Exploring Unused Supplies

Reorganising my living room into a light and fluid space for me to work on my illustrations and visual journals A Brand New Art Studio Space was about making a fresh start. Many ideas of how to approach my work in new ways have been coming forth. One of the commitments I made to myself was to really get to know all of my art supplies by paying and experimenting with them to my heart’s content.

I have had a set of watercolour pencils for a very long time. I’m not even sure I know when or how I got them. I do remember giving them a brief try-out years ago without being terribly impressed, but had not got rid of them because I liked the colours and they came packaged complete with this clever stand…

Recently I’ve been flipping through painting or sketching videos on You Tube before going to bed. What a wonderful resource of ideas, inspiration, techniques and how-to’s! Recently one of them by Cathy Johnson showed her using watercolour pencils by stroking the pencil tip with a water filled paintbrush, and laying the paint from it down onto the paper.

I decided to give my pencils a quick try! WOW! I loved the colour that was transferred onto the paper with a couple of brush strokes, and as is often the case, one brush stroke became many. And the same happened with the flower that emerged.

At one point I was a little over enthusiastic in my stroking. The next thing I knew I had splatters all over the paper! Not to be discouraged, I just made lots more! (I have since viewed the You Tube video in its entirety and learned that this is actually an acceptable technique…)

And on into the night it went. I was enchanted by the effect I was getting and the way the colours blended so beautifully. Only two colours were used for the piece. I did use a yellow pencil to scribble in the centre of each flower, and flicked some splattering of yellow into the mix for good measure.

Ebhard Faber MONGOL Watercolouring -
Carmine, Yellow and Light Green
(the words: "vintage" and "very old" were applied to them
when I looked them up on the internet...)

Do you have any supplies in your studio that you’ve not fully explored? Why not look them up on You Tube and see what happens when you find another way to use them.

A beautiful start to my new studio space.

What a joyous start to summer!