On Saturday, I held a Travel Sketching with Watercolour Pencil class in a room in my local Library. I have been fortunate to have some travel sketchbooks on display in the Library and met a few locals who attended the class.
We had blue skies and sunshine and went outside in the heat for our short walk to do some outside, on-location sketching. I always enjoy the class as the attendees are always so enthusiastic and curious.
On Sunday, I decided it was time to do another film of me sketching. I took my phone outside and found a place in the local park. It was a very humid day. They have a few tables, but I stood up and established my sketchkit and sketchbook at an empty (and clean) BBQ site for this short film. It is much easier than sketching and filming when sitting on the ground. I wanted to sketch an interesting tree. It is just a quick sketch, an impression of a large tree with a heavy canopy.
The FaberCastell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils I used were:
- Pine Green
- Chrome Oxide Green
- Grass Green
- Dark Sepia
- Burnt Ochre
Below is the short video.
I then sat under another tree that was closer and focused on the trunk.
I am planning some more Travel Sketching with Watercolour pencils for the months of April, May and June. They will be on Saturday mornings 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Hi Alissa. I love your sketches in nature. I’m trying out nature journalling with WC pencils and I would love to know what sketchbook/s you like to use for this. Thanks, Mel
Hi Mel. I have been using the same setchbooks since 2008. Moleskine watercolour sketchbook 13cm x19cm. There are so many sketchbooks out there.
*Look for the gsm. There will be a number. Anythiing from 180 to 240 is fine. There will be hot press cold press, rag.cotton. Lots of diffeent textures – smooth and rough.
*Watercolour pencils work well over smaller areas. A4 is not so great, unless your divide it into halves or quarters. There are lots of brands, lots of sizes. If you are ogign to out and about nature journalling, make sure it is a nice size to take with you.
I hope this gives a few tips. Let me know if you have any other questions, ot what you end up getting !
Thanks so much, Alissa. It’s good to know that you like your moleskine watercolour sketchbook as I actually have one of those! I was wondering if you used a sketchbook that is specifically for watercolour because I know a lot of urban sketchers use sketchbooks designed for multimedia. I have some different sorts of sketchbooks and am looking forward to testing them all out with some regular nature journalling. I think watercolour pencils are going to be great for that 😊