It was a gorgeous day so after my walk with my dog Ginger I sat on the old picnic table in the center of the yard and played around with my watercolor pencils and watercolors. I still prefer to use my watercolors as I can make any color I like as to the watercolor pencils where you can sketch areas quickly but the color is so very different when you wet it. You really have to practice and maybe do some small test areas (as I did at the bottom of the page) to see what it will look like.
"May Field sketch page"
The first picture is my whole sketchbook page including some little sketches of an unfinished Barn Owl and the Tree Swallows who were swooping over me. I sat on the table in the middle of the yard and was attacked by darn black flies! You can read my note, I even left out a word I was SO distracted by them trying to bite me and fly into my eyes.
"May Field close-up"
There’s a close up of the field sketch, the thing I do like about watercolor pencils is that you can show your lines; it can be very expressive.
"May Trees"
This picture above shows a watercolor study of trees far off in my field. I was using just one waterbrush for this, as the paint dried fast working in the sun outdoors, I found that I could actually put some bright yellow dots over dark areas.
"Watercolor Pencil color test"
This picture is really what I set out to practice today, color swatches in watercolor pencils to match the grass I was seeing. I laid down one color and labeled it then tested putting one color over the top area and labeled it too. When you wet it the color changes quite a bit, that’s why I wanted to play around with it. You can hold your sketchbook up and look directly at the grass (or whatever you’re trying to match) in front of you, next to the sketchbook. Look back and forth and ask yourself if it’s too yellow?, too bright green? Does the chroma need to be dulled down? I find that the watercolor pencils are very bright in chroma, that’s why I’m practicing with them.
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Lovely paintings, Mary. I am working on a spring watercolor painting and wanted some ideas on how to paint my spring trees. Your ‘May Trees’ gave me just the inspiration I needed as far as color. Otherwise, my preliminary sketches were similar to what you have painted, though my colors weren’t quite as lively. I like the aerial perspective you used, as well, with the less distinct and more grayed trees in the background.
Thanks Penny, even though the sketches are from awhile ago I’m glad they helped you a bit. I sometimes get the itch to use my watercolor pencils, but I usually go back to the wc because I feel I have more color control with them, mostly just from using them more. If you use something all the time you learn what it’ll do. The pencils are nice because you can be expressive with them, but the colors ARE vibrant! You have to be careful not to overdue it. I’m happy with some of the little watercolors I did this past winter while standing outside in the snow! They were quick and small but I was always trying to capture the field, greying the distant trees. Maybe you could look at them? Let me know how your painting goes, I’d love to see the progress or finished painting.