I have been meaning to film some watercolour pencil sketching for quite a while. I don’t film regularly so it is always a challenge to remember the technical parts of it.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping, choosing some colourful vegetables, that would be ideal for showing watercolour pencils: pumpkin, carrots, broccoli and red onion.

Now that I have my subject, I decide what I want to sketch and then where it will sit on the page.

I do this all in my head. I don’t do thumbnails (small tonal studies). My sketches are not still-life compositions. They a quick, often spur of the moment, captures on the page. Often the subject will move or get moved. A lot of my sketching process is based on travel sketching.

Before I started to sketch I choose the watercolour pencils that I am going to use. I always chose from MY SKETCHKIT that I carry with me everyday. It has 26 watercolour pencils, an ink pen and sharpener. I know my pencils, their colours and what they do on the paper and then when water is added.

If you have watercolour pencils play with them on the page, make marks. scribble. add water and see what happens. I have been using watercolour pencils for over 20 years and know them well, but still excited by what they can do.

Today I used:

• Magenta
• Orange Glaze
• Chrome Oxide Green
• Grass Green
• Payne’s Grey
• Naples Yellow
• I would have used Pine Green but forgot to put it aside for this demonstration.

I do have the whole 126 Faber Castell watercolour pencil range, but usually only use these when I need very specific colours for a commission.

In my watercolour pencil classes. I explain watercolour pencils, paper, waterbrush and we play on the pages. We then go and find a place to sketch for 15 minutes! Not a lot of time but enough to get some colourful lines on the page, capturing the essence of the object or scene. As you will see…

In the first video my first marks on the page are getting the basic shapes of the vegetables on the page. I sketch in the colour of the object ie the carrots and orange, the broccoli is green etc.

The next steps are:

• sketch with heavier lines and blocks of colour
• spread with waterbrush
• wait to dry
• add another layer of the colour to intensify the colour and add volume or texture.

While I am waiting for one area to dry I work on another, You will see that I move all over the page, changing colours.

NOTE : when I use a new colour on the page I squeeze the waterbrush onto a napkin / serviette (or my hand, because I did not have one nearby). This is to clear the waterbrush of the previous colour.

You can slow this down by locating the Speed control (the first icon. the two parallel lines) and the SPEED . slow down to 0.25 for the slowest.

My second video – focusing on just one vegetable.

See how much can be achieved in 15 minutes! I have sketched pumpkins before and I also know the colours. It is the impression of detail, not actual detail. There are a few areas where I add hard, defined lines to give that impression.

While I was sketching and filming, I was making notes in my head of what to explain. I know that I have left a lot out. Please feel free to ask any questions.

I hope this has inspired and motivated you to get your watercolour pencils out again.

I will now go and cook these and may even sketch the final meal!

Happy Sketching