Mixing Water Soluble Graphite and Watercolor

water-soluble-graphite-portrait of a girl laying on a couch, with watercolor added

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Mixing Water Soluble Graphite and Watercolor

A friend came over with new art supplies to test, and I’ve been curious to try mixing water soluble graphite with watercolors. So, we set up a still life and started with water soluble graphite in a tin (made by Artgraf), and a water soluble sketching pencil (made by Faber Castel and Derwent) [See below].  

The water soluble graphite products are quite different in saturation and lift-ability on cold press paper vs plate-finish illustration board (also known as Hot Press Illustration Board) Ā 

Testing effects of water soluble graphite on a still life using a pencil (by Dewent) and
graphite compressed in a tin (by Artgraf) on plate finish illustration board

Different Paper = Different Values and Erasing

The saturation of the water-soluble graphite was much lighter in value on the cold press paper, but very dark and rich on the plate finish surface.  That was a surprise.

The cold press paper also didn’t allow the graphite washes to lift or erase as easily as one might expect once the graphite was dry.

But, while re-wetting the graphite on the illustration board, it lifted completely, to stark white!

So, if you want to knock value back just a bit with a wet brush on illustration board when you use Water Soluble graphite, it requires a bit of strategy to avoid lightbulb whites. But if you *want* the option to life away the graphite to get back to bright white paper, this works!

Who knew paper would make such a difference in the performance of simple, water-soluble pencil lead?  Art-Brain-Aerobics.

Testing effects of water soluble graphite on a still life using a pencil (by Dewent) and
graphite compressed in a tin (by Artgraf) on plate finish illustration board

Water-Soluble Graphite and Watercolor Testing

Last night, I started another experiment with the water-soluble graphite – again on illustration board – laying it down in thick and thin washes, and then adding watercolor on top of the graphite.  

I noticed immediately that my fellow artists were right when they said the watercolor re-wet the graphite underneath it and made a lot of mud. I took that as a challenge to lay each layer of watercolor down with a single stroke, and a very loaded brush. I let each passage dry before adding additional color to increase saturation, or adjust values. It was a fun exercise.

It was satisfying to drybrush the facial details today, while listening to an audio book.  I often wonder how Andrew and Jamie Wyeth work(ed) in drybrush on such large pieces, as it requires quite a bit of slowed focus and concentration for me. But I did enjoy myself tremendously.

water-soluble-graphite-portrait of a girl laying on a couch, with watercolor added
Waiting for the Coffee to Brew – 8×9 Water Soluble Graphite & Watercolor (sold)

Something Fun to Watch: Jamie Wyeth Painting Gouache on Cardboard

I found a video of Jamie Wyeth painting a mass of seagulls and a figure on a huge piece of cardboard. You can see it here.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston hosted a wonderful Jamie Wyeth exhibit. If I lived in New England, I’d go see more of his work in person.

Since I live on the opposite side of the continent, I’m grateful for digital publishing, because we can all have a little glimpse of the exhibition here.

Here is a demo of water-soluble graphite testing various papers, and you can see how very different the results are!

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

Belinda

Art Quote

I look at myself as just a recorder. I just want to record things that interest me in my life and so forth. These paintings are like part of a journal to me. It’s part of my life – I’m in Monhegan – it’s as if I’m drawing a diary. And again, I think a painting – I mean, what is it? It’s a piece of canvas, a stick with some hair on the end of it, and then there’s some sticky stuff called paint, and you apply that. And there’s nobody standing over you, saying “Paint!” every day. And I think in painting, much like music or a pianist or whatnot, you have to practice, and it certainly isn’t all inspired! I mean, many times, working with the gulls, there’s some sort of drudgery – but once in awhile – things really click, and that’sā€¦ that’s the opiate!  When that gull all of a sudden breathes and becomes a fire source, I mean that’s why you paint! That’s why I paint.

Jamie Wyeth

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9 thoughts on “Mixing Water Soluble Graphite and Watercolor”

  1. Thank you for the link to the Jamie Wyeth video. Wow. The light and movement in that painting just blew me away. I was nodding my head vigorously when he was talking about why he paints; he articulated how I feel about painting so well.

    I love Andrew Wyeth’s work, but my favorite Wyeths are N.C. and Jamie. I wish I lived in New England so I could see that exhibit, too!

  2. I use the tin graphite at our once a week life drawing session. It’s great for quick gesture poses! Thanks for posting the Wyeth video! I saw this years ago in Paris when I had the fortunate opportunity to see a show with all three of the Wyeths. They were showing this video too. It was great to see it again! Watercolor on cardboard, just blew me away.

  3. @sonia, I loved what was happening in Jamie’s painting too – so much passion – and on cardboard! But the wetting of brushes in the mouth… eegads, I gasped when I saw that. Yikes is right!

  4. @debbie, thanks for the video of KJ – she is amazing. I think I’ll post that video in case others have missed it. And I did enjoy Jamie’s breathing, view-finding and musing – but not the wetting of brushes! šŸ™‚

  5. Interesting experiments – I’ve not seen the graphite in a tin before. With reference to the Wyeth video, really liked the effect he was achieving using watercolour. Really not sure about the “tasting” – especially as that looked like cadmium yellow! Yikes…….

  6. Love this and the feeling of fatigue. You ‘re really tired when you lie down to wait for the coffee. Super video. Just astounding and the quote is right on.

    XOXOXOXOXO Barbara

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