Watercolor Pencil Magic Addition to A Workshop with Cathy Johnson

author of the popular North Light book,Watercolor Pencil Magic

Sketching vs. Painting with Watercolor Pencils

I have used watercolor pencils mosthappily over the years for sketching–theyare lightweight, portable, clean, versatileand expressive. You can use a singlepencil in a sketch, simply wetting theline here and there to suggest volume orform, or combine several to get the effectyou’re after.

When I paint with watercolor pencils, Iuse a much more controlled approach,layering a color or two, wetting andblending, allowing the result to drybefore adding more. There may be asmany as 10 layers on a painting–and asfew as a single one in a sketch.

This painting took rather a number of layers and a fairamount of planning.

This was a quick sketch with just atouch of color.

This little sketch iscalled “Closed atSunset” because thepark where I wasworking does justthat–it was necessary toget it down on paperand blended in the 10minutes I had left beforethe rangers locked thegates! Watercolorpencils are wonderfulfor such fast work...thiscatches something ofthe scene in a way amore formal treatmentmight not.

This one required quite a bit more planning, with the blended colors of the setting sun reflectedin the water, and the clouds building in semi-transparent layers in the evening sky. I researchedthe shape of the ship carefully as well...the effect is very different from “Closed at Sunset,” butequally valid. It just took longer!

Simple, repeated strokes can suggesttrees, weeds, water and more, as inthis little sketch...here, I used verticalstrokes to suggest the reflections ofthe far trees, wet all to blend andallowed it to dry. Finally, I addedlines to suggest the tree limbs as wellas the slightly curved horizontal linesin the water to give it a limpid quality.This was done in only a few minutes...

You can see a similar approach at right, inthis very sketchy landscape. The details oftrunks and limbs were added aftereverything was dry.

Here, Lyra Aquacolor crayonswere used for the sky and distanthills, wetting quickly andthoroughly with a large 1"watercolor brush. They blend well,more like watercolors than some ofthe water-soluble drawing media. Iused a sprinkle of salt to suggestrather too many stars! After thesky area was dry, I added the morecontrolled trees with pigmentpulled from the tip of the crayonwith a round watercolor brush.

A much more controlled technique is used for this larger painting (9" x 12" on Strathmore 400cold-pressed paper), done for the North Light Book, Watercolor Pencil Magic. Much more liketraditional watercolor painting, each layer was added and moistened separately, and details addedas I went along. I worked basically from background to foreground and light to dark.

I love watercolor pencils for quick, scribbly little sketches likethis...their calligraphic lines complement the shapes of leaves andvines. Wet them as little or as much as you like to get the effectyou want.

They’re lovely for more controlledblending techniques, as in thiscareful depiction of a cactus flower.

Or you may prefer to work more in the manner ofa traditional painting–as before, a layer at a time,allowing each to dry before adding more color.

These versatile, portable tools are wonderful forany number of approaches and techniques!

Watercolor Pencil Magic Workshop © Cathy Johnson

Use a single pencil, as in this journalvignette...this was a Steel Blue Graphitintpencil...

Or combine a couple of pencils to capture varied colorand a bit of blush to the lips...this was also a journalsketch, and also using Graphitints with a linearapproach.