Etchr Watercolor Sketchbook Figure Study

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Coursing the Heliconi

My friend Sarah recommended trying an Etchr Watercolor Sketchbook, so I bought this one to test the paper.

Using the grid method, I combined elements from two reference photos for this Etchr Watercolor Sketchbook Figure study.

My reference was a snapshot of my favorite model, MKH (who modeled for this watercolor portrait, and this figurative collagraph print and this genre scene watercolor painting). I sketched her walking with an umbrella among a bramble of Heliconi flowers – also called lobster claws. My model, MKH is Coursing the Heliconi, with grace and conviction.

Transparent Washes of Watercolor

Transparent layers of watercolor were added to the drawing across the seam of the sketchbook. The drawing was laid in a double spread, vertical layout.

My first layers were applied thin, and the Etchr Watercolor Sketchbook’s cotton paper (cold press) handled the washes beautifully. I was outdoors for the first few hours, and after three or four passes, and some quick drying in afternoon sun, the Etchr paper held up without buckling or pilling.

Adding Colored Pencil to a Watercolor

The next day, after the pages had completely dried, I played with layering colored pencil on top of the watercolor.

The cold press paper has a bit of tooth, and my supply of prismacolor, derwent and caran d’ache luminance colored pencils each adhered to the paper like a boss.

The Etchr sketchbook paper surface held up to multiple layers of scumbling colored pencil, and even after pastel stomp blending and paper towel buffing, the paper was unmarred. I’d like to try painting and sketching on their hot press paper, so I’ve just ordered a small Etchr hot press sketchbook. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you in the next post –

Belinda

P.S. Here’s a nice explanation describing the difference between watercolor and gouache.

More Sketchbook Inspiration

Art Quote

Creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration, without interruptions. It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it comes to that certainty which it aspires to, but does not necessarily have at once. Privacy, then. A place apart — to pace, to chew pencils, to scribble and erase and scribble again.

But just as often, if not more often, the interruption comes not from another but from the self itself, or some other self within the self, that whistles and pounds upon the door panels and tosses itself, splashing, into the pond of meditation. And what does it have to say? That you must phone the dentist, that you are out of mustard, that your uncle Stanley’s birthday is two weeks hence. You react, of course. Then you return to your work, only to find that the imps of idea have fled back into the mist.

Mary Oliver

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