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.

A Fresh Look at Maple Leaf Park

 

10/13/23 Confluent Boulders by Patrick Marold, Maple Leaf Park

Maple Leaf Park is one of my walking routes, so I see it regularly, and I’ve also sketched there countless times. It’s not exactly fresh to me anymore. Interestingly, though, whenever I’m there with someone who hasn’t seen it or doesn’t visit regularly, my eyes are refreshed. It happened last week when I sketched with Natalie.

For example, even though I have sketched the Confluent Boulders sculpture at least twice before, I had forgotten that one boulder is slightly warmer in hue than the other. I did observe that the very first time I sketched them in 2014, as is apparent in my sketch from back then, and I also observed it the second time in 2017. Since then, I’ve glanced at it but never thought about their relative colors – until I pointed out the sculpture to Natalie and decided to sketch it again myself.

Meanwhile, Mt. Rainier had made a surprise appearance, despite patchy clouds throughout the sky. That’s one view that never gets old, no matter how often I see or sketch Her Majesty.

Her Majesty from Maple Leaf Park

Sally and Her Sister

 

10/13/23 Sally, the larger vandalized pumpkin, is in
the background. Her smaller sister is in front.

About a month ago, I sketched Jack Skellington, the Maple Leaf neighborhood’s biggest pumpkin. Already 775 pounds at the time, he was still growing. Looking forward to a neighborhood weigh-in event around Halloween like the one last year, I followed the growers’ Instagram account to keep tabs on him.

Then the bad news came: Sally, one of the smaller pumpkins, had been vandalized. In addition, visitors had been touching and sitting on Jack, causing enough damage that the pumpkin was getting soft and wouldn’t last until Halloween. Sadly, Jack had to be carved prematurely, though owners lit him to give the block a festive look for a couple of nights.

Saddened by the news, I visited quickly the next morning to see Jack carved. His final weight (before carving) was 790 pounds! Jack would have been fun to sketch, but I wanted to honor injured Sally and her smaller sister before they had to be carved, too.

Jack Skellington, now without innards, gets into the holiday spirit.

A Wet Ballard Troll

 

10/15/23 Frankie Feetsplinters outside the National Nordic Museum

The public and media alike have been falling in love with the giant trolls of Way of the Bird King, an art installation by Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo. The sixth and final troll in the Pacific Northwest was installed last month. Made of reused, natural materials, the sculptures celebrate “the human experience of art by amplifying the connections of cultural heritage between Coast Salish tribal communities and Scandinavian traditions.” 

While some sketchers like Kate Buike and Allan Andoy Carandang have already finished sketching all five in the Puget Sound area (the sixth is in Portland), I hadn’t gotten around to any yet. Happily for me, the last one was in Ballard outside the National Nordic Museum – a terrific location for a USk Seattle meetup last Sunday.

Ballard neighborhood

My weather app said rain would be starting an hour or so after the outing began, so I arrived a bit early to get a head start on Frankie Feetsplinters. It’s a good thing I did, because sure enough, it started spitting by the time I finished. The spitting turned into full-on rain shortly after, but intrepid USk Seattle members kept right on going, some with umbrellas to protect their sketches (see below)!

Dodging the rain for the rest of the outing, I found a doorway of a closed business across the street from a gorgeous maple I had been eyeing. It was an ideal test of my new standing watercolor palette (more on that soon) and the paints I’m using for the watercolor class I just started with Kathleen Moore (more on that soon, too).

I did one more sketch outside, this time while standing in the rain! Why? Coming up! (This post seems to be more about teasers than current content!)

Finally, I ended up where most other sketchers did, too – inside the lobby of the Nordic Museum, where I used the last few minutes to capture Alex sketching the lobby. Many thanks to the museum for graciously allowing us to have a dry throwdown there.

Alex sketching in the Nordic Museum lobby

Intrepid sketchers!

Mandatory troll selfie

InkTober, Days 8 – 13

 

10/8 - 10/13/23 Earthsworld reference photos

InkTober Days 8 – 13 were all about brush pens – a Kuretake and a couple of Pentels. My goal was to draw noses as somewhat abstract gestures, but I kept going larger than I intended with the wide, loose brushes. I should have used a larger sketchbook for these. Although making the gestures was fun, my page spread has no sense of design or composition.

Wait Five Minutes

 

10/12/23 Through my studio window

10/12/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood

If there’s one thing that’s certain about fall weather in these parts, it’s that it changes day by day, hour by hour. That old joke about how if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes? Yeah.

On Wednesday I got caught sketching in the rain. The next morning we woke to thick fog (one of my favorite sketching subjects), which burned off by lunchtime. I took a walk in the afternoon in a T-shirt as I sketched this Japanese maple.

Natural Activation

 

10/11/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood (Caran d'Ache and Derwent watercolor pencils and Seattle rain in Hahnemuhle sketchbook)

After a few days of heavy, continuous rain, “sun breaks” lit up the sky on Wednesday afternoon. I dashed out for a walk-sketch. I guess I put too much blind faith in my weather app, which said I had at least a half-hour before more rain was expected. The drizzle turned to full-on rain halfway through my 10-minute sketch, above (see Murphy’s Laws of Urban Sketching No. 2). A new watercolor pencil technique: natural activation.

9/25/23 Uni 4B graphite in Field Notes Expedition

Putting a Kleenex between the pages so that the wet sketch wouldn’t smear the adjacent page when I closed the book, I felt stupid when the thought came to me like a V-8 moment: Why don’t I keep a few non-soluble colored pencils in my bag during the wet-weather months?

When it’s drizzly as I’m heading out for my walk, I usually grab my waterproof Field Notes Expedition, which works well with soft graphite but not at all with colored pencils (and certainly not water-soluble ones). But I don’t think I’ve ever tried using non-soluble colored pencils on slightly wet watercolor paper. Stay tuned for a field test.