Parched - 1/18/08

My first watercolor since... I don't know, probably third grade. For Christmas I picked up some very cheap watercolor pencils by Staedler. When I say cheap, I mean cheap. I got 12 pencils for $3; these are definitely student quality, or a quality worse than student quality. Anyways, I bought these pencils simply because I had never heard of water color pencils and because I had started messing around with pen and ink and had seen the gorgeous pen and watercolor combos. This painting is horrible, one that I would be embarrassed to show anyone in person, but the internet lends me that lovely bit of anonymity. I'm proud to show off my horrible work, as long as I don't have to see people's reactions.

Doing this painting (is it a painting or is watercolor still referred to as a drawing? I'm going with painting, after all, I used a brush.) brought home to me that:
1) I don't like the pencils, but I really like the medium
2) I remember now why I never drew in pencil during high school

Frankly, my pencil drawing abilities are horrible. I like charcoal for it's smudginess, it's messiness, and above all, the ability to blend with my fingers. Colored pencils are so refined, so non-blendable with hands. Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for those who can draw well in pencil, probably because I can't at all. I ooh and ahh over the pretty drawings. With watercolor, I think I'm going to have to force myself to get over my aversion to pencils. I love seeing the crisp lines blur and transform into rivets of color.

To this end, yesterday I went to ArtMedia and purchased 8 of the Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. I've heard great things about these pencils on the EDM boards, so I thought I'd give them a try. I was thinking about buying the 12 pack, but I didn't want to spend $18 and bought separately they're nearly the exact same price as the kit. I did pick my 8 colors from those offered in the 12-pack, and the next 4 will be the colors offered there as well. I'll just add 2 - 6 pencils every time I get paid, which works out to once a month.

I do like how the sand dunes/hills in this drawing have a good color variation in them. The sky was good until it went to white rather than lighter blue. That's just a matter of putting more color in that area. The one thing I really don't like is how the tree turned out, or more specifically the tree's shadow I tried to do. It just made it look like the tree had black tree branch like smoke rising from it's topmost branches.

Materials
Canson Watercolor 140lb CP
Staedtler Watercolor pencils