My Italian art kit was fine for working with a limited palette. But for my summer trips this year, I’m wanting more color.
And here, finally, is the perfect medium:
Watercolor pencils!
Here’s why they’re so cool:
– They’re not messy. At All.
— They’re totally transportable.
— No clean up.
— You can work them wet OR DRY because….
— You get two art supplies in one: colored pencils AND watercolors.
— They come in a stunning array of colors.
Okay, there’s one caveat:
— The colors are incredibly vibrant; it’s hard to get subtleties. Or rather, it takes practice getting subtleties.
I suppose one could argue that they are relatively bulky and heavy. But compared to a big easel and paintbox? Come on — these are nothing. When traveling I stash my pencils in a zippered pencil holder — the kind you find in the school supplies” section of an office store (….or at least that you used to find back in the days when kids actually wrote with implements other than a keyboard. See previous post for what I’m talking about).
Note that I’ve divided the pencils into three groups: on the top, “cool” colors (blues, greens, purples certain browns and greys) and on the bottom, “warm” colors (reds, yellows, oranges, corals, other browns and greys). In the center are the darkest darks I could find (recently purchased at Artisans)
Look at how dark the pencils and their “lead” seems, but the colors they become when drawn and painted — quite a difference.
Here’s a couple samples of recent watercolor pencil sketches I did last weekend, sitting on a friend’s porch in Ute Park, New Mexico, looking north to Baldy Mountain. The first is based on the evening view; the second on the morning.
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| sketch of baldy mountain from ute park (evening) ~ 4″ x 6″ ~ watercolor pencil ~ copyright dawn chandler |
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| sketch of baldy mountain from ute park (morning) ~ 4″ x 6″ ~ watercolor pencil ~ copyright dawn chandler |