Still stranded
Posted: March 21, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 8 CommentsIt’s a mid-summer day in March and I’m still trapped in my house. Nothing to do but watch the tulips open, curl, fade and lose their petals in this heat. They too are wondering where spring went.
This was done with watercolour pencils, which I have never used before. I wasn’t sure quite what to do with them. If you want green do you mix yellow and blue on the paper and hope for the best? Or do you use a green pencil? It was a bit of an experiment on a day when I couldn’t get out… And a very difficult work to scan (especially the yellows!) because of the vibrancy of the colours.
I have some of those pencils in the back of a drawer…this inspires me to pull them out. They would be handy to block out colours on site then blend in later.
sorry to hear you’re still laid up Shari.
I had these in the back of a drawer too. It was fun to try but it’s hard to get a diluted colour. If you put a blue and then wet it like I did with this Prussian blue background, you really get full strength colour. Not sure I will use them that much but it was fun to try. Maybe they would be good to use in Santo Domingo… where we have to work fast. I may throw some in my bag.
That’s interesting… I have two sets of these pencils, which I can’t remember buying, living in the bottom of a box at my house. I’m sure they would have a “use by” date of 1990. And I can’t remember ever having drawn anything of significance with them… although I do recall being frustrated by my inability to control colour with them!
So, I think that you have done amazingly well with them here. The trick may be to stick to subjects with bright and vibrant colours… don’t know that they would work with those subtly coloured snowscapes that you do.
I guess everyone has a set of these somewhere. I inherited these from my mother. And you’re right about using them only for vibrant subjects. Maybe I just picked the brightest pencils from the box, I don’t know. I have seen them used quite nicely but for me it would take a lot of practice. Also I used a fairly textured watercolour paper and maybe they are meant to be used on a smoother surface. In any case, they may well go back in the drawer, never to be seen again.
As someone who has never mastered a paintbrush, I have been tempted by watercolour pencils. Can I get some lessons Shari? But seriously, I really love the variety of texture you have achieved in this piece. I am pleased you kept the tulips as they started to fade. Flowers can be so intriguing as they wither.
I can give you lessons anytime Alison!
I find if I don’t wet until I’ve used both the blue and yellow for a green, it works better, or use one and then wait before adding the other. None of the greens I have are really right on except perhaps for one unbranded Sap Green. I also think some watercolour pencils are much better than others–Faber Castell among the best of the best.
You did great.
Thanks Zoe. You are obviously much more experienced at these pencils than I am. I will have to try this technique and have a look at what brand mine are.