Komorebi

 

5/11/26 Ballard neighborhood

The Japanese term komorebi is translated as “sunlight leaking through trees.” (Japanese has so many perfect singular terms to describe sensory information that requires numerous, somewhat clumsy words to do the same job in English.) Whenever I see it, I can’t resist trying to capture it in a sketch, and it’s always a challenge.

Media notes: My recent use of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels along with water-soluble pencils has been an interesting learning curve. Neo II’s wax base can act as a resist if they are applied to paper first, which makes applying colored pencils over it tricky. When I use only watercolor pencils, it’s a no-brainer to pile on various colors at will, but putting Neo II into the mix requires a little planning.

In this sketch, the dark green is a Cd’A Museum Aquarelle pencil, and the bright yellow-green leaves are a Neo II crayon. I had to remember to apply the pencil first.

The trunk and limbs were a different pile-up: First I used a Sepia Neo II crayon to draw the tree with the “licking” method as if painting with traditional watercolors. My plan was to let that dry and then apply pencil over it (that’s one way that the resist effect can be avoided). But then I changed my mind, and while the Sepia was still wet, I went over it with an Indigo Blue Neo II. I like the mix of warm/cool as well as the smooth (the wash of Neo II) with the textured (dry Neo II).

For many years, I was a purist about using water-soluble colored pencils as my only coloring medium, at least on location. I seem to be turning into a mixed-media sketcher without my conscious intention!