Launde Abbey, Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle on Arches Aquarelle HP 140lb paper, (25.5x20.5cm)

Tim Fisher shows just how easy it is to draw with the pencils and make washes from them to create a range of watercolour effects.

I have just been introduced to Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle soft watercolour pencils.

Although the tin I was sent contained 12 colours, I put a limited range of just six colours (see above) through their paces to see what can be achieved with them.

Exploring the qualities of Museum Aquarelle

Whenever I receive a new set of pencils, I usually start by sharpening them to a long point using a craft knife. This exposes more of the lead and makes it easier to remove pigment from the end of the pencil.

Next, I scribble colour swatches onto dense cartridge paper (I used Strathmore Bristol plate surface for this report), pressing quite hard at first to make sure I push a dense layer into the paper surface then gradating the pigment across the paper making the application gradually lighter.

Using a Round nylon No. 8 brush, I dilute the pigment where it has been applied heavily and make a small wash. If I can still see the original marks on the surface, I know how well that particular colour lifts out. This is a very quick way of getting a feel for the qualities of the pencils, the dry application, layering and solubilising.

The findings:

From this initial experiment I found:

  • Caran d’Ache pencils to be of a very high quality and a pleasure to use.
  • The dry application went on smoothly, with no dark pigment marks appearing.
  • When a brush was applied, a good deal, if not all the pigment lifted off the surface in rich colour.
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Where to buy

Museum Aquarelle pencils can be purchased from Jackson's Art Supplies by clicking here and from art shops and other online retailers.

Working with Mueum Aquarelle


Dungeon Ghyll Cottage, Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle on Clairefontaine white pastelmat, (33x25.5cm)

Dungeon Ghyll Cottage was first drawn in fibre-tipped pen on white Pastelmat.
 
  1. On a scrap piece of watercolour paper, I scribbled out a swatch of golden cadmium yellow, dark ultramarine blue and vermilion.
  2. Using the Round No. 8 brush, I made a runny wash of the yellow with a tiny amount of red added. I applied the red/yellow mix over the entire painting, just reserving white areas.
  3. While the surface was still damp, I introduced a wash of ultramarine, being careful not to stir the pigment too heavily with the brush to avoid generating greens. The paint quickly runs and forms interesting sky edges against the original wash.
  4. I added cloud shapes to a dry area just to the left, which dried with harder edges. I dried the surface thoroughly with a hairdryer then started to build up the image with layers of paint.
  5. Using a scrap piece of watercolour paper as a palette, different colours were scribbled onto the surface and mixed like ordinary watercolours.
  6. If stronger colours were required, pigment was shaved from the end of the pencil into a container then dissolved with a brush.
  7. When the surface was dry, I did further work with the pencils.
  8. Layers of golden cadmium yellow and permanent blue were drawn onto the foliage.
  9. I wetted some of these areas to create a green that could be manipulated to form the foliage shapes.
  10. To finish, the foreground poppies were added by dipping the tip of the vermilion pencil into water then making some really nice intense colour marks on the surface.

One of the challenges when using water-soluble pencils is to paint a convincing sky.

Having worked on a number of different surfaces I have found that Clairefontaine Pastelmat helps to produce some good effects.

Top tip
Care must be taken when using the yellows, especially when combined with permanent blue, as green mixes occur easily. Adding a little red to the yellow helps to avoid this.
 

Creating darks


Sandsend, Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle on Arches Aquarelle HP 140lb paper, (30.5x18cm)
 

Sandsend (above) was painted onto Arches hot-pressed watercolour paper after a preliminary drawing was made using a 3B pencil.

  1. The initial yellow wash was the same mix as described earlier, but this time I added a little more vermilion to create a red blush as it dried. The wash tends to sit a little longer on the hot-pressed surface.
  2. As the shine started to disappear, I laid the paper flat and, using a small squirrel brush, dropped in a mix of ultramarine to which a tiny amount of vermilion had been added.
  3. Rocking and tilting the paper helped to develop the cloud shapes.
  4. The distant hills were painted by mixing lemon yellow, ultramarine and a touch of vermilion to tone the green back.
  5. Once the surface was dry I added dry pencil work.
  6. Using alternating vertical strokes of golden cadmium yellow and permanent blue I built up the shapes of the distant trees and bushes. I achieved some of the dark darks by layering ultramarine blue over magenta with a sharp pencil.
  7. The magenta glided on and filled the surface of the paper, then the blue applied over it created a warm dark. I tried wetting over it, but the surface tended to go very violet, so a lot of the darks were created with dry pencil work.
  8. To make some of the brighter greens I layered lemon yellow with a few strokes of cadmium yellow over, then diluted the paint.
  9. The lines lifted out well with the lemon and so in these areas I was left with a clean smooth wash. I found that a lot of the darks could be created by applying the magenta first then overlaying with ultramarine.
Museum Aquarelle pencils are versatile and effective.
 
Top tip

After applying the washes, working with dry pencil allowed me to create sharp edges to cut in around the buildings.

Demonstration: Launde Abbey

The last painting I made with the new pencils was Launde Abbey.

I liked the way the Arches Aquarelle hot-pressed performed with the painting of Sandsend and so decided to use it again.

Step 1



I began by sketching the scene out with a 3B pencil.

Sketches work well as reference material, as they contain similar drawing marks that can be applied later with watercolour pencils.

Step 2



1. Having drawn a simplified version of the scene on to my watercolour paper, I scribbled pigment onto scrap paper and applied an overall wash of cadmium yellow with a small amount of magenta added. This helped to fix the pencil on the paper and also gave an impression of sunlight on the building.
2. I fed ultramarine into the wet wash and tilted the paper, allowing it to run down. I added more ultramarine mixed with vermilion to the lower part of the sky. I allowed the sky to run into the roof area and also added blue into the bottom right for the foreground.
3. The foliage in the distance was initially filled over with lemon yellow. The deeper tone on the front of the building was added using a mix of golden cadmium yellow and magenta.

Step 3



1. I then added more brick and tile detail with the No. 8 brush.
2. The tree in the far distance was painted by tearing a newspaper mask, covering the entire painting with it and just exposing the tree. Using a brush pen, water was flicked from the tip of the lemon yellow and ultramarine pencils onto the paper. Greens occurred as the brush was switched between the two colours. A brush pen is useful for this as it delivers a constant flow of water for a nice even spatter. It’s also very useful for picking strong paint from the tip of the pencil and painting directly onto the surface, something I used on the figures in the distance.
3. Greys and shadow colours were created by mixing ultramarine, vermilion and lemon yellow in varying proportions and strengths.

Step 4

Launde Abbey, Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle on Arches Aquarelle HP 140lb paper, (25.5x20.5cm)

1. Referring back to my sketch, I carried out some dry pencil work, gently applying golden cadmium yellow to some of the wall surfaces.
2. I did a little spatter in the foreground, after picking some green up on the No. 8 brush.
3. Finally, the poppies were added by dipping the tip of the vermilion pencil into water to deliver strong paint to the surface.

EXPLORE FURTHER WITH MARY HERBERT

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