koukla carolyn

Shell Interior, Derwent watercolor pencils (water added), Carolyn Pappas 2008

Shell Interior, Derwent watercolor pencils (dry pencils), Carolyn Pappas 2008

I was looking through my sketchbooks this afternoon and saw that a lot of my drawings for the past few weeks/months have been very dull and colorless. Even though I am not really in the mood for doing really bright and colorful pieces, I thought that I should make the effort to do something in color. Years ago I bought a set of 12 Derwent watercolor colored pencils, but have only used them a handful of times. I didn’t really like that I wasn’t able to get a really sharp tip on the pencils when I sharpened them. Today I decided that I might as well give it another shot.

I made this sketch of a seashell that has been sawn in half so as to expose the inside. First I sketched the whole thing with the pencils and I had the foresight to scan it first in case I really screwed it up somehow by adding water. I was a little nervous about adding water because I was just working in my regular sketchbook and even though it says it is fine for light washes, I was worried about too much buckling and/or water soaking though the page. I put a paper towel underneath the page to absorb any excess water and I wasn’t too heavy handed with the water. It ended up turning out just fine and it also dried very fast as well. I am glad I had the courage to add the water because I think I like that version better.

Dried Maple Leaves, watercolor and ink (5×7), Carolyn Pappas 2008

I have been putting off trying my new M Graham watercolors for weeks now. I think it was the same sort of thing that people face when they start a brand new sketchbook. I think I was afraid that I would somehow screw something up or forget everything I’ve learned about watercolor thus far. Last weekend I just bit the bullet and did this little painting of some leaves I found in my parking lot. They were dried to a crisp and the colors that I ended up were hardly realistic, but I wanted it to look sunny and happy. I painted this on a watercolor greeting card and am going to send it as a thank you card for someone who gave me a very nice gift.

I am excited about this weekend because I am anticipating a lot of time to spend on my artwork. I also have a few days off from work coming up this month, so I am planning on doing a lot on some of the behind the scenes projects that I’ve been working on.