A finished sketch or drawing is pleasing. The color’s in,
the pencil lines are gone, and, if you’re lucky, the ink lines haven’t smudged.
But here’s a secret…up until the very end these sketches usually look like a
kindergartener’s best work.
For this reason, many artists don’t show the early stages.
But I thought that non-artists might find it interesting to see what a couple
of drawing sequences look like.
Here are two small paintings that I did today, both scenes
from my neighborhood. They begin the same way, with loose pencil drawings. I
add brown ink (Noodler’s Polar Brown ink, if you’re curious) and after the ink’s
dried, erase the pencil lines and add color.
"Red House" is painted with watercolor and "Tool
Yard" is colored with water-soluable markers. Each color treatment gives a
different look.
Watercolor is expressive and delightful for fast sketches. But
I like markers too. They’re easy to carry, you can use them anywhere, and they
don’t freeze in cold weather.
Do any of my friends from Centralia recognize the locations?
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| "Red House," pencil sketch |
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| "Red House," brown ink |
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| "Red House," brown ink and watercolor in a Moleskin sketchbook Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2017 |
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| "Tool Yard," pencil sketch |
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| "Tool Yard," brown ink |
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| "Tool Yard," brown ink and marker in a Moleskin Sketchbook Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2017 |
