Seascape Artist

When using watercolor pencils for my first sketch, drawing or underpainting of a watercolor seascape, a sketch or drawing tends to completely disappear during the painting process. I like that very much about watercolor pencils. If there are lines left, it is because I meant for them to show, not because I got carried away and forgot to erase. I do not do detailed drawings anyway but many times I do like to lay out a bit of general placement sketching lines. If I do not like where they are, it is easy to blend them in with whatever goes there and I am not tied in stone to the original placement idea if I change my mind while painting. I find this affords me a lot of flexibility during planning and during painting.

As I experiment with my watercolor crayons and watercolor canvas [todays experiment is Using Broken Watercolor Crayons ], I am learning new ways to implement all the edges of my tools into how I paint. I tend to pick up a pencil and use it to sketch the same as if I were holding a pencil for writing a letter. I want to break myself of this habit so I can broaden my horizons and achieve different effects in my watercolor seascapes. I also find that using the pencils to sketch my tree shapes on top of the underlaying background wash is a good thing - if I plan to use either tube paint or the crayons for upper layers, I can lightly do the placement to see if I like it without feeling as if I am stuck with it no matter what - it is light enough that I can easily merge it into whatever is under it without ruining the painting or having to figure out how to make lemonade out of a lemon.

And with watercolor pencils, there is no erasing needed … experiment with different brands of watercolor pencils to find the ones that work best for you if you do detailed initial drawings - some are more akin to pencil drawing than others in sharpening and holding a point while still being watercolor pencils that will blend and disappear while you paint.