Pen, Ink and Watercolor Wash Sketching.

On a recent visit to Ashland, Oregon I was able to sit comfortably and sketch with a dear friend. We chatted and laughed as we worked and discussed whether one should draw first with a pencil or just barge right in. My friend used a pencil, then worked beautifully in watercolor. I used Platinum Carbon black ink and, as you can see by my first inaccurate lines, would probably have been wiser to start with a pencil. I peeked around some foreground trees and left them out in order to include more of the mountains. When finished, we enjoyed looking at each other's compositions which were quite different even though we were sitting very close together. 8" x 6" Strathmore Series 400 Drawing Paper.

As we were waiting for our departing plane in the Medford airport, we noticed the wonderful clouds in the sky over the mountains and I asked my husband to take a photo through the glass of the waiting room.

When we got back to California, I opened the photo on my computer and did a little 2" thumbnail sketch to help determine the dark areas and a workable composition to use in a larger piece.

The following week I put a 9" x 12" sheet of Arches 140 lb. watercolor paper into a sink full of water and soaked it for about 30 minutes. When the excess water drained off, it stuck smoothly onto a piece of plexiglass so I just put it, still very wet, into a flat plastic bag. I took it along with my art supplies and laptop to my weekly art lab painting group and started the painting below. The paper remained nicely wet, with no need for tape, while I did the sky and blocked in some of the other areas. In the evening, when finishing the painting at home, the paper began to dry and curl up from the glass, so I added the bits of masking tape you can see in the photo above.

It was a good exercise to try to capture the Oregon mountains, the sky, and the pleasure of a family and friends visit. I, also very much enjoy painting on thoroughly soaked wet paper.