might think about a more thorough list. ;-)

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