Watercolor and Colored Pencil Painting

A few years ago, I took a photo workshop at Woolaroc.  This workshop is led by Jerry Poppenhouse.  I could write a whole article just about him.  If you ever get the chance, you should take a class from him.  His workshops fill quickly.  The advantage of taking the class is you have access to places around Woolaroc that you normally don’t get to use during a visit to their museum.

The picture I completed above with a view of the water is from one of the classes I attended at the beautiful grounds of Woolaroc.  It was the beginning of fall and the foliage was spectacular. 

I did this piece on Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.  The underpainting was done in watercolor and the final touches was done with colored pencil.  Now, I normally do all my colored artwork with colored pencils. This piece is 9”x 11” and would have taken me 20-30 hours to complete.  With using watercolor as the underpainting, it probably only took me 10 hours! I only spent 2 hours with the pencils and the rest with paint.

My next project will be done using colored pencil first and then applying the watercolor on last.  I’m experimenting with this technique to see if the colored pencil will resist the watercolor.