A Pear – In Watercolour and Gouache

Watercolour, gouache, Inktense (watersoluble) pencil, a little Payne’s grey watersoluble pencil and graphite pencil, on A5,  gold/tan %100 recycled card.

Day 18 of the World Watercolour Month challenge.

I’m quite fond of drawing and painting pears; and eating them!

I began this with a flourish of lines using a watersoluble Inktense pencil, in a lovely, rich colour called “bark”. This pencil colour suited the warm gold-tan colour of the card, and I wanted something gentler than “black”. I like how the white gouache works on this card, though I think the darker tan of Kraft paper, is more effective in displaying the white of the gouache. Both surfaces are prone to crinkle with water, however, works can be flattened between heavy books, and I’ve been known to iron them!

Watersoluble pencils have a lovely painterly look when washed over with water, and also allow for strong under drawing to be visible. I often prefer to work this way.

An advantage with an Inktense (essentially a solid form of ink) pencil drawing is it becomes water resistant when dry. So you can also use them (in various colours) to create some tonal/colour values, then lay watercolour washes over them, without the pencil underneath merging with the colours, and muddying them. Hmm, needs a darker tone on the left side of the pear… Oh well, on with the next watercolour tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!