Efficient Walking

 

8/1/25 Green Lake

8/5/25 Green Lake (experiment with a primary triad)

My mission this summer was to incorporate as much of my fitness walking as possible into my other routines and activities so that I could reduce the amount of time I spent purely on self-care. Doing nothing but walking around my ‘hood for an hour a day is a significant time commitment, even when I enjoy it, and even if I can squeeze in a sketch. But with a little planning, I figured out ways to put more walking into whatever else I was doing. For example, if I parked a half-mile away from a destination, that’s a full mile round trip. Timewise, it’s still the same as walking around my ‘hood aimlessly, but somehow it feels more productive. Bonus: I saw more neighborhoods.

The downside was that since those walks had firm destinations and sometimes time constraints, I didn’t sketch as much while doing those walks; hence, most of the sketches shown here were on my usual home turf.

8/5/25 Green Lake

8/5/25 Green Lake

8/16/25 Maple Leaf

8/19/25 Maple Leaf

9/8/25 Green Lake

9/15/25 Maple Leaf (As I was sketching these brilliant birches, I witnessed a rear-ending at the same intersection where I sketched on Aug. 16, sitting on the same bench outside Cloud City. The victim pulled over and assumed the driver behind him would pull over, too -- but the latter drove off. The victim examined his bumper; the damage didn't look too bad from where I sat.)

Gouache: Mind Blown Backward and Inside-Out

 

7/30/25 Elliott Bay beach (gouache in Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook)

After taking several colored pencil workshops with Sarah Bixler to learn her fascinating take on color temperature, I got brave and plunged into a totally new medium: gouache!

Sarah's workshop met at a strip of beach on Elliott Bay, where
I learned to balance my palette, sketchbook, water cup, and butt on a handy
but uncomfortable log. Only the five paints in my CMYK set are in the palette
(the rest are watercolors).

Oh, sure, I’ve dipped into pink gouache during cherry blossom season, and we’ve all used touches of white gouache for snow or highlights. But making an entire, full-on painting with nothing but gouache was completely new territory for me. And because I prefer to plunge into the deep end before sticking my toe in the water, I took Sarah’s plein air workshop so that I could struggle with all the usual challenges of being on location (on this day, it was heat, humidity and sitting on a log) while also learning a new medium. Yay for tough art love!

A color-mixing study in which we make an arrangement of 
squares and rectangles indicating the percentage of a
particular hue we might use in the composition. Without
trying to make the actual composition, we can see how the hues
might play against each other.

Although I’m certainly no pro at watercolors, I’ve used them enough to know that gouache is basically the opposite in every way. They both squeeze out of tubes to make you think they are similar, but their similarities end there. When watercolors are glazed, their transparency allows the previous colors to show through, resulting in optical mixing. Colored pencils, too, are transparent like watercolors, so I’m used to that kind of layering.

By contrast, gouache is opaque, so succeeding layers completely obscure whatever was underneath (definitely a benefit in many cases, but difficult to wrap my head around). Instead of saving out the white of the paper for the brightest highlights with watercolor, with gouache, you can simply paint the white on last!

The biggest head explosion (or implosion, perhaps, given the backwardness of my perception), however, was in the way shifting values can be achieved: If I’m using a watercolor that turns out to be more vibrant or darker than I want, the simplest way to lighten the hue is to dilute it with more water. With gouache, you don’t add water – you add white! Whaaat!!

Sarah at her demo easel and some classmates.

Even though I understood this in concept, it still took me many (perhaps habitual) dips into the water cup before I learned to dip into the white instead. Once I did, though, what a game changer! I found it much easier to shift the value of a hue one way or the other with the simple addition of white or the hue (or occasionally black). Although Sarah had given us a supply list with a fairly typical palette of basic colors, I chose to bring only five paints to the workshop: the cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white that came in the Holbein primary mixing set I had purchased a couple of years ago. With only the three CMY primaries plus white and black made the job of shifting hues and values much easier than with a full palette.

My painting is a bit of a mess, especially the pile of rocks in the foreground, but as a first painting in a new medium, I’d say it’s not a bad start. I was pleased by the range of muted hues I was able to mix with that basic CMY triad (it helped that I was already familiar with using the CMY triad with colored pencils). The result looks more cohesive than I would probably otherwise achieve.

Elliott Bay beach just below Olympic Sculpture Park

My biggest frustration was how much time it takes to mix the hues and values I’m looking for. Gouache dries so quickly, especially on a hot day, that I was constantly fighting with making the paint fluid enough to apply without adding so much water as to dilute the opacity. As with any wet medium, learning how to hit the right ratio of water to paint is critical to mastering gouache.

But never mind mastery. Sarah’s workshop has whetted my appetite, and I’m looking forward to more stumbling and fumbling with gouache. I might even concede that some studio practice would be helpful before I go full-on urban sketching with gouache.

Rediscovering Southeast Green Lake

7/28/25 Green Lake

Although Mary Jean and I both know Green Lake well, Roy does not. We decided it was a good time to further his education of our favorite lake. Last fall, I showed him the lake’s north end, so this time we met on the southeast side. In particular, I thought it would be fun to start at Green Lake United Methodist Church, which is as close to a European stone castle as anything in Seattle might be. Since I’ve sketched other parts of the church before, I focused on one “tower” to fill the last page in our round-robin single-sheet signature booklet (below).

Green Lake United Methodist Church

At lower right is a different church that I see regularly but had never stopped to sketch before.

Restaurant Christine

From there, we continued walking and sketching around the lake until we got to the Tangletown micro-neighborhood in the south end of Green Lake, where we stopped for a delicious lunch at Restaurant Christine.

Exploring familiar territory with someone who hasn’t seen (or sketched) the area before always gives me a fresh view.

Color notes: I’d like to start exploring more variations of primary and secondary triads available in Caran d’Ache Neocolor II’s palette. Many Neo II hues are not available in the Cd’A Museum Aquarelle line, which I’ve become familiar with, so it’s fun to try new combos. I also find that choosing a very limited palette of just three or even two hues (a warm and a cool; a sketch I made at Sketcher Fest is one example) makes it much easier for me to interpret and mix color temperature shifts. I’m not especially fond of the primary triad I used in this Green Lake sketch (top of post), though. The blue leans too hard in the violet direction, which results in an odd green when mixed with the yellow I chose. I find that these waxy, water-soluble crayons don’t blend in the same way that Museum Aquarelle pencils do (which I still prefer in that regard). 

“But I Might Need it”: How to Downsize Your Kit

2013 (Note the spare ink cartridges and multiple waterbrushes)

Long-time readers of this blog have seen my sketch kit get smaller over the years. Sometimes the reduction was only temporary, and more materials eventually crept back in. Sometimes the reduction was only hypothetical (search the term “Gilligan’s Island” on my blog, and you’ll find many examples of how I’d pack my kit for that fateful “three-hour tour”).

It took a global pandemic to shrink my sketch kit permanently. Once I got used to a daily-carry bag that was small and light enough to take fitness walks with, there was no going back. Even when I occasionally missed the so-called “full arsenal,” I enjoyed the liberty of lightness too much.

2015

Seeing my compact bag and kit, other sketchers have exclaimed that they’d like to get their own sketch kits (hauled in a huge backpack or wheeled bag) down to a more manageable size, but they just haven’t figured out how. Peering into their bags, I can see that they continuously carry items they “might need,” yet they confess they have not used them in months/years/decades. (By the way, all of this resonates with general downsizing of an entire home, if you catch my drift.)

I’ve noticed that often the people who seem overburdened by their loads are the same people who lament that they don’t get out to sketch as much as they’d like. Hmmm . . . ya think there’s a connection?

2016 (This was my most mixed-media year! I loved fountain pens,
markers, watercolors, watercolor pencils and brush pens, and darned
if I wasn't going to bring them all to the Manchester symposium!

While it’s none of my business how much stuff others want to haul around, I believe strongly that anything that keeps you from sketching as much (or as easily) as you’d like is a problem. The objective is to sketch, and we shouldn’t let carrying our materials keep us from that objective. (For that matter, we shouldn’t let owning too many materials keep us from that objective. See: downsizing.)

I’ve been thinking for a while about writing this post, and my recent visit to Poulsbo when I inadvertently left behind my auxiliary tote bag reminded me of the very points I wanted to make in such a post (and I had to listen to my own lecture that day). The first bullet point is my guiding principle for carrying less. The other points are suggestions on ways to downsize:

2018 (disregard the numbers; they refer to a different post)

• Having fewer options “forces” more creative solutions. A favorite example is when I was sketching a fire station during a minimalism challenge – and I had no red! How could I possibly sketch a fire station without red? Ta-da – my four-color ballpoint pen (which I keep in my bag for general notetaking, not sketching) came to my rescue.
• A friend and I just had a conversation about how the 80/20 rule applies to sketch kits: We all use about 20 percent of our materials 80 percent of the time. That rule applies even with my minimal kit. Consider which items you use 80 percent of the time and remove the rest.
• Whatever is your color medium of choice, choose a minimal palette – say, six to 10 colors. Esthetically, a limited palette looks more cohesive. It also encourages mixing and experimenting with hues that at first may not seem “right.” Some of my favorite sketches have been primary and secondary triad experiments. One time, I was dismayed that my limited palette didn’t include the right periwinkle hue to sketch a Bachelor’s Button. I was “forced” to optically mix some unexpected colors, and I was delighted with the result.

• 

  2021 (This version of my pandemic kit was minimal even for me!)

  Stop prepping for every possible sketch “emergency.” I used to carry a small pencil sharpener routinely. It’s tiny and doesn’t weigh much, so it seemed like an easy carry. The one or two times I actually needed it, though, it was lost at the bottom of my bag. It wasn’t worth the bother of digging it out. I finally took the sharpener out and instead use other sharpeners at home that do the job more effectively.
• Along the same lines, stop carrying “spares” of favorite materials. This was a biggie whenever I traveled. I knew I couldn’t just go back home to get more, and local stores might not carry exactly what I needed, so I always carried extras (pencils, pens, ink refills, entire sketchbooks) of things I felt I couldn’t live without. Almost always, I brought them all home again without using them. On all my post-pandemic trips (Dallas, Portland and L.A.), I cut the cord on spares. Guess what? I lived!

(Shown in this post are a few of my sketch kits over the years. For a look at all past sketch kits and bags, see my Sketch Kit Archive page.)

Current: lean and mean

Cold Chairs at U Village

 

4/27/25 University Village

University Village is one of USk Seattle’s tried-and-true for transitional seasons because the retail center has some sheltered areas to keep us dry. Sketchers can make themselves comfy at all the public umbrella’d tables without having to patronize venues. Except for stores and restaurants, however, U Village is all outdoors, so a cold morning is still a cold morning – made even colder because the chairs are made of metal. Yikes! Although I typically stand to sketch anyway, I sat just for a moment to keep my lettering straight, and yowza, was that chair chilly! Despite that common complaint, everyone’s enthusiasm was high last Sunday.

Trying to study color temperature again, I was in the mood for a primary triad to capture the bright colors of red umbrellas and new, green leaves on the Japanese maple trees (plus a U Village icon, Leo Sewell’s “junk” penguin sculpture).

Colder than ever from standing longer than I expected (color temperature studies always take me longer than I think they will), I took a brisk walk around the Village. Finding a spot in the direct sun (if the sun were to appear from behind clouds), I looked around and found bronze sculptures of a calf and a turtle. To add to the menagerie, I caught a living, breathing pup waiting for his human to finish snacking.

Technical note: In the first sketch, I was so focused on the challenge of color temperature combined with using a primary triad (a decision I made before realizing that the scene had so much green) that I really let the composition get away from me. The penguin was so much fun that I started drawing it first, but later I felt that it weakened the composition. Below is how I would have cropped it if I had been thinking more about composition and not about color. As usual, my pea brain can’t handle more than one concept at a time!

Ramping Up Color Temperature (Plus Thoughts on Colored Pencils)

 

3/1/25 Rainbow of hues without crossing the color wheel
(all exercises done with Prismacolors in Stillman & Birn
Zeta sketchbook; same Earthsworld reference photo for all)

Week 4’s assignments in Sarah Bixler’s class extended the palette to primary triads and a full rainbow. For the rainbow exercise, we were instructed to avoid blending “across the color wheel” (to create neutrals) and instead maintain fully saturated hues as much as possible, blending only analogously. The result would enable us to demonstrate our understanding of color temperature without neutrals muddying things up. Although the resulting portrait is wacky looking (at left), it certainly was effective in forcing me not to fudge!

For the other two portraits, we were to use a traditional painter’s primary triad and what Sarah calls a printer’s primary triad (what I refer to as CYMK). These were much easier for me because of all the primary triads I had played with a few years ago (and still find fascinating to explore).

3/2/25 printer's primary triad (CYMK)

On one of them, we could add a warm neutral and a cool neutral to help with values if needed (below). I thought the latter additions would be helpful, but in practice, I regretting losing the clarity of the triad hues.

3/3/25 painter's traditional primary triad with addition of indigo and
burnt sienna as cool/warm neutrals

Why use colored pencils?

During a class discussion, one student, a painter, asked sort of a devil’s advocate question: Why use colored pencils instead of paint? Sarah’s response was especially interesting to me as both a colored pencil geek and an urban sketcher: Initially she had started using colored pencils because she was looking for a portable medium that she could use when she was out biking or hiking and wanted to stop for a quick plein air study.

The more she used them, however, the more she realized that colored pencils had unique properties that paint did not. With paints, she can mix any color she wants, but the more she mixes, the less her original chosen palette is apparent. Colored pencils make it easier for her to see how each color addition affects how she perceives the other hues. Because transparent pencils mix optically and can’t blend completely as paint can, they won’t lose their original color identity.

She also finds that because the earlier marks cannot be completely obscured by later layers, she has more opportunity to push toward abstraction. “A nice wonky abstraction is possible,” Sarah said. She enjoys the clear, directional marks that pencils make.

Her comments validated many thoughts I’ve had myself but haven’t always articulated about why colored pencils are a unique, compelling medium.

Productive and Creative, After All

3/18/24 (memory)

With all that was going on in my life (and in my house) in 2024, I had been feeling a bit disappointed that I didn’t explore creatively as much as I usually do (either in media or in approach). But reviewing the year’s sketches for my Top 10 Memorable Sketches post reminded me of my on-location comics, which were a major change in approach. My interest in the comics style also led me to try autobiographical comics using my imagination, which is always a big stretch for me. Early in the year, I made a lot of pet portraits as a fundraiser, which was a rewarding and challenging project. It’s been a productive, creative year, after all.

Currently my studio is in a transitional mess of partly filled boxes and ongoing dishevelment. It’s hard to relax and create here because I see so much stuff I still need to sort and haul downstairs (which will be Phase 2 of my big downsizing plan). Looking ahead to 2025, I can’t wait to get my studio move completed so that I can get back to doing more drawing (maybe even painting) at my desk this winter. I’m shooting for the end of January for completion (though that might be overly optimistic).

9/29/24 Greenwood neighborhood (This was the last of my street tree series
for the year.)

My tradition for last-day-of-the-year reflections is to include sketches that I didn’t get around to sharing at the time that they were current. Interestingly enough, many are experimental in nature but also one-offs that didn’t go further, which made it difficult for me to form any coherent thoughts or ideas around them.

Wishing you creativity and fulfillment in 2025!

10/30/24 A collage/random paint splotch exercise inspired by Drewscape

11/9/24 Aegis resident

12/18/24 pale primary triad (photo reference)

11/11/24 metallic Neocolor I in Uglybooks (photo reference)

First Green Lake Color (and Fresh Fall Palette)

 

9/16/24 Green Lake

As mentioned a few days ago, I have embraced the coming of fall, and what better way to do that than to check out my favorite sweet gums at Green Lake? They were only just beginning to show some yellow and orange at their very tops, and the mid-afternoon light caught them well. In another month, they’ll be at their peak.

Color notes: Also as mentioned previously, it was time to freshen my watercolor pencil palette, especially since I hadn’t been using it much with my minimal-color comics approach lately. Instead of the CYM triad I’ve been in love with the past couple of years, I chose a more traditional primary triad as well as a secondary triad with two greens – one warm, one cool. I don’t need to mix much with this complete rainbow, though I did mix the secondary triad to see what it’s like.

The pencils are all Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles plus a couple of Derwent Inktense. I had gotten a little too dependent on my go-to colors, so it was fun to shake things up by changing every watercolor pencil in my usual palette. I’m a little uncertain about the warm green I chose – Inktense Olivine (1340) – which isn’t as warm as my all-time favorite Museum 245. But it’s good to shake things up  – even in the more traditional direction!

New fall palette

Caran d’Ache Supracolor Special Edition (2024)

 

Caran d'Ache Supracolor Special Edition set of 18 watercolor pencils

After the mildly disappointing release of the latest Caran d’Ache Bicolors, I was more than excited to find this set, which was announced at around the same time by my favorite colored pencil manufacturer: Caran d’Ache Supracolor Special Edition with Exclusive Colours.

The Supracolor full standard edition has long had 120 colors. You may recall that in 2018, the Swiss company commemorated Supracolor’s 30^th anniversary with a limited-edition set of 30 colors not included in the standard line. I kept wondering if Cd’A might eventually incorporate the 30 into the standard edition or at least offer them open stock, but that never happened. That doesn’t surprise me, as Cd’A enjoys offering “special” items for a short time only, increasing their perceived value and raising the pulse rate of collectors like me. It’s all good; I’m always prepared to grab as needed. And since it’s been six years, I’m thrilled to see a palette refresh, if a small one.

Back of sleeve

The sleeve removed reveals the iconic Caran d'Ache red tin.

When I opened the tin, every pencil was lying logo-side up, just like this! Be still, my heart-eyes!

The special edition set is marketed as “Special Edition Exclusive Colours + 1 Podcast.” The latter refers to a series of podcast interviews with Eric Vitus, Caran d’Ache’s fine arts and color expert. This online product bonus is similar to the art tutorials included with last year’s Mixed Media Botanical Set and 2022’s Neocolor II set. The programs are video recordings of audio interviews – no art lessons or visual inspiration. Still, as a colored pencil nerd, I enjoyed hearing about how the pencils are manufactured and the rigorous process for lightfast testing. In addition, the Caran d’Ache color numbering system is explained well. I’m assuming it’s a similar process to what other manufacturers use, but I had never fully understood it until I heard this explanation.

Inside the sleeve is information about the podcast interview with Eric Vitus. The other side of the sleeve interior includes a blank swatching area.

The branding and appearance of the new Special Edition set are similar to the 30^th anniversary set with a few notable differences (see below). To distinguish this edition from the previous “limited edition,” each pencil is designated “special edition.” Unlike all other Supracolor editions in my collection, the imprinting is in silver foil instead of gold. After years of confusing nomenclature that I have complained about several times, Cd’A finally dropped the “II” after Supracolor, and the name is now just Supracolor Soft. Please stick with this, Caran d’Ache, so I can stop losing sleep!

From top: older Supracolor from before the current branding change; 30th anniversary Limited Edition; latest Special Edition

The back side reveals . . . no French!

Finally, and most significantly, this is the first time Supracolor (or any Caran d’Ache colored pencil, I believe) color names on the pencils are in English only! Every other previous edition has included color names in both English and French. Interestingly, the one exception in this set is Bleu de Nîmes (135), which is denim blue. The reason for retaining the French without English in this case was explained by Eric Vitus as a nod to denim’s origins in Nîmes, France. Although packaging information on the sleeve is still in 10 languages to support worldwide sales, it’s curious and surprising that French has been dropped from the pencil barrel.

OK, let’s get to the all-important colors. The 18 Special Edition colors (chart downloadable from Caran d’Ache) are different from both the 120 standard colors and the 30 anniversary colors, bringing the total collection to 168. Surpassing Prismacolor Premier’s 150  and Holbein's 150 (though still a long way from some outrageously large sets available on Amazon, such as this one with 520), Supracolor seems to be Caran d’Ache’s vehicle for maximal color expression. As far as I’ve seen, no other Cd’A product has more colors.

Special Edition Supracolor swatches made in Hahnemuhle Akademie Aquarell sketchbook

I’m excited to see Quinacridone Purple (115), as there’s nothing close in the standard Supracolor line (and certainly nothing like it in the Museum Aquarelle line, likely due to its one-star lightfastness rating). Verdigris Medium (713) is a lighter version of Museum’s Cobalt Green (182), which is essential for verdigris-topped buildings in Europe (or sometimes vintage Volvos). Also, the aforementioned Bleu de Nîmes (135) is lovely and vibrant. Strangely, I see it as closer to blue-violet than blue jeans.

Despite the claim that the 18 colors are entirely new to the collection, at least seven are similar enough, to my eye, to existing Supracolors to make me look askance. Four of the seven lookalikes (indicated below with LE) are from the 30^th anniversary Limited Edition set. Perhaps this is Caran d’Ache’s way of keeping some “limited” colors in circulation, sort of?

Special Edition colors (right) that look close to existing Supracolors (left)

My only quibble with the color selection is Buff Titanium (801). It may be a useful gouache or oil color or as an opaque non-soluble pencil, but as a watercolor pencil, the wash simply disappears. Why bother?

Three colors in particular caught my eye – Ice Blue (185), Anthraquinoid Pink (571) and Dark Phthalocyanine Green (719) – because they are all part of the Museum Aquarelle line. The muted peachy pink is one I’ve used occasionally for spring blossoms, and the dark green is ideal for both the shady side of most deciduous trees and the sunny side of Pacific Northwest conifers. Judging by the number of 719 stubs I have, it is probably my single-most-used Museum Aquarelle color.

Three Special Edition Supracolors (S) and their Museum Aquarelle (M) counterparts. Lightfast ratings given in parentheses (the higher the number, the greater the lightfastness).

I swatched the new Supracolor pencils with the same color numbers side-by-side with their Museum counterparts (above). Both the dry applications and the washed results look very close. The difference, however, is in lightfastness (their numbered ratings are in parentheses).

Since my focus was on comparing the new Supracolors to the other watercolor pencils, I didn’t check Luminance, but a friend and fellow colored pencil geek has pointed out to me that all colors in the new set except Middle Moss Green 30% (234), Velvet Black (509) and Light Cadmium Yellow (512) are already part of the Luminance line. (Thanks for the supplemental geeking, Matt!)

Since 18 is a nice quantity for a colored pencil starter set, I wondered how well the 2024 Special Edition would hold up as a standalone set? Just for kicks, I mixed a primary triad and a secondary triad to see how they would do. Without a magenta, a CYM triad wasn’t possible, and it’s tough to get a decent mixed violet without something closer to cyan or ultramarine. But since the set includes that beautiful Quinacridone Purple, mixing isn’t necessary. I love the secondary triad that’s possible here (of course, I love almost all secondary triads). If that Buff Titanium or French Grey 10% could be swapped out for another blue, this set would be quite usable without any additional colors.

Secondary triad (left) and primary triad made from the set

Even though I’m very familiar with how Supracolors perform, I hadn’t used them (or any watercolor pencils) in so long that I relished an opportunity for a test sketch. The reference photo for the sketch below was taken last fall on a drizzly walk when I was afraid I wouldn’t have an opportunity to sketch this brilliant Japanese maple before rain and wind took the leaves down. I’ve been jonesin’ for color like this, so I think I’ll take a break from my comics approach in the fall. Either that, or I’ll figure out a way to incorporate color into my comics, which would be ideal, but so far it hasn’t worked out.

8/27/24 Supracolors in Hahnemuhle Akademie Aquarelle sketchbook (Now that I've gotten spoiled by Hahnemuhle's 100% cotton paper, I really noticed the difference with my now-typical aggressive dry-in-wet application. This student-grade paper felt like it might not stand up to this method, but I guess it did OK. I didn't feel confident using it, though, as I do with the 100% cotton.)

Overall, I’m as happy and excited about this Special Edition set as I was annoyed and disappointed by the new bicolors set, so it’s not a bad year for Caran d’Ache.

I bought my set from Cult Pens because I couldn’t wait for a US release, but not too long after I ordered, I found it at Blick – for quite a bit more. If you have enough in your Blick shopping cart to get free shipping, it will be approximately a wash with shipping from the UK. As with the recent bicolors, I am very pleased to see the set so easily available at Blick, Jerry’s Artarama and probably other US vendors. That hasn’t always been the case with Caran d’Ache’s “special” or “limited” editions.