Last week, I went to the waterfront with some sketcher friends and we drew the dragon boats.
I never got to the painting, so my boats do't show any of the vibrant colors that we saw. Of course, with watercolor, mine never would look bright. Someone thought it had the look of a woodblock. I may try making a linocut print.
On Saturday, the Urban Sketchers of Portland went to the Sunnyside neighborhood and some of us sketched the people painting the sunflower in the street intersection. I tried ink and then found that it was easier for me to capture loose gestures using my magic mulit-colored pencil.
Still, the colors were far from the magic of the colors of life.
By afternoon, another sketcher and I sketched in the shade of the trees and structures of the Sunnyside Enviromental School. Most of the colors here were greens and browns and grays. When adding the watercolor, I realized that my new Sailor calligraphy pen I had tried had water soluble ink, so any colors I used would be mixed with black. I decided to go for a limited palette.
On Sunday, I had a very short time for a downtown sketch, so I went for the minimalist approach. The car (one of my least favorite things to draw) came after I started and there was no way to work around it. Just as I packed up, the driver pulled away.
I love color, but I always feel more comfortable with black and white...and maybe an accent or two.
